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Millions set to join Hong Kong fete

Pallavi Aiyar

Beijing: Pandas, street protests, fireworks and debates: Sunday’s anniversary marking a decade of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule promises to bring to the fore all that is unique to this pulsating centre of global commerce.

Chinese President Hu Jintao is in Hong Kong this weekend for the celebrations, his first time in the city as President. On Sunday, Mr. Hu along with Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, will share centre stage as an array of planned cultural extravaganzas including art shows, music performances and even a panda exhibit, unfold.

While millions are expected to participate in the merriment, several thousand pro-democracy demonstrators will also take to the streets in what has become an annual protest march.

The existence of the protesters, in fact, underscores the fact that many of the international community’s fears at the time of the handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997, have not been borne out.

Under the “one country two systems” policy that is the cornerstone of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s Constitution, the city today retains a robust tradition of dissent, freedom of speech and political expression.

There are thus many in Hong Kong who are critical of what they see as Beijing’s reluctance to permit full-blown democracy in the city. Indeed, the Central Government has recently ruled out multi-party democracy and full universal suffrage for Hong Kong in the near future.

Nonetheless, moves towards greater public participation in politics have been taking place, albeit more gradually than some would like. In March this year, the first ever contested election for the city’s Chief Executive saw Donald Tsang defeating contender Alan Leong.

On the matter of political reform, Beijing’s supporters also often point out the fact that prior to its return to China, the British rulers of Hong Kong failed to institute democracy for the 155 years they ran the city.

And while Western-style democracy remains off the immediate agenda the last decade has seen the growth and strengthening of a lively civil society in the city.

Thus, in 2003, more than half a million people took to the streets during the handover anniversary in a demonstration against Government plans for a security bill that would have criminalised treason, secession and sedition. The protesters claimed the bill would threaten basic freedoms. In the event, the proposed law was shelved.

Since 2003, the numbers of those participating in the annual protest march have reduced significantly.

One of the reasons for this is the city’s economic buoyancy which in the last three years has experienced its fastest rates of growth since the late 1980s, expanding by an average 7.6 per cent.

The statistics are even more impressive when taking into account the fact that Hong Kong has had to weather a series of crisis over the last ten years including the Asian financial crisis and the 2003 SARS epidemic.

On Sunday, as the city celebrates the tenth anniversary of its return to China, not everyone may be as happy with the direction that Hong Kong is taking under Beijing’s guidance as the big business groups, but then that is what is special about Hong Kong — not everyone has to agree.

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