As Hong Kong sinks to new lows with toilet roll heist, will hardman Xia Baolong tighten Beijing’s grip on the city?

Hong Kong’s leaderless drift continues even as the city battles to contain the spread of the coronavirus and Beijing’s new appointments do not bode well

Michael Chugani

Published: 6:15am, 20 Feb 2020

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Forget about being Asia’s world city. Let’s call us Asia’s woe city. It was woefully comical to read about knife-wielding masked men making off with stacks of toilet paper. Singapore, Taiwan and Macau must be sniggering at us Hongkongers.

Were the toilet roll raiders suffering stomach pains after bulk-buying frozen foods that had spoiled or were they planning to peddle their haul at inflated prices? They would have made big bucks had the police not quickly recovered the stolen goods.

Panicked people paying sky-high prices for face masks are now a common sight. Nothing shocks any more. Not even a viral video of an elderly man fighting off women for the last pack of toilet rolls in a supermarket. Where has chivalry gone?

Perhaps people should learn from India, where the traditional use of water does a much better and more hygienic job than toilet paper.

We’re always smugly told never to bet against Hong Kong. The city has shown time and again it can always bounce back from adversities. I think those days are over. Who’s going to lead the bounce-back after months of anti-government protests, followed by the coronavirus crisis? Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor? Hold the guffaws.

If invading Martians asked to be taken to our leader, who should we take them to? Lam? Newly installed liaison office director Luo Huining? Or should it be hardman Xia Baolong, new boss of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office?

New Beijing boss should worry local loyalists

Xia served as President Xi Jinping’s deputy when Xi was Communist Party chief of Zhejiang province. His claim to fame is his 2014 demolition of thousands of Christian crosses atop churches in Zhejiang after he took over as party boss. Now Xi has appointed him to oversee Hong Kong.

Don’t worry. Our crosses are safe. In saying that, I am reminded of Lam’s assurances in January that Beijing would ensure Hong Kong’s way of life beyond 2047 as long as Hongkongers, especially the young, understood “one country, two systems”. The trouble is that many people, especially the young, say it is Beijing that is trespassing on the formula.

A demonstrator holds a picture featuring Chief Executive Carrie Lam, during a rally on February 16 to protest against the use of a Fo Tan housing estate as a quarantine centre amid the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Bloomberg

In any case, tearing down crosses would be a slap in the face of Lam, a Catholic. Not that Beijing would care once it gets rid of her – which I think is only a matter of time – in the same way it fired former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa.

What worries many Hongkongers is not cross demolition but Xia’s mission. Why did Xi appoint a hardline confidante, who far outranks Lam, to essentially take charge of Hong Kong after sidelining the two top officials in Hong Kong and Beijing who oversaw the city?

There is already political spin from loyalists who say Xia’s appointment proves Xi cares so much about Hong Kong that he has appointed a protégé to make sure all is well here. But the question is how to define whether all is well.

Xia Baolong, the new chief of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, is a hardline confidante of President Xi Jinping. Photo: China News Service

Months of massive anti-government protests triggered by Lam’s now-axed extradition bill has infuriated Beijing, which believes, without clear evidence, that foreign forces, particularly the United States, are behind the protests to undermine China’s security. Is Xia’s mission to further tighten Beijing’s grip?

There’s always the off chance that his mission is to understand Hong Kong better after the failure of his predecessor, and perhaps even to reach out to the opposition. To me, that’s wishful thinking. Authoritarian governments don’t loosen their grip when they sense a security threat. They tighten it.

That would further radicalise many in our already politically torn society. A united society which welcomed a flood of free-spending mainland tourists helped Hong Kong bounce back from the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak. But mainlanders are now being treated with animosity.

Hong Kong will not die. It will just chug along. We lack even a single leader trusted by both Beijing and Hongkongers to lead the city to a new dawn. Our glory days are gone.

Michael Chugani is a Hong Kong journalist and TV show host

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