City Beat | Can mainland China-Hong Kong two systems coexist peacefully in a world more ideologically divided by coronavirus crisis?
- Row over the reach of two Beijing agencies into Hong Kong affairs comes as mainland China seems determined to seize the global narrative on the city
- Question is how can officials ensure ‘one country, two systems’ endures peacefully, when the world is increasingly riven by ideology?
At a time when so many are barricaded indoors, busy working from home or not doing much, but all participating in a global social-distancing campaign to stop the spread of the coronavirus and save lives, pondering upon the distant future can seem too philosophical or remote. But what lies ahead is real enough for everyone, including Hongkongers.
We could all do with more unity than divisiveness, but the reality seems just the opposite. Along with growing talk of deglobalisation, the warnings are getting louder about the risk of an “iron curtain” that would hinder future economic recovery, as pointed out by former US treasury secretary Henry Paulson.
Meanwhile, the blame game continues between the US and some Western countries on one side and China on the other over the origin of the coronavirus and “cover-ups”, along with debate over the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on global democracy – and the pros and cons of Western-style democracy as opposed to China’s “socialism with Chinese characteristics”, which critics see as an authoritarian system.
Beijing is getting more combative in rebutting all kinds of allegations and taking pride in the country becoming the first major economy to bring the deadly pandemic under control within its borders. It has spared no effort in showing the world how its top-down state mechanism works.
The message is simple – it’s about building up people’s confidence in their own socialist system, something President Xi Jinping has been trying hard to promote since taking up office in 2012.
