Currently appearing in the Straits Times is one of the least compelling arguments I’ve ever heard. Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing stooges are running candidates in the geographical constituencies in the next election, as well as in the “functional” constituencies, which are decided by a small group of hand-picked voters. As the Straits Times dryly notes, “Pro-democracy candidates tend to sweep directly elected Legco seats [i.e., the geographical constituencies] because they enjoy support from the population.” Oh, that. But Mr. James Tien, chairman of the pro-government Liberal Party, thinks that should change.
Mr Tien said: ‘If the central government sees a willingness among Hong Kong people to vote too for conservative businessmen, it will then have more confidence in the territory and might allow Hong Kong people universal suffrage earlier than is otherwise the case.’
And Mr. Ma Lik, of the reassuringly-named Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (democratic in the “Democratic Republic of Congo” sense, it seems), agrees: ‘The central government would become more apprehensive about speeding up democratic development in Hong Kong if the democrats won a landslide victory.’
So, Beijing won’t let you vote, because they know you won’t vote the way they want. But, if you vote the way they want, maybe they’ll let you vote again later, and for more things, at which point you can…um…vote the way they want again, or risk the dreaded “instability”. If this is an advertisement for “one country, two systems”, then don’t expect to see Taiwan rushing to sign up.
{ 14 comments }
ogged 05.08.04 at 7:33 am
Not that I disagree, but this is the smart blog, right? So I will just note that the Chinese are operating with the not-totally-crazy notion that majority rule ain’t so hot and there’s a right way to do things, even before the people have spoken (lately, frankly, I’m feeling pretty Chinese in this regard). The badness of the argument, as you point out, seems to follow from having people vote at all. But there are a couple of possible reasonable justifications.
Voting, on the Chinese conception, could be a ritualized, rather than truly active, form of participation. Consent, without advice.
Or, if we remember that the right answer exists prior to the voting, voting can be a way for the people to demonstrate their trustworthiness, pretty much as Mr. Tien says. When they’ve done that, maybe they really will be granted some leeway in future votes to depart a bit from the party line (I don’t want to guess at the sincerity of the Chinese authorities; I’d rather keep this theoretical.)
Honestly, doesn’t the lefty elitist in you sympathize even a little with the Chinese on this one?
Belle Waring 05.08.04 at 10:59 am
Ummm, no. I know lots of lefty elitists who would agree, but…
yabartleby 05.08.04 at 1:06 pm
Belle, how’s Singapore doing in the democracy pageant these days? How freely could you or John criticise the state? The place scared the shit out of me when I passed through a few years ago. But I know the trains run on time.
Hei Lun Chan 05.08.04 at 8:09 pm
Voting, on the Chinese conception, could be a ritualized, rather than truly active, form of participation. Consent, without advice.
You might want to change “on the Chinese conception” to “on the Chinese Communist government conception”. The rest of us know what voting is for, thank you very much.
And am I wrong to say that if Iraqis vote for some not-so-pro-US candidates and Rumsfeld or Cheney say something about their having chose the wrong candidates and maybe we’d limit their voting rights for a while, ogged wouldn’t exactly be defending their words?
ogged 05.08.04 at 9:41 pm
Hei,
Of course by “Chinese” I meant “the current Chinese government;” no offense intended.
And of course I wouldn’t defend the scenario you describe, nor did I defend the Chinese government, actually; I just wanted to point out that it wasn’t a completely loony position: it just follows from the belief that the correct course of action can be known quite apart from the expression of the people’s will in voting.
Andy 05.09.04 at 3:04 am
You’re right that Taiwan is watching what is happening in Hong Kong and realizing that reunification would mean the end of complete, Taiwan-style democracy. However, I think the Chinese national government’s primary audience is actually Chinese mainland citizens. Probably (1) in those regions that are bustling and modern like Hong Kong and (2) areas in which the boot of the corrupt and authoritarian Party are coming down hard.
andy 05.09.04 at 3:18 am
And the point is to discourage any movement for democracy in these potentially dissatisfied mainland regions.
Carlos 05.09.04 at 4:57 am
Umm, wasn’t that the system the Turkish Armed Forces used for several decades? You know, the pro American, NATO member, etc. guys. I seem to remember that even in the last elections there was some concern about the Army reaction to the results.
Robin Green 05.09.04 at 9:19 am
I’ve heard from a Turkish guy that the Turkish military intervened in politics to try to “keep the separation of mosque and state”. I don’t know to what extent this account is true or complete.
Andy 05.09.04 at 5:51 pm
The Turkish military has traditionally been the guardian of Ataturk’s modernist, secularist ideals and has been in charge of civilian government succession rather than the other way around.
It has acted many times to limit the power of Islamists and religious conservatives who want to get into government.
The most recent Turkish government consists of Islamists who promised to play nice and not go all Sharia on the country, and the military has allowed them to exercise power.
But if these guys ever started implementing some of the stuff you see in Iran or Saudi Arabia, there’s a significant chance that you’d see tanks in the streets and politicians and parties getting banned.
Matt Weiner 05.10.04 at 12:46 am
some concern about the Army reaction to the results
Well, a high U.S. official (Wolfowitz) did urge the Turkish army to react to the decisions of the elected government. Fortunately, the Turkish army had a higher respect for democracy than Wolfowitz did.
Tom - Daai Tou Laam 05.10.04 at 3:09 am
Read this entry yesterday morning Hong Kong time (via Feedster). Saw Richard at Peking Duck referenced your entry and posted this comment at his blog.
That Straits Times article is a nice summary of the lunacy going on in Hong Kong. (Though ST articles tend to be archived for pay-for-view in a short period of time.)
I’d recommend against the use of “liberals” though to describe the pro-universal suffrage group. The Liberal Party is the pro-business collaborators, who work with the powers-that-be (in this case Beijing and Tung Chee Hwa). The far left (or ultra-leftists) are the pro-Beijing DAB led by Ma Lik and Tsang Yok Sing. Ma Lik also made similar comments in SCMP to James Tien’s.
It’s Beijing’s rather silly attempts to sell their United Front in Hong Kong to Hong Kong voters prior to the Legco elections. For those that can, Register to vote prior to 16 May 2004!
I’ve also written a bit on Ma Lik and his friends commentary on Hong Kong and Henry Cheng’s comments suggestion to Hong Kong democrats to move to Vietnam or North Korea.
des 05.10.04 at 12:12 pm
Does anyone really think Taiwan is going to get a vote on its reunification.
Quizz-time: Can anyone think of a recent precedent where a large and well-armed country invaded a smaller, weaker country on the grounds it didn’t like the way it was run, and to hell with international opinion?
If I’d been running China that day, I’d have sent the tanks in forthwith and phoned up the White House to remark on the excellence also for ganders, isn’t it?
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