Beijing may prefer to play the longer game in Manila hostage dispute

Hong Kong has taken its first dip in the stormy waters of the diplomatic power game. Following an inadequate response by Philippines President Benigno Aquino to the incident in 2010, in which eight Hongkongers were killed in a badly handled gun battle, the Hong Kong government has announced that official and diplomatic Philippine passport holders - up to 800 visit the city each year - would no longer be allowed to benefit from a 14-day visa-free travel arrangement.

The aim is to punish Filipino officials for their perceived arrogance and insensitivity, not to inconvenience the whole nation. But some lawmakers have called for an end to all visa-free treatment for visitors from the Philippines by mid-2015, a far more wide-ranging sanction.

The government's view is that the Aquino administration is not taking the affair seriously enough. When an independent assessment panel recommended that criminal charges be lodged against eight police officers, this was watered down to a suggestion that only administrative charges be brought.

Watch: Philippine bus hostage-taking incident

This probably represents not a deliberately obstructive attitude on the part of the Philippines, but an insuperable difference in perception. The Filipino police were undoubtedly massively incompetent, to an extent that would be criminal in a well-ordered polity such as Hong Kong; but to make official incompetence a crime in the Philippines would require a hundredfold expansion in prison-building.

This is the first time Hong Kong has found itself embroiled in a diplomatic fracas like this. It is not supposed to have jurisdiction in foreign policy matters; these would normally come under the aegis of Beijing, which currently has its own separate disagreements with the Philippines.