Peter Kammerer

Beijing can dream, but Hong Kong won’t turn into a mainland Chinese city overnight

Hongkongers, even Covid-19-fearing, mask-wearing ones, are noisy, highly opinionated and open-minded, and it is these qualities that make it difficult or even impossible for Carrie Lam to impose mainland-style restrictions on the city

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Activists and family members of 12 Hongkongers detained in mainland China prepare to release balloons, marked with the names of the detainees, towards the Yantian area of Shenzhen from Crooked Island in Hong Kong on November 21. Photo: Bloomberg

Peter Kammerer

Published: 6:45am, 15 Dec 2020Updated: 6:50am, 15 Dec 2020

The press statements from the Hong Kong government have become remarkably similar to those of mainland China in their undiplomatic language. That is worrying enough for people trying to do business in a city that claims to be international in outlook and thinking.

But since the imposition by Beijing of the national security law almost six months ago, there has also been this feeling that its local representative, the liaison office, is now imposing its will on Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s administration, which is gradually expected to do things as they are done across the border.

Good luck to the Chinese Communist Party if that is what is happening; there is such a big gap between what Hongkongers and mainlanders expect that this approach is bound to fail.

Beijing may believe that the success of the national security law in curbing protests shows that Hong Kong people’s aspirations can easily be crushed. The arrests of pro-democracy supporters are clearly aimed at silencing and intimidating critics.

But as anyone knows when among Hongkongers – even Covid-19-fearing, mask-wearing ones – they are noisy, highly opinionated and open-minded. The greater the number of people arrested and the less believable the charges, the more difficult it will be to win support and cooperation.

02:52

Former Hong Kong lawmakers among eight opposition activists arrested over illegal assembly

This is surely difficult for liaison office director Luo Huining to get his head around. He came to Hong Kong after gaining administrative experience in Shanxi and Qinghai, among mainland China’s poorer and least globally connected provinces.