Shades Off | Hong Kong’s Olympic success shows ‘one country, two systems’ is very much alive
- Hong Kong’s participation in the Olympics proves Beijing hasn’t broken all its promises
- Our sports stars have shown that Hongkongers, when left alone in the arenas they have been promised, can deliver
But then along came the Tokyo Olympic Games, and the city’s stellar performance under its own flag rather than the national one, and it’s as if the two were separate entities.
Local pride swelled appreciably with each new medal won; there were deafening cheers for Hongkongers, but there was nary a sound when an athlete from China triumphed.
There was a gold, two silvers and three bronzes, a significantly smaller tally than China’s, but impressive given that the city has only 7.5 million people compared to the 1.4 billion who live on the other side of the Shenzhen River.
We may be part of China but, given such an achievement, Hongkongers have every right to be proud, give spirited support to our home-grown athletes and bask in their glory. That’s what the other part of that “one country, two systems” model of governance, which officials repeatedly contend is still as strong as ever, is supposed to be about.
