City Beat | Can a Taiwanese academic and Chinese patriot serve as a new role model for Hong Kong?
A Shanghai-based scholar who had her passport revoked by Taipei after becoming a Communist Party delegate on the mainland is being held up as a shining example by Beijing of how Hongkongers should embrace the motherland
In the early 1980s, when Deng Xiaoping designed the constitutional principle of “one country, two systems” for Hong Kong’s transfer of sovereignty, it was an open secret that he, as well as the leaders in Beijing at the time, had Taiwan in mind – that one day, the island could be reunited with the motherland under the same governing formula.
Time flies and things change; 20 years after Hong Kong’s handover, it’s still unlikely that Taiwan will appreciate the Hong Kong model, given the ups and downs in cross-strait relations over the decades.
Tension between Hong Kong and the mainland remains a hot issue for governments on both sides, but Beijing insists this creative administrative design by Deng serves the city’s best interests.
So, when a Taiwanese academic based in Shanghai appeared in the Great Hall of the People last month as a delegate to the 19th Communist Party congress, she caused quite a stir.
Lu Lian, deputy dean of foreign languages and literature at the prestigious Fudan University, shocked many by proudly declaring what an honour it was for her to participate in such an important gathering of the ruling party. It immediately sparked huge media interest, given the many possible and profound implications.
