Unpacking the white paper on ‘Hong Kong democracy’: why now and what does Beijing hope to achieve setting out the rules the city will play by? Hint: geopolitical rivalry

Analysts say official document and campaign marks part of a strategy to capture what Beijing sees as moral high ground on Hong Kong’s democracy

Other observers note Beijing lacks systematic or transparent mechanism to release historical archives, thereby putting it in a disadvantageous position in the debate

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An official from the Chinese foreign ministry gives a briefing on the white paper in Hong Kong. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 9:30pm, 28 Dec 2021Updated: 10:44pm, 28 Dec 2021

More than a week before Hong Kong’s Legislative Council election under a Beijing-imposed overhaul was held on December 19, the State Council’s white paper on the city’s democratic development was completed and ready to be released at any time. The “publish” button was pressed 11 seconds past 10am the following day.

The official document, titled “Hong Kong Democratic Progress Under the Framework of One Country, Two Systems”, saw the light of day nine minutes before all election results were announced on December 20.

Mainland experts familiar with the central government’s thinking on Hong Kong affairs have noted that the publication of the official document and the ensuing high-profile publicity campaign to attack Western-style democracy is part of Beijing’s coherent strategy to capture what it sees as the moral high ground on Hong Kong’s democracy.

“It is part of Beijing’s grand strategy of governing Hong Kong in the new era, which highlights the need for theoretical justification on top of practice,” a mainland academic familiar with the drafting stage of the white paper told the Post.

In the days that followed the release of the white paper, officials and experts appeared in media briefings as part of an extensive publicity campaign. Photo: Simon Song

Seasoned analysts said the document should be read in parallel with another white paper called “China: Democracy that Works”, also released by the State Council Information Office three weeks ago as part of a broader effort to promote the country’s system of governance as more effective than the model exemplified by the United States.