36-NOV-1992 12:28
BRITISH TRADE COMM
P.03
ANALYSIS
"Every dog is allowed by the law one free bite. After the dog has once bitten a person
it is presumed that its owner knows it to be savage"
Spectator magazine (possibly anticipating a Deng Xiaoping reaction)
Hong Kong's new governor, an amiable commando, is discovering that his charms are not irresistible. A coterie of blusterous mainland apparatchiki, relics from the territory's bureaucratic past, forlorn captains of industry and bewildered stockbrokers is mounting a campaign to undermine his efforts to inject a greater degree of accountability and transparency into the local policy-making process.
Patten is taken to task by members of this loose coalition for making a mockery of the idea of convergence. endeavouring to "empower" Hong Kong to a point of effectively decoupling it from China, acting in an overbearing manner - some commentators go to the absurd lengths of implying that Britain has as much right to revamp the territory's political institutions as Beijing has to promote self-rule for Northern Ireland and Scotland - and, more importantly, creating a constitutional machinery that will dampen Hong Kong's economic dynamism.
Most of these assertions are highly questionable. Convergence is a bilateral process and China has taken such liberties with the provisions of the Sino-British Joint Declaration (its volte-face regarding the composition of the Final Court of Appeal is an obvious example) that it would be easy to demonstrate that Deng Xiaoping's fickleness presents a more serious problem in this respect. Moreover, convergence is a dynamic process and it is legitimate occasionally to stretch the parameters within which the two parties operate, whether explicitly or implicitly, in order to reflect changes in the socio-economic environ. ment (such as the clamour for greater democracy in the territory).
While the assessment of the governor's political reform proposals is a subjective exercise, the suggestion that they are modest in character and possibly even confer an advantage on pro-Beijing elements which could seize the initiative in the new functional constitu- encies and mobilize substantial support at the district board level - has considerable appeal. Insinuations that they amount to a declaration of independence, or carry the "one country, two systems" concept to dangerous extremes, have a hollow ring to them.
The analogy between efforts by Britain to modify marginally the rules of the constitutional game in Hong Kong and hypothetical intervention by China on behalf of Northern Ireland and Scotland in the UK context also stretches the limits of the imagination beyond the realm of credibility. Britain, while bound by the letter and spirit of the formal and informal agreements with China, continues to perform key management functions in the territory and discharge responsibilities inherent in its role as guardian. If Patten and the government which he represents chose to indulge every Beijing whim, this would be tantamount to a dereliction of duty.
Claims that
Chris
Patten...
...is
abandoning policy of "convergence".
...are highly questionable
His political reform proposals are modest...
...
and are within Britain's role as pre-1997 Guardian of
HK
Greater democracy could bring
The claim that democratic reforms throaton prosperity and stability merits more serious consideration. After all, there is ample evidence, empirical as well as theoretical in nature, lu support the argument that a system allowing opportunistic politicians, greedy ióbbyists and myopic votors to influence policy outcomes is not conducive to rapid economic growin (for a lucid discussion of the deficiencies of democracy see Richard B. McKenzie and Gordon Tullock, Modern Political Economy and Mancur Olson, The Rise and Decline of stability... Nations).
economic
Indeed, the dangers of "demosclerosis" - that is, economic stagnation induced by heavy...but an doses of democracy - should not be underestimated. The dangers associated with the unaccountable system apparently favoured by China are, however, even greater. A heavy concentration government
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