HONG KONG IS coming up on the 10th anniversary of its reversion to Chinese rule in 1997. At the time, the gloss on turning over more than six million people to Communist rule was that Hong Kong’s freedom and rule of law would influence the mainland, rather than the other way around. Another rationale went that Chinese leaders would at least tread carefully because they hoped to entice Taiwan into unifying with the mainland under the “one country, two systems” arrangement that supposedly applies in Hong Kong. Neither scenario has been borne out by events.
Consider what one of Hong Kong’s top officials said the other day: Taiwan’s democracy is a “negative lesson” for Hong Kong. Stephen Lam, the secretary for constitutional affairs, was responding to remarks by Taiwanese officials endorsing full democracy for Hong Kong via that subversive tool, the teleconference.
