Xi Vows to Support Hong Kong in First Official Visit

Jun.29 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Hong Kong. It's his first official visit since becoming China's leader in 2012. The three-day visit marks the 20th anniversary of the handover back to Chinese rule. Bloomberg's Rosalind Chin reports on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Europe."

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Has “one country, two systems” been a success for Hong Kong?

THIS weekend Xi Jinping will set foot in Hong Kong for the first time since becoming president of China in 2013. The purpose of the visit is to mark the 20th anniversary, on July 1st, of the handover of the territory from Britain to China in 1997, and to inaugurate Carrie Lam as the new chief executive of Hong Kong. During his visit he is likely to praise the success of “one country, two systems”, the formula that allows Hong Kong to have its own laws and which promises that its way of life would remain unchanged for at least 50 years. But some Hong Kongers worry that their freedoms are being abrogated as Beijing asserts it authority over the territory. Does having “two systems” work?

The principle of “one country, two systems” was first proposed by Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980s as way to reconcile the communist mainland with historically Chinese territories—Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau—that had capitalist economies. In 1984 the concept was enshrined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which the two countries agreed that Britain would hand over sovereignty to China. It is also in Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law. (Macau, which was returned from Portugal in 1999, has a similar version; the concept has so far failed to tempt back Taiwan.) The Basic Law states that even though Hong Kong is an “inalienable” part of the People’s Republic, China’s parliament authorises it to exercise a “high degree of autonomy” to enjoy executive, legislative and independent judicial power. China is responsible for defence and foreign affairs but Hong Kong runs its own internal security. The central government is banned from interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs, and the Communist Party has no official presence. Freedom of speech, press, religion and protest are all defended by law.

China has seemed less committed to the formulation. As Hong Kong becomes economically less important to the overall Chinese economy, the central government has become more assertive. Beijing is furious that Hong Kong’s system has allowed “localist” politicians who advocate self-determination to be voted into power. Hardliners treat the territory as a political threat and like to remind Hong Kong that its autonomy is delegated by China’s parliament. The central government’s representatives in Hong Kong have become more visible and democrats complain about ever-more-blatant attempts by China to manipulate elections. Lawyers fear an erosion of judicial independence as China “interprets” the Basic Law to suit its own political needs, most recently by removing two localists from power. Joshua Wong, one of Hong Kong’s most high-profile pro-democracy activists—who, along with several others was arrested at a protest hours before Mr Xi's arrival—claims that confidence in “one country, two systems” has been replaced by the fear of it becoming “one country, 1.5 systems”.