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The disputed anti-subversion law, against
which half a million people took the streets of Hong Kong, will not be
presented to the Legislative Council (Legcon) for approval on Wednesday. The
local government head, Tung Chee-hwa, in fact decided to suspend the
parliamentary review of the norm. Will the bill therefore be filed away? “It
is difficult to say what will happen. The situation is very complex”,
responded Father Gianni Criveller, a missionary of the Pontifical Institute
of Foreign Missions (PIME), contacted over the phone by MISNA a few hours
after Tung’s announcement. “The bill may remain suspended to re-emerge in a
more favourable moment for the government, or it may be re-proposed earlier
with substantial amendments, some already proposed, rendering the law
acceptable for the majority of the population”, added the missionary, a
researcher of the diocesan ‘Holy Spirit study centre of Hong Kong. “What is
certain is that both Beijing and Hong Kong authorities did not expect such a
reaction from the people and it was a large mistake to try and minimise, as
some politicians did with a certain degree of cynicism and a poorly concealed
sense of superiority, the awareness of the citizens of the possible
consequences of the law on civil liberties”. Not only, the protests against
the law, known as ‘Article 23’, were also an occasion to emphasise two
emerging factors of the civil society of Hong Kong: the wide participation of
the middle class and the visibility and credit of the Catholic Church, with
the personal involvement of the Archbishop Joseph Zen. The people always
listen to the Archbishop’s opinions – underlined Fr. Criveller to MISNA –
even those outside the Catholic community, which counts 5% of the residents.
“It is not usual in Hong Kong to see nuns, priests and catechists marching
for politically correlated issues”, insisted the missionary depicting the
always moderate character of the members of the local Church. The fact that
the expression of the protest was not to be underestimated was instead
clearly understood by the leader of the Liberal Party, James Tien, member of
the government coalition that unexpectedly abandoned Tung, forcing him to
postpone the voting of the bill. “The head of the government, with a certain
political lightness attributed to him by many, thought it would be sufficient
to ensure the support of the DAP (Democratic Alliance for Progress)
pro-Chinese movement to be automatically followed by its liberal ally,
representative of the financial world. But he was wrong. On Saturday Tung
with great emphasis had also proposed three significant modifications to the
law, hoping to close the matter. But the way in which he did it irritated
allies and opposers”. The amendments annulled the extension to Hong Kong of
what is judged ‘subversive’ in China – a change auspisced by both the
Christian Churches and spiritualists of the Falun Gong, persecuted by Beijing
but free in the former British colony – prohibiting searches without court
warrants and making concessions to the press on the disclosure of ‘State
secrets’. “But Tung introduced the amendments without consulting the
Legislative Council, with a procedure out of parliamentary regulation. This
may have been among the motives for the resignation of Tien, who also appears
to have understood that the days of Tung’s government are coming to an end
and wants no involvement in its eventual fall”. According to local press
sources, Tien consulted with Beijing which apparently reassured him on the
fact that the approval of the law is necessary but not urgent. Is a change of
leadership in Hong Kong in the makings? According to Fr. Criveller, Tung’s
political choices are weighed down by a ‘paternalistic confucian’ vision that
clashes with the necessity for at least consultation with all the political
forces in a context such as the former British colony. But aside from this
sort of legitimacy crisis of the local government, what bothers Beijing is
the failure on an economic level: “In the intent of the central government,
Hong Kong must become a ‘good example’ to convince also Taiwan that the ‘one
nation two systems’ model can be applied with success”, explained the
missionary, who conducts studies on relations between Christianity and the
Chinese culture, but he remains the man personally chosen by former president
Jiang Zemin, and his substitution without approval of the still influential
political figure would be a hazardous move. Given also that internal equilibrium
in China is a top priority over all else for Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao”.
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