Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Christine Loh and Richard Cullen on Working Towards National Betterment in Hong Kong (SCMP)

"Progress in Hong Kong has to be built on loyalty to China"
Christine Loh and Richard Cullen
South China Morning Post
1 October 2018
To put it bluntly, Hong Kong must first and foremost accept the People’s Republic of China for what it is today and work towards national betterment in good as well as difficult times. With loyalty to China made clear, the capacity to contribute, as well as to lobby for Hong Kong’s interests, is manifestly enhanced.
     Before 1997, Hong Kong was an adjunct of the West through colonisation. Colonialism imparted certain benefits along with its ills. The benefits were not evenly distributed. China paid much of the price. Hong Kong collected notable advantages in the form of durable, respected institutions.
     The British also wove a good story – their benevolent administration and the hardworking locals turned the tiny colony into an economic miracle. There was, however, a historical debt to be settled and, in 1984, Britain agreed to hand Hong Kong back to China in 1997.
     China then was poor and backward. China’s policy of “one country, two systems” was the pragmatic solution to bridge the differences. The Basic Law, promulgated by China in 1990, spelled out how the Hong Kong system would function post-1997, including the maintenance of all of Hong Kong’s most treasured attributes – individual liberties, rule of law, free markets and a free media... Click here to read the full article.  Loh and Cullen have published a new book. For more information, click here.

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