Hong Kong – Many were gloomy about Hong Kong’s future 10 years ago when the British colony of dazzling skyscrapers and gung-ho capitalists was returned to the Chinese motherland.
There were fears troops would be goose-stepping down the streets, muzzling any whisper of political dissent. Masses of peasants would stampede across the border, filling the city with beggars and thieves. And the most talented Hong Kongers would become “yacht people,” fleeing to Australia, Canada, the U.S. and other places welcoming their business savvy, workaholic ways and cash.
Ten years later, the soldiers are here but are rarely seen in uniform on the streets. Mainland Chinese are pouring in, but as big-spending tourists buying Rolex watches and shark-fin soup. Many rich Hong Kongers left and returned, happy that their fears have proved groundless.
But not all is well in Hong Kong.
Media critics say formerly outspoken newspapers now pull their punches to avoid angering China. Laws guarantee Beijing’s candidates a majority in its partially elected legislature, leaving the popular pro-democracy parties permanently in the minority. The political and legal system is highly vulnerable to meddling by the Communist overlords in Beijing.
“I don’t think Beijing is seriously ready for democracy in Hong Kong,” said Steve Tsang, an expert on Chinese politics at Oxford University in Britain.
When Britain’s 156-year rule ended, in a lavish ceremony on the rainy midnight of June 30-July 1, 1997, the deal was that the city could keep its capitalist ways and civil liberties for 50 years.
The “one country, two systems” formula promised a wide degree of autonomy, and in many ways, Hong Kong still acts and feels separate from China.
“There have been some very bumpy moments – politically and economically,” British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said during a recent visit. “But some of the more dire predictions I remember so vividly … have not come true.”
