Taking Beijing to Hong Kong

Taking Beijing to Hong Kong
Li Keqiang brings mainland political culture to the city.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - AUGUST 23, 2011

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Hong Kong last week was a success in some respects. He came bearing benefits from the central government such as measures to promote offshore use of the yuan, which should bolster the city's position as a financial center. However, Mr. Li failed to establish the same kind of rapport with ordinary Hong Kong people achieved by Premier Wen Jiabao, the man he is set to replace in next year's leadership transition.

Much of the blame must go to his security detail and the Hong Kong police. On his first day in the territory last Tuesday, Mr. Li visited a housing estate to express his sympathy with residents over inflation and high property prices. But the good will dissipated when one resident made the mistake of coming out of his apartment wearing a T-shirt commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

Wong King was promptly bundled away by men in dark suits, who told his daughter that wearing such a shirt was "rude." To add insult to injury, the police later justified his detention by accusing him of not paying an old jay-walking fine.

The following day officials turned away legislator Leung Kwok-heung from a dinner with local politicians because he was not wearing a tie. Putting on a jacket was already a big step for Mr. Leung, who usually wears a Che Guevera T-shirt and is known as a rabble-rouser. He protested that his invitation specified "business attire" and that he attended previous banquets with national leaders in similar outfits.

On Thursday, Mr. Li gave a speech at Hong Kong University and won kudos for making a few remarks in English. But the police marred the occasion by scuffling with student protesters, pushing some of them to the ground and keeping all of them outside the hall for the duration of the event. Vice Chancellor Tsui Lap-chee later apologized for the treatment of his students.

Journalists are also upset that throughout the three-day visit security arrangements were designed to prevent them from doing their jobs properly. In at least one case, they were not even allowed into the room where Mr. Li was speaking at a public event. The Hong Kong Journalists Association marched on police headquarters this weekend to express their anger.

These incidents taken together suggest that the police were acting not to protect Mr. Li from bodily harm, but to shield him from the embarrassment of being photographed with a protester. Perhaps it is a reflection of Beijing's paranoia after the Arab Spring, but Mr. Li brought the mainland's intolerance of free expression with him to a city that claims to have the rule of law and civil liberties. Mr. Wong, the T-shirt wearer, put it best when he asked, "Are they just coming to Hong Kong to see people clapping their hands?"

Copied from WSJ.com

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