Deeper integration with mainland is how HK can survive

The entrances of the High Court and the Court of Final Appeal buildings became the latest targets of arson attacks on Dec 8, the day the Civil Human Rights Front organized its first procession after the District Council elections in late November. The fires, though extinguished, are thought-provoking. They prompt us to contemplate why the supposedly sacrosanct judicial institutions in Hong Kong were attacked and what significance it bears for all of Hong Kong. In my opinion, it symbolizes the burn that Hong Kong has to endure before its rebirth.

The burn refers to not only the arsons that the rioters in blackshirts have committed throughout Hong Kong during the six-month “black revolution”. It also refers to the suffering Hong Kong is enduring because of the “black revolution” orchestrated by the US, which is part of the “New Cold War” the US has launched against China. The New Cold War is likened to a fire, for it can cause great destruction to the world order.

Researchers are divided on whether the world has entered the era of a New Cold War. As far as I am concerned, the US has launched the New Cold War against China when it adjusted its global strategy and declared Russia and China its major rivals at the end of 2017 and early 2018. The biggest shift in the global political landscape in a century is likely to continue through the first half of the 21st century, and will inevitably lead to major adjustments in international relations. Russia has also been drawn into the New Cold War.

The New Cold War will present itself in the forms of regional wars between proxies and direct trade conflicts between the major powers. The fundamental characteristic of the New Cold War, however, is to maintain nuclear deterrence against each other while vying for superiority in data intelligence and space missions. This reflects an unprecedented expansion of economic globalization, which has been facilitated by the new technological revolution since the end of the previous Cold War in the late 1980s. In this sense, the New Cold War is distinct from the one in the last century.

The New Cold War is still in its initial stage in 2019, but the onset of the “black revolution” suggests it is accelerating.

Hong Kong has a unique role in the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, particularly in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development and the construction of an international innovation and technology hub in the Bay Area, both of which are crucial to the country competing for a dominant position in the fourth technological and industrial revolution in the 21st century. According to the Outline Development Plan for the Bay Area, Hong Kong will leverage its advantage as an international metropolis to promote the construction of the innovation and technology hub for the Bay Area.

In its all-out effort to contain China, Washington politicians took advantage of the controversy surrounding the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation Bill to instigate and orchestrate the “black revolution”, which serves its objective of separating Hong Kong from the Chinese mainland and turning it into the “West Berlin” in the New Cold War. Should this plot fail, Washington will exterminate Hong Kong’s contribution to the Chinese nation, rendering it a burden on the country. The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, signed into law by US President Donald Trump on Nov 27, is tasked to carry out that hidden agenda. If the central government in Beijing dreads the law, then Washington will have achieved its goal of co-governing Hong Kong with Beijing; it will then try to turn the city into an independent political entity entirely under US control. If Beijing resolutely counteracts the law, Washington will not hesitate to destroy Hong Kong, with collateral damage to its own business interests in the city.

China certainly will not swallow the bitter fruits of sacrificing its own core interests. Although Beijing has announced counter measures against the law, Washington insists on going it alone to pass the so-called Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019. It is predictable that Washington will intensify the New Cold War against China in 2020.

It is not difficult to conceive that Hong Kong’s journey to rebirth amid the New Cold War will be incredibly arduous.

Nowadays, Hong Kong simply cannot butter its bread on both sides, as it did in the second half of the last century during the old Cold War. It must instead take side between the Chinese mainland and the US in the first half of the 21st century. Needless to say, it is impossible for Hong Kong, which has returned to China, to take the side of America. Nevertheless, owing to certain historical factors, many people in Hong Kong are inextricably tied to the US in terms of monetary interests, beliefs and sentiments. Among these individuals, a number of them serve in the political establishment, or hold executive positions in the business or professional sectors. They wish to drag Hong Kong to the US side or avoid breaking ties with America in the Sino-US rivalry. Consequently, in order to promote Hong Kong’s deeper integration into the country’s national development, Hong Kong must first overcome the forces that are trying to draw the city closer to the US — by way of exposing Washington’s ulterior motive of containing China. In this sense, crushing the “black revolution”, ending violence and restoring social order are now the most pressing tasks for Hong Kong.

The author is a senior research fellow of China Everbright Holdings.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.