Kit Poon, The Political Future of Hong Kong: Democracy Within Communist China

Abstract

The Political Future of Hong Kong is a well-nuanced evaluation of Hong Kong’s future as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The introduction presents an overview of the major crises which diminished the legitimacy of the first Chief Executive, then highlights the book’s main focus—i.e., the role of the Chinese leadership in shaping Hong Kong politics and the impact of this on SAR democratization. The book’s analytical framework represents a new approach that seriously considers Beijing’s influence as a self-interested stakeholder in Hong Kong’s future, without discounting continuing British legacies. The volume specifically examines the office of the Chief Executive because it embodies two often conflicting imperatives: the center’s need both to preserve executive power and to accommodate “new and rising” local demands for “democratic representation” (p. xix). The first two chapters delineate how Britain and the PRC maintained a top-down political system in Hong Kong, pre- and post-1997. Chapters One and Two document how diverse meanings of “accountability” evolved through British colonial rule to the current SAR’s still emerging governance via the Basic Law. Chapter One charts the belated shift of the colonial regime from its more habitual “trusteeship” or executive-led governance mentality to a “delegate” or democratic conception of rule during Hong Kong’s political transition. This shift was a strategy which better allowed Britain to cope with migration issues, possible international censure, and difficulties of Hong Kong rule. Chapter Two insightfully details structurally similar pressures facing the PRC as it resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong. For the PRC, the ideal was “patriots” governing the SAR, a notion which paralleled Britain’s colonialism. However, two competing objectives—national unification and a capitalist Hong Kong—made Beijing leaders acquiesce to the principles of local governance and an elected legislature. However, use of the term