Jeff Bader: I have strong sympathy for the cause of the demonstrators, but I also think, when talking about where this is headed, we have to focus on reality, not purely idealism. The reality is Beijing is quite intractable. They have a different sensibility and perspective. Its an illusion to project Western wishful thinking onto how they approach this issue. They see Chinese stability, as well as the leadership of the party, at stake. These are issues on which there is almost no room for compromise. . . . . Beijing is not going to lose. Theyre just not willing to, and they have the power to make that will stick. So whats the off-ramp? You need demonstrators and sensible leaders among the democrats to say, This election China’s promised is better than what Hong Kong had before. Its universal suffrage; its the first time Hong Kong will ever have a competitive election for chief executive. It falls short of a free, open competitive election. But it is at least a competitive election, where candidates have to appeal to the public to win. The real objective should be getting some promise of change on the percentage of people on the election commission required to nominate a candidate, in order to ensure that the candidates truly represent the entire electorate. If everyone just ends up going home and protests fade, and the 50 percent threshold [meaning Beijing’s absolute control over the nomination process] stays the same without a commitment to revisit the threshold in the future, Beijing will conclude that intransigence has won, and the demonstrators will have nothing to show for their effort. (Jeff Bader served as deputy consul general for the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong.)
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 06:03:36 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015