|
|
 |
|
| Politics & Policy |
The Contracts that China Forgot
Kin-ming Liu
05/03/2004
|
Contracts and Commerce
Beijing’s heavy-handedness has worried not just
democratic activists in this city of 7 million people, but also the usually
apolitical business community. “The discussion on patriotism is an unhelpful
distraction,” says Lucille Barale, chairwoman of the American Chamber of
Commerce in Hong Kong. “One of Hong Kong’s distinctive features is its strong
rule of law, and anything that takes away from that is going to have an impact
not only on the quality of Hong Kong generally, but as a place to do business.
Having things go forward in accordance with the Basic Law is very
important.”
For the 10th year in a row, Hong Kong ranks at the top of the
list of the 155 economies surveyed jointly by the Wall Street Journal and the
Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank, in their Index of
Economic Freedom. As strong supporters of Hong Kong’s free market system,
however, both the Wall Street Journal and Heritage are feeling uneasy about
China’s treatment of the enclave of liberty. An editorial that ran in the Wall
Street Journal’s U.S. and Asian editions in January noted that if the index
measured political freedom, “Hong Kong’s score would have taken a plunge on the
news that Beijing has decided to slow the pace of democratic reform in Hong Kong
and perhaps abandon it altogether. This is a clear violation of the terms by
which Britain agreed to return its then-colony to China in 1997.” Edwin Feulner,
president of Heritage wrote: “It’s clear that too many in China still have no
idea of what it takes to build and maintain a prosperous and stable
society.”
What is going on between China and Hong Kong is, in the eyes of
these Western observers and many Hong Kong citizens, analogous to reinterpreting
the terms of a business deal after both parties have signed the contract. If
Beijing can openly defy an international agreement with Britain and violate the
self-governing terms it promised Hong Kong, how can foreign businessmen trust
such a government to honor its trade obligations?  | Kin-ming Liu is the managing editor of the opinion page at Apple Daily, a
Chinese-language newspaper in Hong Kong. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
