We must call time on ‘independence’ madness

Separatist movements are springing up worldwide; we must not let them take hold here, Chow Pak-chin writes

If, as Albert Einstein famously said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say members of a certain segment of our community appear to have lost their heads. “Pro-democracy” politicians overreach by pursuing what they believe is the popular political ideology of “Hong Kong self-determination” in an attempt to win voters’ support in the run-up to the March 11 Legislative Council by-election to elect four lawmakers, replacing those disqualified for failing to properly take oaths of office late last year.

These politicians have been repeating the same political chorus like a broken record, remaining in a state of constant denial and refusing to believe this “self-determination” path is unrealistic and ultimately destined to fail. It’s not going to work because it’s based on shaky grounds and, legally speaking, has no leg to stand on. Simply put, no matter how optimistically they try to paint the future, this political pursuit will only lead to self-destruction rather than selfdetermination.

It’s imperative for Hong Kong people to stop this political insanity to avoid further damage to our community as a whole and not let them bury the truth.

The simple and undeniable truth, as laid down in Article 1, Chapter 1 of the Basic Law is that: “The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China.” Hence any call for selfdetermination, which is no different from independence, is not only flawed in principle but also unlawful under the Basic Law.

As a popular saying goes, “the truth is permanent and everything else falls by the wayside”.

The truth is Chapter 2 of the Basic Law clearly spells out the relationship between the central authorities and HKSAR. And in Article 12 of this chapter: “The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be a local administrative region of the People’s Republic of China, which shall enjoy a high degree of autonomy and come directly under the Central People’s Government.”

The truth is as the HKSAR comes directly under the central government, it means Beijing has the power to appoint the chief executive and principal officials of the executive authorities of the SAR in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 4 of the Basic Law.

Under the Basic Law, the central authority has many powers, including taking charge of political reforms. This goes to show Hong Kong has a high degree of autonomy but it certainly does not have absolute autonomy. This high degree of autonomy is granted by Beijing and without an ounce of doubt, self-determination is and will never be an option for Hong Kong.

The truth is the central government has the authority to exercise its constitutional power under the Basic Law while the HKSAR exercises power granted by the central authority.

Putting this into perspective, as Li Fei — chairman of the HKSAR Basic Law Committee of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the country’s top legislature — said, any candidates contesting the upcoming LegCo by-election who advocates any form of self-determination should be disqualified.

Li was commenting on the case of Demosisto’s Agnes Chow Ting who was banned from the LegCo by-election on the grounds of her party’s calls for self-determination.

Any form of self-determination breaches the Basic Law and fundamentally goes against the spirit of the city’s constitutional basis and erodes the foundation upon which Hong Kong exercises the powers granted by the central government in governing Hong Kong.

For all these reasons, we must nip it in the bud before it runs out of control.

A wave of calls supporting selfdetermination or independence seems to be sweeping across the world. This anti-establishment sentiment is seen by many as a contagion that’s spreading rapidly and there does not appear to be any nation in the world that is immune to it.

Those calling out the slogan for Hong Kong’s self-determination need to be reminded of the dangers, real and potential, of breaking off from the motherland. They should not harbor any false hopes that calling for selfdetermination would garner them enough support to turn the tide in favor of their goal. Letting loose this dangerous disquisition will only lead us on a slippery slope and the further we let it carry on, the deeper we will sink toward a level of no return.

We should not tolerate provocative political talk. We should value and safeguard the principle of “one country, two systems” as it has continuously guaranteed and delivered as promised a high degree of autonomy for this city to flourish under capitalism with Hong Kong characteristics.

And finally, a reality check for all the advocates of self-determination; independence is not the same as freedom as evidenced by many past examples, which show that lots of countries are independent but not exactly free.