Opinion | President Xi delivers a strong dose of confidence to One Country, Two Systems

By Edward Hei Leung, LegCo Member

Last Friday, when the city celebrated the 25th anniversary of the return to its motherland, President Xi Jinping summarized the implementation of One Country, Two Systems into four requirements. The city has to fully and faithfully implement the principle of One Country, Two Systems, uphold the central government's overall jurisdiction while securing high degree of autonomy, adopt the principles of patriots governing Hong Kong, and maintain our distinctive status and advantages.

It does not take much to apprehend that the city's previous capitalist system and way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years. The promise of 50 years unchanged is further written in our constitutional document, the Basic Law Article 5. Sad but true, opposition parties have deliberately spread fear and misunderstanding over a quarter century, in spite of the repeated assurance of central government. As a result, the city was engulfed into several waves of political unrests, including Occupy Central incident, Mong Kok riot and Black-clad violence in 2019.

Now, President Xi voiced out his confidence on One Country, Two Systems. As he added, "there is no reason to change a good system." Rewind to March 2022, Xia Baolong, the director of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, said that the idea of 50 years unchanged is a way of expression rather than an absolute measurement. President Xi's message did not only echo with the notion of former state leader Deng Xiaoping, but also represented an enhanced elaboration of what Xia noted a few months ago. That is to say, 2047 should not be a boundary.

As to the second demand, President Xi required the city to ensure the high degree of autonomy and the overall jurisdiction by the central government concurrently. In the past, separatist groups exaggerated the inherent mechanism of Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong, and placed the idea seemingly contradictory to the overall jurisdiction.

Opposition leaders, for instance, prioritized the civic nomination of Chief Executive election candidates. Yet, Basic Law Annex I clearly stipulates the nomination and election procedures with a broadly representative committee, the elected candidate shall be appointed by the Central People's Government. The so-called genuine universal suffrage maliciously undermined the key role of central government and weakened the solid foundation of One Country at last. As President Xi set the tone, there is no room for manipulations by subversive activists.

Let us drive to the third request, the patriot governing Hong Kong principle. It is not a newly created concept, especially when Deng, the chief architect of One Country, Two System, had already stressed in 1984. From Deng's point of view, a patriot refers to the one who respects his or her own nation, support the return of Hong Kong sincerely, and never take actions to impair the city's prosperity and stability.

In recent years, hundreds of thousands of young people were misled by politicians like Nathan Law and Dennis Kwok. Worse still, they even supported foreign governments to interfere Hong Kong's affairs and impose sanctions upon our top officials. Accordingly, the central government has to re-emphasize this habitually ignored guiding principle via electoral reforms.

In regard to our unique role, President Xi demanded Hong Kong to maintain the distinctive status and advantages. Thanks to the steadfast if not unreserved supports from the central government, Hong Kong will sharpen the competitive edge of being an international financial, shipping and trading center, not to mention its common law system. Only when the One Country, Two Systems are well-governed can the city play a significant role amid Chinese journey to the national rejuvenation.

In fact, President Xi's four requirements mark the milestone of One Country, Two System. On one hand, he has promised for the continuity of the current political rule and the firm support from central authorities. On the other hand, President Xi pointed out the key to success, while weeding out the toxic politics that endanger the city's governance. His speech is the strong dose of confidence to all of us, so as to the One Country, Two Systems.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

Read more articles by Edward Hei Leung:

Opinion丨HKSAR 25th anniversary – An unconditional support of our motherland for a quarter century

Opinion | Hong Kong was not a British colony? The West should respect UN's voting result