Hong Kong celebrated the anniversary of joining the PRC

celebrations

On Tuesday night, the main celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China ended. In the ten years that Hong Kong has been a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China, one of the richest and most dynamic cities in East Asia has changed little. But ten years of governing Hong Kong have greatly changed China itself.

The festive events that took place in Hong Kong over the past weekend were amazing in their scale. On Friday, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Hong Kong, having not yet visited the SAR as the head of the party and state. The main celebrations took place on the night of July 1 in the pompous building of the Hong Kong Exhibition Center. To the applause of 4 thousand guests, Hu Jintao entered the hall, accompanied by his wife Liu Yongqing and the head of the SAR, Donald Tsang. The concert with the participation of 800 Hong Kong and Chinese pop stars ended with fireworks - almost 32 thousand volleys were fired in 36 minutes.

The next morning, Hu Jintao went to the ceremony to introduce the new government of Hong Kong, which will be headed by Donald Tsang. At the oath ceremony, he promised to “defend the interests of Hong Kong to the end and guarantee the democratic development of the SAR.” Mr. Tsang also revealed the government’s immediate plans in this area - to publish a special “green book” this year, which will finally clearly and clearly record how and when universal suffrage will be introduced in Hong Kong. In his response speech, Hu Jintao praised the leadership of the autonomy and briefly reminded the audience of the history of the return of Hong Kong to China. True, in his speech the Chinese leader significantly smoothed out this difficult and dramatic process.

When Beijing was just beginning negotiations with London on the transfer of Hong Kong to China in the late 1980s, the very formulation of the question might have seemed ridiculous to many. On the one hand, the richest city with the freest economy in the world (Hong Kong has topped the Economic Freedom ranking for 14 years in a row), the main financial center of East Asia, one of the “Asian tigers” and perhaps the most successful example of the development of capitalism outside Europe and the USA . On the other hand, there is an unpredictable communist country with a billion people, which has just begun to recover from the results of the Cultural Revolution and has embarked on the path of moderate reforms, taking place under strict party control.

However, the then leader of China, Deng Xiaoping, stubbornly pushed through his idea. He put forward the formula for unifying Hong Kong and the PRC “one country, two systems” and even negotiated with Hong Kong oligarchs and leaders of the largest mafia communities in order to achieve their loyalty. Finally, on June 1, 1997, the "last jewel of the British crown" became an integral part of China.

One of the main components of the success of Beijing's policy in Hong Kong has been the connection of the metropolis to the rapidly growing economy of mainland China. If ten years ago, Chinese from the inner provinces of the PRC sought to work in Hong Kong, now exactly the opposite is happening: many Hong Kongers are rushing to China in search of good work. Big business also benefited significantly. As a source in Hong Kong business circles shared with Kommersant, “the central government, through its channels, helps us develop business on the mainland and around the world: when you have such a production colossus as China behind you, you feel much more confident.”

It seems that Beijing, which learned a lot from Hong Kong in the field of business in the 1980s, is now closely studying the political experience of the SAR. Judging by the latest actions of the authorities, the Chinese leadership is not only not interested in curtailing the Hong Kong political system, but also views Hong Kong as a platform for experiments with democracy. Many analysts believe that the upcoming political modernization of the PRC, which Chinese leaders have suddenly been actively talking about recently, will be built taking into account the Hong Kong experience. It is quite possible that this process will begin in the fall, after the 17th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Then, by the way, the “green book” promised by Donald Tsang should appear.

ALEXANDER Kommersant-GABUEV

Ten years with a view of Beijing