Hong Kong In the World by Simon Xu Hui Shen

Author:Simon Xu Hui Shen [Shen, Simon Xu Hui]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783269396
Publisher: World Scientific
Published: 2016-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

7.2The United States–Hong Kong Policy Act and Beyond: Documenting the Liberal Grand Strategy and its Imperial Development since 9/11

If the Policy Act is to be understood within the theoretical framework employed in this chapter, several points should be noted. First, the Policy Act reaffirms the importance attached to the maintenance of Hong Kong’s entitlement to the civil rights guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. From the first Policy Act Report to the latest one, released in 2006 (as there were no more reports after the tenth anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover), the progress of democratic development and human rights in Hong Kong has been monitored. The approach adopted by the US government is summarized as follows:

The United States has strong interests in the protection of human rights and the promotion of democratic institutions throughout the world. The U.S. is committed to promoting democratic values in Hong Kong, ensuring that the people of Hong Kong have a say in the governance of Hong Kong, and supporting steady advances toward universal suffrage. The Hong Kong people share many values and interests with Americans and have worked to make Hong Kong a model of what can be achieved in a society based on rule of law and respect for civil liberties.20

The US consul-general to Hong Kong, James Cunningham, reaffirmed this by saying that “greater democracy promotes stability because people want accountable and transparent government which takes into account their interests and which abides by law”.21 Most essentially, he pointed to the very American belief that “stability without democracy is illusory”. This position is more or less in line with the arguments of Richard Stites, the director of the public affairs section of the US consulate-general in Hong Kong, whom was interviewed in March 2004.22

The comprehensive reporting on human rights and democratic development has amply demonstrated the US commitment towards these grand liberalist issues. But the rationale for this sort of reporting is that it may highlight the great differences between mainland China and Hong Kong in political structure, norms and values. This enables America to play the “Hong Kong Card” to push China to adopt more measures to guarantee the civil rights of mainland Chinese, by assimilating those democratic elements that are so central to the success of Hong Kong. The underpinning rationale is that, by so doing, domestic constraints will reduce the tendency for China to engage in aggressive behaviour. As Ikenberry has put it, the belief that “the world wars were caused fundamentally by the rise of illiberal, autocratic states and that American post-war security was dependent on the successful transition of these states to democracy was widespread and at the heart of American foreign policy”.23 Undeniably, China did sign those international conventions. However, China’s track record, from an American perspective at least, is far from satisfactory. It is hoped that the kind of governance and rights that China permits to be practised in Hong Kong will

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