THE POLITICS OF DEMOCRATIZATION IN HONGKONG

Transcription

1 THE POLITICS OF DEMOCRATIZATION IN HONGKONG

2 The Politics of Democratization in HongKong Lo Shiu-hing Lecturer in Politics and Public Administration University 0/ Hong Kong Foreword by Rt Hon Paddy Ashdown, MP

3 First published in Oreat Britain 1997 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire R021 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / First published in the Uni ted States of America 1997 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y ISBN Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shiu-hing, Lo, The politics of democratization in Hong Kong / Lo Shiu-hing. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN (cloth) I. Democracy-Hong Kong. I. Title. JQI539.5.A9IS I 25--<1c20 Lo Shiu-hing 1997 Foreword Rt Hon Paddy Ashdown Hong Kong-Politics and govemment CIP All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permiuing Iimited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. \

4 Contents List 0/ Tables Foreword by Paddy Ashdown, MP Acknowledgements Introduction 1 1. Democratisation Postponed Institutional Reform Popular Response to Reform Citizen Participation: From Pressure Groups to Political Parties Strength and V\Teaknesses of the Democracy Movement: Limits to the 'Explosion of Civil Society' The External Factor and Democratisation Governmental Response to Popular Pressure Elite Values and Attitudes Toward Democratisation 266 Conclusion 300 Bibliography 327 k~ 3«vi Vlll x v

5 List of Tables 2.1 The 1984 Green Paper's Proposal on the Legco The 1984 Green Paper's Proposal on the Exco The '4-4-2' Model of the Legislature The OMELCO Model of the Legislature The Basic Law's Political Model New Pressure Groups, Political Parties in Hong Kong Public Meetings and Processions in Hong Kong, Group Membership of Hongkongers in Voting Activity of Hongkongers in Modes of Expressing the Views of Hongkongers Opinion of Legco Members Toward Britain District Board Members' Support of Political Models Attitudes of District Board Members Toward Democracy Six Definitions of Democracy Among District Board Members Group Participation of District Board Members Petition Activity of District Board Members to the OMELCO Intention of District Board Members to become Legislative Councillors Attitudes of District Board Members Toward Britain Attitudes of District Board Members Toward the Basic Law Attitudes of District Board Members Toward Hong Kong's Autonomy Mter Opinion of District Board Members Toward the Performance of Government Officials Attitudes of District Board Members Toward their Ability to Influence Government Policy Attitudes of District Board Members Toward the Central Provident Fund 283 VI

6 List 01 Tabies vii 8.14 Opinion of Distriet Board Members Toward the Meet-the-Publie Enquiry Seheme Elite Pereeption of the Existenee of Class Elite Definitions of Class Elite Self-Pereeption of Class Status Attitudes of Urbeo and Regeo Members Toward the Role of Couneillors Eleeted by District Boards Opinion of Urbeo and Regeo Members Toward the Relation Between Urbeo or Regeo and Distriet Boards Opinion of Urbeo and Regeo Members Toward the Government 296

7 Foreword by Paddy Ashdown, MP The reverberations of Hong Kong's transltion to Chinese rule will be profound and widely f~lt. For Britain, Hong Kong is the last page of the history of empire. I do not resile from the opinion I expressed in the House of Commons at the time of the Anglo-Chinese Declaration, that it will not be a particularly noble epitaph. Our reluctance to introduce democracy earlier; our failure, especially before Governor Patten, to stand up for Hong Kong more rigorously. And, perhaps most damaging of all, our lack of understanding that we had both a moral duty as weil as a practical interest in granting right of abode to Hong Kong's British passport holders - these will not look good in the hindsight of his tory. For China, Hong Kong will provide the mark by which she will be judged in the first decade of the new century. Whether China is to modernise, democratise, join the community of advanced nations and perhaps even whether she will re-uni te with Taiwan; or whether she will remain a closed, autocratic society, aggressive to outsiders and repressive to her own - all these we will know by what happens in Hong Kong over the next few years. And for Asia, what happens in Hong Kong will influence whether the institutions and culture of the emerging powers of the Pacific rim will be open, democratic and free market based. If democracy, the liberal society and the free market system do not survive in Hong Kong, then Asia will have lost a very important and sueeessful operating model for these things elsewhere. I have always thought of Hong Kong as a kind of modern version of Europe's Hanseatic city-states. Independent, mercantilist, rieh in its eulture, strong in its institutions and exerting a powerful influenee upon those around it. So Lo Shiu-hing's subjeet is one of wide interest to us all. Vlll

8 Foreword by Paddy Ashdown, MP ix For students of democracy and the political process, his book provides a fascinating insight into one of the most important democratic experiments of our time. For those interested in Asia, it makes a valuable contribution to setting the scene for what is going to be, after 1997, one of the most important and critical phases in Asia's development. And for lovers of Hong Kong, amongst whom I count myself, it provides areminder of the strength, vitality, intelligence and subtlety of a people who cannot call themselves a nation, but who have left most nations far behind in the success of their commerce, their sense' of community and the richness of their lives. Paddy Ashdown, MP

9 Acknowledgements This book could not have been completed without the help of many people. I am especially indebted to Professor Victor Falkenheim of the University of Toronto for his comments and for advising me to widen the focus of my research from decolonisation to democratisation in Hong Kong. I extend my gratitude to the members of the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong for their criticisms and suggestions on the third draft of my typeseript, which was introduced to them at a seminar in March Special thanks are also due to an anonymous reviewer of the Macmillan Press for very useful comments and suggestions on the third draft and to the editor, Grainne Twomey, for her help in the process of publishing this book. I am also grateful to Linda Auld Associates for the copyediting work which helped me to clarify my points and which was so crucial to the final version of the typescript. I conducted my fieldwork in Hong Kong from April 1989 to May 1991, and then from September 1993 to From 1989 to 1991, I interviewed thirty-seven pressure group leaders, legislators, political activists, former government officials and current civil servants. Although it was difficult for me to interview some key political figures (the former Governor Sir David \\Tilson and two former members of the Executive Council, namely Baroness Lydia Dunn and Sir Sze-yuen Chung) in Hong Kong, I thank Sir Y. K. Kan, another former member of the Executive Council, who eventually responded to my third letter to hirn. In my correspondence with the retired Hong Kong officials and leaders of the opposition parties in Britain, the result was very fruitful. I am grateful to the former Hong Kong Governor Lord Murray MacLehose, the former British Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe, the former Hong Kong Political Adviser Mr Richard Cliff, the former Deputy Chief Secretary Sir Alan Scott, the former British Minister for Hong Kong Affairs Sir Peter Blaker, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Mr Paddy Ashdown, and the former leader x

10 Acknowledgements Xl of the Labour Party Mr Neil Kinnock for directly or indirectly responding to my questions. Mr Ashdown and Mr Kinnock were kind enough to send me some materials, thus facilitating my research. In addition to personal interviews and correspondence, I conducted three mailed questionnaire suiveys. In December 1989, questionnaires were mailed to all forty-six members of the Legislative Council, and the response rate was forty-one per cent. In May and September 1990, questionnaires were sent to all 432 District Board members and to all 76 members of theurban Council and Regional Council. The response rate of Distriet Board members was twentyeight per cent, whereas the response rate of Urban and Regional councillors was forty-six per cent. Thanks are due to all those respondents who answered my questionnaires. Since September 1993, I have been teaching in Hong Kong and participating in the Hong Kong Transitions Project, which is jointly organised by a small group of academics at the Hong Kong Baptist University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I have to thank the former and current Directors of the Project, Professor Donald McMillen of the University of Southern Queensland and Professor Michael DeGolyer of the Baptist University respectively, for their encouragement and full support in my research. Part of the updated data in this book are derived from the results of a public opinion poil conducted by the project in February 1996 and from my interviews with some local politicians at the grassroots level in 1994 and The list of people who gran ted me interviews with them is long. For in-depth interviews, I am grateful to Mr Allen Lee Peng-fei, Mr Martin Lee, Dr Tse Chi-wai, Sir Jack Cater, Sir David Akersjones, Mr John WaIden, Mr Richard Margolis, Mr Jimmy McGregor, Mr Denis Bray, Mrs Rita Fan, Sir Roger Lobo, Mr Pang Chun-hoi, Mr Andrew Wong Wang-fat, Mr Peter Wong Hong-yuen, Mr Hilton Cheong-Ieen and Mr Cheng Yiu-tong for sharing their insights with me. Other people who were willing to sacrifice their time to give me their views included Mr Francis S. W. Ho, Mr Stephen Fisher, Mr J. S. Barclay, Mr Lee Wing-tat, Miss Emily Lau, Mr Leung Chun-ying, Mr Albert Ho Chun-yan, Dr Philip Kwok Chikuen, Mr Ng Ming-yum, Mr Shiu Sin-por, Dr Yeung Sum,

11 xii Acknowledgements Dr Huang Chen-ya, Mr Cheng Kai-nam, Mr Pao Ping-wing, Dr Luk Yan-Iung, Miss Lau Kin-chi, Mr Anthony Rogers, Dr Ding Lik-kiu, Mr Cheng Sow-bun, Mr Chan Hung-kay, and a priest who preferred to remain anonymous. Many scholars were helpful in my research. Professor Norman Miners gave me not only invaluable advice on how to contact the former government offidals but also some of his research materials concerning the despatches between the former Hong Kong governors (Sir Alexander Grantharn and Sir Robert Black) and the British Colonial Office. His comments and suggestions on my third draft Were integrated into my final draft of the manuscript. Professor lan Scott, Dr Nihal Jayawickrama and Mr Cheung Bing-Ieung were so generous as to send the materials that I requested. Dr Jane Lee and Dr Li Pang-kwong provided me with an opportunity to read their doctoral dissertations on Hong Kong. I have to express my gratitude to the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University for providing office facilities so that I could complete the second draft in May The final version of the typescript was eventually completed in March 1996 when I was teaching in the Division of Sodal Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. This final version was a revised and an updated product in accordance with the suggestions made by the reviewer of the Macmillan Press. I have to thank my wife Winnie for typing the first and second drafts of the book manuscript. Finally, I wish to dedicate this book, which is a result of my deep interest in Hong Kong politics for the past nine years, to all those people who are concerned about the political future of Hong Kong. Studying the politics of Hong Kong during the transition period is not only a learning but also an exciting experience, for many theories and concepts in political science can be tested in this city-state which has been undergoing significant transformations.