The looming bankruptcy of Ocean Park sounds the alarm for Hong Kong. The park will run out of cash next month and go bankrupt if no additional funding is injected, according to reports. While it is regrettable to see the possibility that one of our collective memories will go bust, this also shows how tough things are for the entire tourism sector, hard hit by months of violence and vandalism arising from the anti-extradition-bill campaign. What happens to Ocean Park now is a prelude to the “scorched-earth” script written and staged by the opposition camp.
Scorched-earth politics are becoming more prevalent in Hong Kong politics. Benny Tai Yiu-ting, the moderator of the opposition camp in the upcoming Legislative Council election, as well as the initiator of the illegal “Occupy Central” movement in 2014, published several articles last month on the subject.
The most contentious one was released in late April, in which Tai proposed “10 steps to a real scorched earth”. While his plan to push Hong Kong down the cliff drew widespread public outrage, some people might have overlooked the most malicious intentions of his plan. After close scrutiny, we found that the first step of the scorched-earth strategy, as described by Tai, is to be triggered by the disqualification of LegCo candidates from the opposition camp. The hidden agenda behind these “10 steps” is to shift responsibility for the scorched-earth plan to the central government.
Tai’s strategy to pass over responsibility for the plan is in line with the recent rhetoric by moderate members of the opposition. But their approach is too obvious to be disguised. The primary interest and goal of the central government in Hong Kong, as repeatedly pointed out by State leaders, is long-term stability and prosperity. This is not only the hope of the central government but also its solemn pledge to Hong Kong people. All actions undertaken by the central government aptly serve this goal. It is not hard to understand that a stable and prosperous Hong Kong also serves the national interest. Hence, there is no reason for the central government to encourage any scorched-earth tactics. These have been repeatedly denounced by spokesmen from the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR since last year.
The whole plot of the play script is not too complex. All preparations carried out by the opposition camp since last year aimed to help them seize the governing power of the SAR
Passing over responsibilty is a solution to a dilemma facing the opposition camp. On the one hand, they realize the scorched-earth strategy is only favored by radicals but not the majority of the camp — not to mention the moderates among them. On the other, they need to maintain internal unity, especially with the radicals, to achieve the goal they have set for the upcoming LegCo election. Their latest plan, according to news reports, is to have all lawmakers from the opposition camp unanimously vote down the government’s funding requests. This may ultimately trigger the dissolution of the legislature and the resignation of the chief executive. This is also a type of scorched earth tactic. To avoid a backlash and the loss of public support, the opposition camp will try to whitewash their dirty tactics and mislead the public into blaming the central government.
The whole plot of the play script is not too complex. All preparations carried out by the opposition camp since last year aimed to help them seize the governing power of the SAR. To this end, they have resorted to a scorched-earth strategy in the hope Beijing will budge, especially in the wake of the external pressure they have counted on. If they win, they will succeed in usurping the central government’s power over Hong Kong; if they lose, they will just wreck Hong Kong — a move in line with their foreign masters’ agenda of containing China by messing up Hong Kong. But their plot is doomed to fail. This is because people who love Hong Kong will not let it happen.
While the central government is resolutely opposed to scorched-earth politics, it counts on every Hong Kong resident to help stop the opposition camp’s evil plan. Recently there have been signs of a resurgence in anti-government protests and other activities. On Sunday, Mother’s Day, protesters tried to test society’s reaction to their political agenda by staging various stunts. Hundreds of people gathered in shopping malls across the city, chanting separatist slogans and singing protest songs. A group of protesters tried to block traffic by lighting fires on streets in Mong Kok. The great US president Abraham Lincoln once said: “I am like a man so busy in letting rooms in one end of his house, that he can’t stop to put out the fire that is burning the other.” It is high time people in Hong Kong unite to repudiate scorched-earth politics, identifying those who are “starting the fire” and voting them out in the upcoming LegCo election in September.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
The author is senior research officer of the One Country Two Systems Research Institute.
