Two seemingly unconnected issues came up this week. First, the Chinese central government announced the cancellation of unlimited multi-entry permits for Shenzhen residents traveling to Hong Kong. Instead, mainlanders will receive one single-entry permit per week. Second, Taiwan was not accepted as a founding member to the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. These two issues both emerged from rather complicated backgrounds, but they have one thing in common: a connection to populism.
Certainly there are a number of reasons for the cancellation of multi-entry permits: for example, a rising cost of living in Hong Kong exacerbated by increased demand. Plus, there are unfortunate cultural conflicts between Hong Kong people and mainland visitors. Parallel traders from mainland China intensified these issues, leading to more estrangement and even occasional confrontations, particularly between local radical groups and visitors from the mainland. It’s true that there are issues and problems with the current policy. But questions remain as to whether some Hong Kong student activists and especially those radical groups are really trying to protect democracy as they claim.
The cancellation of multi-entry permits is just as normal as instituting traffic controls during rush hour, and reasonable mainlanders should fully understand the difficulties of Hong Kong people. However, certain issues and problems in the past months deserve deeper attention — things are not as clear-cut as some people want them to seem. For example, “civil disobedience,” even by Western standards, should be peaceful, non-violent, and moderate; that reflects the spirit of rule of law. But the real situation in Hong Kong was another story. The“Occupy Central” movement threatened to split Hong Kong society. More recently, radical students inexorably shouted abuse at a mother from the mainland and her little girl (who had nothing to do with parallel trading), and a few student activists registered the Hong Kong independence Party in London. Is this true democracy, or narrow populism?
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