Under the new political system, the National People’s Congress (NPC) will have the complete power of governance over Hong Kong through the Central Government, highlighting the Party’s comprehensive jurisdiction. This is a change from the indirect approach of the “alliance of governance” after 1997. It looks like a purge of the “disobedient” opposition, but in reality, the role of the civil servants, the business sector and the pro-establishment camp is simultaneously devalued, leaving the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to directly govern Hong Kong. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) deputy director, Zhang Xiaoming, said that the main political issue in Hong Kong is not a matter of democratization, but a contest between “seizure of power and counter-seizure of power, subversion and counter-subversion, infiltration and counter-infiltration,” and the Central Government leaves no room for a concession on this issue. Is this so-called conspiracy to seize power true or false? Now that the dust has settled, it is clear that the CCP has turned Benny Tai’s hypothetical 10 steps to mutual destruction into a “color revolution and a conspiracy to seize power,” thus realizing the CCP’s own power seizure campaign. The power seizure operation is now underway, and if you think it is only a crackdown on the supporters of mutual destruction, the local faction, and the Hong Kong independence forces, you have truly underestimated the CCP’s master plan.

In the midst of the controversy, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) set in motion an operation codenamed “Silver Grass,” in which 24 people, including the Chairman of the Shap Pat Heung Rural Committee, Ching Chan Ming, and the “Small House King,” Edward Wong and his son, were arrested for suspected corruption and fraud. The incident struck a huge network of interests involving the acquisition of small house concessionary rights (commonly known as ding rights) in the village. If the investigation continues, everyone will be at risk and the rural leaders are still reluctant to comment on the matter.

Surely, such a major political move by the CCP is not just to deal with the opposition, because the use of the National Security Law and disqualification over improper oath would have been sufficient. The goal behind such painstaking efforts to reclaim comprehensive governance, especially in the case of the Chief Executive Election Committee, is to eliminate the role of the business community as a key minority power holder, to be followed by the “Hong Kong land reform.” After Beijing’s offensive on all fronts, it needs to consolidate its position. The first question is how to make Hong Kong people accept Beijing’s direct mode of governance? In this regard, it is necessary to deal with the deep-rooted conflicts in Hong Kong, and to solve the social problems underlying the political tensions in the past decade or so, that is, the “Hong Kong land reform” which Tung Chee-hwa and Leung Chun-ying have both failed to achieve.

While everyone is focusing on the NPC’s political reform bill today, Han Zheng, Senior Vice Premier of the State Council, had in fact attended a meeting with Hong Kong’s delegation on the sidelines of the Two Sessions. During the meeting, he issued a directive to focus on solving the housing problem in Hong Kong, saying, “Although it is really difficult to solve the problem, we still need to start the work.” He made it clear that the Central Government is committed to tackling the problem of wealth disparity and housing in Hong Kong.

I have no crystal ball, but if you think about the proposals that have come up in the past and the agendas that have been defeated because of the opposition from the “developer hegemony” and the “administrative officer (AO) party,” you will see signs of Hong Kong’s land reform policy.

1. Announcing that private developers will no longer be allowed to apply for the conversion of farmland land into housing land, and the use of the Lands Resumption Ordinance to seize rural land from property developers at the “open market value of agricultural land” for public housing. The AO Party had always accused the real estate developers of using judicial review to delay the process, so it was not a “policy option.” Now the Central Government is putting pressure from the top, and a commentary in the state-owned newspaper “People’s Daily” has also warned earlier: “For the sake of public interest, and for the sake of people’s livelihoods, it is time developers show their utmost sincerity instead of minding their own business, hoarding land for profit and earning the last penny. What is responsible for Hong Kong’s future?”

2. The case of the illegal transfer of ding rights involves the New Territories Small House Policy, and the collusion between the interests of gentry and property developers. In 2012, the then Secretary for Development, Carrie Lam, pointed out that “land is scarce but small house concessionary rights may be infinite,” and that ding rights could not be granted to New Territories male indigenous villagers indefinitely. It was planned that ding rights would be abolished in 2029. The move against the gentry today is to make way for the abolition of the small house policy.

3. Reintroduce vacancy tax on first-hand private residential units: Two years ago, the government introduced the Rating (Amendment) Bill 2019 into the Legislative Council to impose a vacancy tax on property developers hoarding new flats. In the end, the proposal was axed due to prolonged delay by the bills committee. After that, Carrie Lam did not submit it again because she was afraid of the developers’ hegemony. With a significant increase in the number of iron votes for the Central Election Commission, the future Chief Executive no longer needs to fear real estate developers.

4. The final touch of the land reform is the introduction of the land value tax. If a developer buys land and does not develop it for a certain period of time, the government can impose a heavy levy.

(Simon Lau Sai-leung, political commentator)

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