Hong Kong is now a big prison. Following the arrests of internationally renowned democrats of iconic status such as Joshua Wong and Jimmy Lai, 47 leading democrats in Hong Kong were also taken into custody on 4th March. Despite pressure from society, only four of them were released on bail the day after next. Things having so developed, it can be said that the entirety of the leaders of Hong Kong’s opposition has fallen. But Beijing continues to rachet up its suppression machine. The ongoing “Two Sessions” will amend Hong Kong’s electoral rules, leaving Hong Kong people with no autonomy at all. Beijing’s relentless onslaught on Hong Kong has reached a staggering level.

In fact, after the imposition of the “National Security Law” on Hong Kong, Hong Kong’s democrats have been in full retreat. Either they have bowed out of politics or they have gone into exile. Their threat to the Hong Kong government and Beijing has greatly diminished. At the same time, the international community is highly concerned about the issue of Hong Kong, and US Congress continues to use the Hong Kong issue as a bargaining tool. Even Britain, which has long been China-friendly, is having a near breakdown in its relations with China. These factors considered, the CCP’s hysterical revenge on Hong Kong is totally unnecessary even by its own standards as a rude and unreasonable power. It has reached the point of going all-out at all costs.

Why is the CCP so desperate to destroy Hong Kong? There is a comprehensive range of reasons that include the CCP’s lack of confidence in bringing Hong Kong to heel, its burning desire for revenge after the loss of face in the Anti-extradition Movement, and its one-sided judgments on the international situation. But here I have to offer another possible factor. It is that Xi Jinping regards tackling the Hong Kong issue as part of the drive to clear the legacies of Deng Xiaoping in his attempt to secure his place in history.

Xi Jinping showed his tendency to “de-Dengize” China, i.e., to remove Deng’s legacies, in the early days of his office. When he said that “the achievements of the 30 years after reform and opening up cannot be used to negate the achievements of the first 30 years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China”, he was already taking aim at Deng Xiaoping, since Deng Xiaoping was recognized by the CCP and observers as the “chief architect of reform and opening up”. To detract from the 30 years after the initiation of reform and opening up is to denigrate Deng Xiaoping’s status in history. In the second step, Xi vastly departed from the foreign policy of “hiding your light under a bushel” designated by Deng, as a result of which a new diplomatic system emerged in the form of “wolf warriors”. That was a major revision of Deng Xiaoping’s doctrine.

As for the issue of Hong Kong, it allows Xi to further pursue this policy of “de-Dengization”. It is precisely because Deng Xiaoping put forward the policy of “One Country, Two Systems” and “Hong Kong remaining unchanged for 50 years”. Regardless of whether Deng said so in good faith or not, “Hong Kong remaining unchanged for 50 years” has become one of the main components of Deng’s doctrine. Abandoning “One Country, Two Systems” in its entirety now is tantamount to abandoning Deng Xiaoping’s doctrine in the CCP’s treatment of the Hong Kong issue. From the reform and opening up policy, “hiding your light under a bushel” to “One Country, Two Systems”, Deng Xiaoping’s legacies have been dismantled by Jinping one by one. Xi Jinping’s drive to “de-Dengize” China can be said to be consistent.

In the final analysis, Xi Jinping’s desire to “de-Dengize” China is attributable to his personal ambitions. He is eager to become the second “great leader” of the CCP after Mao Zedong and be on a par with Mao. To reach an equal status as Mao, Xi naturally does not see Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao as obstacles. As the offspring of a “Red family”, Xi simply looks down on these “outsiders”. The only man standing between him and Mao is Deng. Unless Deng is knocked off his pedestal, the CCP’s annals will definitely list CCP’s leaders in the order of “Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Xi Jinping”. Xi cannot be on the same footing as Mao unless Deng’s political influence in the annals of the CCP is gradually erased or downplayed.

Recently, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, the CCP’s propaganda machine has suddenly begun to talk about “strengthening the historical research of the CCP”. Any clear-eyed observer will know that “strengthening historical research” implies “rewriting the history of the party”. What will be “rewritten” will naturally be the part about the lineage between Xi and Mao.

A more fundamental reason behind Xi Jinping’s perseverance in pursuing the same status as Mao is that Mao has been the only CCP leader in the party’s history that ruled for life. If Xi Jinping can obtain the status of “Mao Zedong II”, it will not be difficult to establish his lifelong rule. Solving the Hong Kong issue will become a steppingstone for Xi Jinping to proclaim himself “emperor”.

(Wang Dan is founder of the think tank Dialogue China.)

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