by Li Ping

The CCP has made a lot of effort to foster a puppet regime in Hong Kong. It hopes the executive, legislative, and judicial power are all obedient and competent. Therefore after transforming the Chief Executive into a puppet and the Legislative Council (LegCo) a rubber stamp, it has started on the District Council, judges, and the Election Committee. However, ignoring public opinion and ruling Hong Kong with the party would never work in the modern cosmopolitan city. A puppet regime not only cannot answer Hongkongers’ political demands, but it also became an obstacle to safeguarding Hong Kong’s unique international status, resolve people’s livelihood difficulties, and leading the fight against the pandemic. It makes the central government’s credibility and Hongkongers’ identity as Chinese sink lower and lower. It is like shooting itself in the foot again and again.

The core of a puppet regime is, of course, a puppet CE. In September 2015, Zhang Xiaoming, Director of Hong Kong Liaison Office (LOCPG) at the time, dropped the “core theory” of the CE for the first time and said, “the CE has a special legal status that is superior to the executive, legislative and judicial power and is the core of the SAR’s power operation.” In April 2017, Zhang Dejiang, former Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress suggested the central government should formulate and refine the provisions on six types of powers. In addition to the right to file and review the Hong Kong law, the power to appoint the CE and major officials, interpret and amend the Basic Law, and make decisions on the development of Hong Kong’s political system, he also proposed, for the first time, to include the power of the central government to issue instructions to the CE, to hear the CE’s debriefing and reporting, etc. Zhang Xiaoming’s speech was to deny the separation of power; Zhang Dejiang’s power of issuing instructions and reporting was to blatantly show the CE is a puppet, in an attempt to use controlling the CE as the breakthrough point to seize full governance over Hong Kong.

With this in the background, Carrie Lam climbed up the political carrier ladder. In her mind, there are only the CCP leaders but no public opinion, not even the pro-CCP political group. In the end, the anti-ELAB movement broke out, and Hong Kong went into the most severe political turmoil since its sovereignty was returned to China. Instead of actively responding to Hong Kong’s public opinion and demand, the CCP implemented Hong Kong’s national security law by force and granted the CE more power over the rule of law. It then postponed the LegCo election and disqualified the pan-democratic lawmakers so that the CE can have a harmonious LegCo environment like what the CCP leaders experience in the National People’s Congress. It thought by strengthening the power to the point of a dictatorship regime would be able to tame the Hongkongers.

After the CCP authorized the National Security Advisor to guide the work of the Hong Kong National Security Commission to create a “legal” way for the Director of LOCPG to command the CE, it became more obsessed with the layout of CE as a puppet, so much so that it is willing to overthrow the formation of the Chief Executive Election Committee, mentioned to kick the district councilors out of the committee. A CE general election seems a far reach, never mind asking the CE to reintroduce the political reform plan.

But how can a puppet CE control a free society? The CCP has also seemed to have forgotten the motto of “where there is suppression, there is resistance.” The Pan-democrats lost the LegCo, a platform to discuss politics, but own District Council, which has more support from the people; the citizens lost the right to protest and assemble but can still make their voice heard in the internet world. So Beijing and the pro-CCP in Hong Kong are working hard on brainwashing and silencing teachers and civil servants; on the other hand, they are busy criticizing the citizens’ political discussions platform for “openly challenging the bottom line of the central government,” accusing the citizens who discuss politics online as violating the national security law and blasting the judge for damaging the rule of law when Jimmy Lai was granted bail under harsh conditions. They even “taught” the Court of Final Appeal to “make the right choice to strictly implement the Basic Law and Hong Kong national security law.”

But the puppet regime is too incompetent to suitably respond to the people’s wishes and make decisions that are in line with “one country, two systems” and the interests of China and Hong Kong, regardless of how much power it has. A CE who has neither intention to visit the U.S. nor improve the international status of Hong Kong managed to be sanctioned by the U.S. and has to store her entire salary at home in cash. Isn’t it fascinating? A government that bans UK flights from flying to Hong Kong is still retaliating the medical staff for striking and demanding the border to be closed. How could it expects the medical professions and citizens to support its anti-pandemic measures? An international financial center that used freedom and the rule of law as its foundation has to experience divestment wave, migration wave and repeatedly suffers from the pandemic because of an incompetent puppet regime. How many times must one’s foot be shot because one would feel the pain?

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