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11/21/2024 10:00:22 pm

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Why Hong Kong Should Accept Mainland China's Election Plan

Occupy Central Hong Kong

(Photo : Reuters / Tyrone Siu) Pro-democracy protesters hold up their mobile phones during a campaign to kick off the Occupy Central civil disobedience event in Hong Kong August 31, 2014.

While many empathized with Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters, experts think they should just acquiesce to National People's Congress' (NPC) decision for the 2017 election.

Some political scholars who are looking into the political rights dispute between China and Hong Kong on whether or not the special administrative region (SAR) should accept Beijing's election plan believe that the realistic thing to do is accept Beijing's decision.

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In one commentary, Dingding Chen of The Diplomat cited a study on why the Hong Kong-China issue of political freedom is not as simple as it sounds.

The study, written by Wang Zhuoqi, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, argues that democracy in Hong Kong must be understood within a larger context that considers the relationship between China and the special administrative region.

The study used Finland-Russia relations to establish similarities between China and Hong Kong in which one of the parties involved must identify small sacrifices that it is willing to make in exchange for saving overall core interests.

At present, Pan-democrats calling for more political freedoms over the right to choose their leaders are bent on pushing through with their "Occupy Central" campaign. They protested last week during a meeting when the NPC announced its decision, which they claim would not bring about true democracy in Hong Kong.

Though Hong Kong needs democracy, some experts see their vision as simplistic and inconsiderate of the country's general interests.

Wu Huiqiu, chairman of the National Association for China's Peaceful Unification in Washington D.C., said NPC's decision does not undermine what Hong Kong represents, but rather ensures its political stability in the long run. He said that the decision reflects the "one country, two systems" framework in which Hong Kong is meant to be an economic unit, not a political one.

Some experts also believe that democrats failed to consider Hong Kong's economic and social issues.

University of Houston's Peter Lee, an associate professor of international relations, said democracy should not be expected to be accomplished overnight.

The likes of Lee, Wu and Wang believe it might be better for Hong Kong to stay under China's direction.

Others think that the current campaign for universal suffrage was bound to fail for lack of strategy and ignorance of the mainland's concerns.

As the smaller player, Hong Kong will not win by force to get China --the larger player-- to negotiate.

Another reason that Occupy Central was unsuccessful was the pan-democrats' radical approach to the issue.

Hong Kong cannot show the mainland that it is turning against China, experts said. The demonstrators' behavior last Sunday exactly made that impression.

Still, many understand the democrats' frustration when they were ignored by China last Sunday.

However, political experts maintained that emotion and passion are not enough when dealing with politics. Logic and rationality must also be part of the strategy.

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