TONY CHEUNG TONY.CHEUNG@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Friday, 21 November, 2014, 7:46am
UPDATED : Friday, 21 November, 2014, 8:47am
In this picture taken on October 31, 2014, Hong Kong's last British governor Chris Patten, holds a yellow umbrella - a symbol of the Occupy movement in Hong Kong - after it was given to him by a University of Oxford student in the audience during an event at the Oxford Union in Oxford. Photo: AFP
Countries such as the United States should develop a relationship with China “based on principle and national interests” because mere emphasis on economic relationship might encourage China to “behave badly”, former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten told a US commission on Friday morning.
Patten was responding to a congressman’s question on whether US concerns over Hong Kong political development might be counter-productive, a week after Beijing opposed a group of US legislators’ bipartisan bill to monitor "democracy and freedom" in Hong Kong.
Patten, who had praised the students taking part in the pro-democracy Occupy protests that broke out in September, also suggested that the students should consider “dropping down at least a few notches with this campaign” but be prepared to continue it in other ways in the future.
He was addressing the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China’s hearing on “The Future of Democracy in Hong Kong” in Washington DC, through video conference in London.
The commission’s chairman, Senator Sherrod Brown, attended the hearing, with at least two congressmen from the House of Representatives, several scholars and dozens of other people.
On November 14, the commission, together with political heavyweights such as House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, announced the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act and argued that Washington must back calls for genuine universal suffrage in the city.
The legislation would update the US-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 to "reinstate and strengthen" annual reporting functions. The last report on the city was made by the State Department to Congress in March 2000.
Hours before the hearing, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) unveiled its annual report to the Congress on Thursday night, in which it criticised Beijing for putting forth, on August 31, “a framework for the election of Hong Kong’s next chief executive in 2017 that effectively excludes democratic candidates from nomination and allows Beijing to control the outcome.
“This proposal conflicts with standards set forth in Hong Kong’s Basic Law … and runs counter to international commitments made by China in the 1984 Sino-UK Joint Declaration,” it says.
In a media statement, a spokesman for the Hong Kong government says he “regrets” the “biased” report.
“The allegations on the constitutional development of Hong Kong therein unfounded and misleading… The report represents a lack of understanding of the USCC on the actual situation on the constitutional development of Hong Kong,” the spokesman added.
In his address to the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Patten said: “There is a quaint notion that you can never disagree with China. …If you don’t go along with it you risk not being able to sell things to China, you risk doing damage to your economy.
“[But we live] in an interdependent world, and I think it is ridiculous to suggest that any attempt to stand up for our values or for what we believe in means risking economic damage and our relationship with China … [And] it’s in a way encouraging China to behave badly to continually suggest that it’s only if we ignore them behaving badly, we can continue with a satisfactory economic relationship,” Patten said.
“I don’t think that United States or anybody else reacting when China does things that we disagree with is tantamount to containing China ... I think we should behave with China as we should behave with other countries and try to develop a relationship based on principle and our national interests,” he added.
Patten said he believed that Hong Kong might have “suffered” as a result of President Xi Jinping’s relatively more high-handed approach on dissident voices, human right issues and other political manifestations, but Western countries’ efforts could “make a difference” for Hong Kong.
In an article in The Financial Times in September, Patten had also urged London to stand up to Beijing after the central government announced its tough stance on electoral reform, despite potential "commercial consequences".
In Beijing, when asked for comments on the US bill, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei reiterated on Thursday that “The political system and democratic development are Hong Kong’s internal affairs and China’s domestic policies, and no foreign government, organisation or people should interfere.”
On his advice for the students taking part in occupy, Patten also said, “the government haven’t even done the bare minimum to provide you with some way in which there could be accommodation, it doesn’t mean you have lost. This is a campaign, which can be continued, and will be continued in other ways. So I think I would, for the time being drop down at least a few notches with this campaign but be prepared to continue it in other ways in the future.”
He also said: “If there are court injunctions to move out of a particular area, they have to be obeyed and the students have been doing that.”
Patten also praised the students for behaving in “good sense”, as he was “sad that their effort in the last couple of days have been besmirched by the activity of a few rowdies” - apparently referring to some protesters’ storming of the Legco building on Wednesday morning.
He said it is a “slur and disgrace” to suggest that the students were manipulated by foreign forces – as suggested by the state media and pro-Beijing figures.
The student leaders could not be reached for comment yet, but speaking on Thursday night, Alex Chow Yong-kang, Secretary General of the Federation of Students, said his group had received an invitation from the US commission to give a 3-minute recording of their views as a reference for the group to discuss the situation in Hong Kong.
"But we decided to make a written submission instead because it will help to explain the situation more clearly," Chow said.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1645156/chris-patten-urges-us-act-firmly-beijing-over-bad-behaviour-hong-kong
