Beijing Is Directing Hong Kong Strategy, Government Insiders Say
By KEITH BRADSHER and CHRIS BUCKLEYOCT. 17, 2014
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Protesters faced police in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong on Friday.
Credit Ed Jones/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
HONG KONG — On many mornings throughout the nearly three weeks of
pro-democracy protests that have convulsed Hong Kong, white Toyota Coaster
vans with special black license plates have set out from city government
buildings here, bound for a tropical resort across the border in mainland
China.
The drawn curtains of the speeding vans obscure the Hong Kong officials
riding inside, headed for the luxurious Bauhinia Villa in Shenzhen, where
throngs of Communist Party officials from Beijing wait to lay plans for
handling the demonstrations.
According to interviews with six current and former Hong Kong and Chinese
government officials, as well as a range of experts, it is China’s national
leaders, more than Hong Kong’s, who have been directing the broad strokes of
the response to the crisis. With Beijing’s needs foremost in mind, they have
tried to balance a steadfast refusal to give ground on the protesters’
demands for democratic elections with the need to avoid widespread bloodshed
that would further destabilize the city.
“Clearly, it’s Beijing that is dominating the decisions about this movement,
” said Jin Zhong, the editor of Open, a Hong Kong current affairs magazine
that focuses on Communist Party politics. “Of course, they wouldn’t admit
that.”
The Bauhinia resort is owned by the Central Liaison Office, an arm of the
Chinese government that has played a prominent role in Hong Kong during the
protests here. President Xi Jinping of China, who is also the general
secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, has been briefed at least once a
day on developments in Hong Kong, according to two people involved in Hong
Kong’s and Beijing’s decision making.
“They treat it as a challenge to Beijing’s governing power in Hong Kong,”
Brian Fong Chi-hang, an assistant professor at the Hong Kong Institute of
Education and a former city government official, said of the national
leadership. “Because of this, I’m sure that the Chinese government has
basically controlled the whole process.”
The Hong Kong authorities’ response to the crisis has been notable for its
improvisatory nature, veering between forceful and hesitant, vaguely
conciliatory and dismissively critical. Many observers have seen those shifts
as the missteps of a confused local government, but in fact they reflect the
dilemmas created by China’s rival priorities, experts and current and former
officials said.
The Chinese leaders want to avoid bloodshed in Hong Kong that, even on a much
more modest scale, could echo the 1989 crackdown on protests in Beijing,
which left deep political scars. A harsh crackdown under the glare of the
international news media would damage China’s reputation and alarm Hong Kong
’s financial industry, the core of its economy.
Yet Beijing is also deeply averse to concessions that could defuse the
protests, out of fear that the least sign of compromise would embolden other
challenges across China. They have also indicated that they will not abandon
Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, known as C.Y.
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“I suspect the central government’s line to C.Y. is: No compromise on
political reform, but also no bloodshed,” said Joseph Wong Wing-ping, a
former senior official in Hong Kong. “The central government doesn’t like
any substantial sign which may indicate or may suggest that they are willing
to be a little bit soft.”
Initial measures to forcibly disperse the protests, including the use of tear
gas, provoked strong public revulsion in Hong Kong, so officials switched to
a “wait them out” approach that has put immense pressure on the city’s
police force, interspersed with occasional moves to clear street barricades.
“In a way, the government is asking the police to do a political job,” Mr.
Wong said. “It’s a political problem which is not being solved politically.
”
Mainland officials try to maintain the appearance that they are staying at arm
’s length, reflecting the city’s special status in China. They do not take
part in the daily meetings of the Hong Kong government’s interagency
security committee, according to a person heavily involved in Hong Kong’s
decision making.
“They don’t have to,” he said. “They are in very close contact.”
The Hong Kong and Chinese officials interviewed for this article spoke on
condition of anonymity, citing strict bans by both governments on any public
discussion of Beijing’s role here.
On the underlying political issue — the protesters’ demand for open
elections for Hong Kong’s chief executive — both the city administration
and Beijing have been more forthcoming. Beijing rejects the demand as
unlawful and politically unacceptable, and Mr. Leung has stressed publicly
that Beijing sets the rules for how his successors will be chosen.
Beijing has also warned publicly that the demonstrations in Hong Kong, which
have come to be called the Umbrella Movement, must not become a “color
revolution,” a term it uses for anti-Communist uprisings that it says are
orchestrated by the West.
“Beijing has increasingly adopted a national security perspective towards
Hong Kong issues,” said Mr. Fong, the former city official. “The overriding
objective of the whole Communist regime now is how to preserve and stabilize
Communist power.”
Beijing has pressed that agenda through the Central Liaison Office, whose
director, Zhang Xiaoming, has been more outspoken on Hong Kong policies than
his predecessors were. His critics here see his public stance as an affront
to Hong Kong’s autonomy.
In late 2012, Mr. Zhang argued in a paper that the central Chinese government
must improve and regularize policies for Hong Kong officials to report to
their mainland counterparts.
The Chinese government declined to comment on the role of the Central Liaison
Office in managing the protests. “It is very natural that the central
government is paying high attention to what is happening in Hong Kong,” a
mainland Chinese official said.
Chinese officials have often used the Bauhinia Villa as a forward camp for
dealing with bouts of political tensions in Hong Kong.
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The resort stands next to a pristine reservoir in a wooded government
reserve, with tall trees to shield guests from the noise and dust of
Shenzhen, a frenetic commercial city. With several hundred rooms, 10 villas,
tennis courts and a large swimming pool, it is a comfortable, if isolated,
place to spend time during the protests.
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Only government officials and business leaders on a specially approved list
are allowed to rent rooms there, a receptionist at the resort said. She said
the resort was now fully booked and that it was impossible to say when a room
might become available.
As the policies set there have been carried out by the local government in
Hong Kong, the protesters have focused their ire on Mr. Leung, the city
leader, especially after video images became public this week showing what
appeared to be police brutality. They have demanded his resignation or
dismissal, but Mr. Leung seems unlikely to lose his job.
He won an unusually forthright endorsement from Beijing on Wednesday, in a
front-page commentary in People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s top
newspaper. His handling of the protests has “won the full affirmation” of
central leaders, the paper said.
Correction: October 17, 2014
An earlier version of this article misstated the status of Hong Kong. It is a
special administrative region of China. It is not a country.
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香港占中 习近平天天听汇报
2014-10-18 中央社 中央社台北18日电
美国纽约时报引述消息人士说，中国大陆国家主席习近平每天至少收到一次关于香港“占
中”情况的汇报，北京正主导著香港的策略。
纽约时报17日报导，香港“占中”运动进行3周以来，香港官员多天上午由香港出发，前
往深圳的紫荆山庄，大陆官员正等在该处，以制订处理香港示威的计画。
纽时访问了6名大陆和香港的现任或前任官员及专家，这些人士都认为，大陆领导人才是
“出招”因应这次香港危机的主导者。
大陆领导人以北京的需要为最重要考量，尝试在坚决拒绝示威者关于民主选举的要求，以
及避免大规模流血而进一步让香港不稳定之间，作出平衡。
纽时引述两名涉及香港和北京决策的人士说，习近平每天都接到至少一次关于香港情况发
展的汇报。
香港当局对这次危机的反应，被视为游走在强力和犹豫之间。许多观察家认为港府这些立
场摇动属于失误，但专家和前任或现任官员却对纽时指出，事实上这正反映了大陆当局的
两难。
相关人士说，大陆领导人要避免香港重蹈“六四”天安门事件镇压的覆辙，以免留下政治
伤痕，虽然两者规模相差颇大。
此外，报导说，在国际媒体紧盯下，北京当局担心严厉的镇压不但会让中共声誉受损，也
会导致香港经济命脉核心的金融业响起警讯。
不过，另一方面，北京当局非常反对向示威者让步，担心即使一丝妥协的迹象，都将激起
大陆各地的其他挑战。
前香港公务员事务局长王永平则对纽时说，“我估计中央政府对（特首）梁振英的界线是
：政改上不妥协，但亦不容许流血。”
一名高度介入香港决策的人士向纽约时报说，大陆官员不参与特区政府每天的跨部门保安
会议，“他们不需要这样做，他们已经保持极密切接触了。”
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