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 習近平天天聽匯報
2014-10-18 中央社 中央社台北18日電
美國紐約時報引述消息人士說，中國大陸國家主席習近平每天至少收到一次關於香港「占
中」情況的匯報，北京正主導著香港的策略。
紐約時報17日報導，香港「占中」運動進行3週以來，香港官員多天上午由香港出發，前
往深圳的紫荊山莊，大陸官員正等在該處，以制訂處理香港示威的計畫。
紐時訪問了6名大陸和香港的現任或前任官員及專家，這些人士都認為，大陸領導人才是
「出招」因應這次香港危機的主導者。
大陸領導人以北京的需要為最重要考量，嘗試在堅決拒絕示威者關於民主選舉的要求，以
及避免大規模流血而進一步讓香港不穩定之間，作出平衡。
紐時引述兩名涉及香港和北京決策的人士說，習近平每天都接到至少一次關於香港情況發
展的匯報。
香港當局對這次危機的反應，被視為遊走在強力和猶豫之間。許多觀察家認為港府這些立
場搖動屬於失誤，但專家和前任或現任官員卻對紐時指出，事實上這正反映了大陸當局的
兩難。
相關人士說，大陸領導人要避免香港重蹈「六四」天安門事件鎮壓的覆轍，以免留下政治
傷痕，雖然兩者規模相差頗大。
此外，報導說，在國際媒體緊盯下，北京當局擔心嚴厲的鎮壓不但會讓中共聲譽受損，也
會導致香港經濟命脈核心的金融業響起警訊。
不過，另一方面，北京當局非常反對向示威者讓步，擔心即使一絲妥協的跡象，都將激起
大陸各地的其他挑戰。
前香港公務員事務局長王永平則對紐時說，「我估計中央政府對（特首）梁振英的界線是
：政改上不妥協，但亦不容許流血。」
一名高度介入香港決策的人士向紐約時報說，大陸官員不參與特區政府每天的跨部門保安
會議，「他們不需要這樣做，他們已經保持極密切接觸了。」
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