The united front is a strategy directed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Government of China to consolidate their control over Hong Kong. To accomplish this aim, a number of different strategies have been used since the 1980s.[1][2][3] Today the control is mostly done through manipulation of local elections.

History

1960s–1970s

The Hong Kong and Kowloon Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), an umbrella trade union for the local left-wing unions, was founded in April 1948. After the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, the local communists remained in their semi-underground status. In the early post-war days, the Hong Kong and Kowloon Federation of Trade Unions, the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and the Hong Kong Chinese Reform Association became the three pillars of the local pro-CCP organs, following the orders of the New China News Agency, the de facto Communist China's representative in Hong Kong.[4] The FTU took a leading role in the 1967 Hong Kong riots, which is inspired by the 12-3 incident in the Macau, aimed at overthrowing the British colonial rule in Hong Kong. The leftists lost their prestige after the riots for a period of time as the general public was against the violence attributed to the leftists, although the presence of the pro-Beijing Maoist elements remained strong in the universities and colleges throughout the 1970s Hong Kong student protests, in which many of the pro-CCP university and college graduates became the backbones of the pro-Beijing camp today.[5][6]

1980s

In the 1980s Beijing tried to control the territory by absorbing Hong Kong's business elite into the united front system. The business members were designated as "delegates" and "advisers".[3]

After the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the CCP changed its strategy. Because the working and peasant classes far outnumbered the appointed government elite, the CCP realized they could not afford to let democracy take root in the general populace and consequently expanded their focus to garner support among Hong Kong's working class. They explicitly targeted the leadership of Kaifong associations, district boards and local municipal councils.[3]

Up until the 1980s the CCP did not want to form its own pro-CCP political parties in Hong Kong as the democracy ideology was more popular.[3] But the pro-Beijing camp officially established the political party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong in 1992 to participate in the local three-tier parliamentary elections.

Post 1997

In December 2017, Wang Zhenmin, the legal chief for the China Liaison Office, confirmed that the CCP was actively promoting its agenda of 'Mainlandization' of Hong Kong. He was quoted saying “Since July 1, 1997, Hong Kong’s political colour undoubtedly became red, meaning it has become part of red China. So there is no question of whether Hong Kong is "becoming red" because Hong Kong has already been red since 1997, when it came under the leadership of the Communist Party of China".[7]

In May 2018, Jonathan Choi Koon-shum and Leung Chun-ying, prominent figures from the pro-Beijing camp, started promoting the concept of "Greater Bay Area identity" in order to counter Hong Kong localism and self-determination and as presenting a possible future for Hong Kong after 2047.[8][9]

Strategies

The representative of the government of Mainland China in Hong Kong is the Liaison Office, with Hong Kong branch of Xinhua News Agency historically occupying this role. As the force that controls the China government, the CCP is the driving force that controls the office's affairs.[10]

The united front coordinates the nomination and campaigns in the Legislative Council (LegCo) and local elections.[11] Sometimes part of the party is listed as "independents" and run for elections.[10] An example is Regina Ip in the 2007 Hong Kong Island by-election. The front does not destroy democratic individuals (like Anson Chan), because the political cost of doing so is too high.[10] It basically keeps the opposing parties divided so they are weak and non-threatening. In this case, the opposing enemy is Hong Kong's democratic party, because it represents the wishes of the pro-democracy camp.[10]

While the One country, two systems separate Hong Kong and Macau from Beijing rule, it attempts to swing voters away from the democratic parties to keep them weak. An example is the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, which was installed to target middle to lower class citizens in Hong Kong by gaining presence in the Hong Kong real estate market.[10]

Allies

The front also rely on allies that have grassroots in Hong Kong's society such as the following:[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lo, Sonny Shiu-Hing; Hung, Steven Chung-Fun; Loo, Jeff Hai-Chi (2019). China's New United Front Work in Hong Kong: Penetrative Politics and Its Implications. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. doi:10.1007/978-981-13-8483-7. ISBN 978-981-13-8482-0. S2CID 191713443.
  2. ↑ Loh, Christine (2010). Underground Front: The Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press, HKU. ISBN 978-988-220-569-7.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Horlemann, Ralf. [2002] (2002). Hong Kong's transition to Chinese Rule. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-29681-1.
  4. ↑ Irwin, Lewis G. (2003). The Policy Analyst's Handbook: Rational Problem Solving in a Political World. M.E. Sharpe. p. 69.
  5. ↑ Felber, Roland; Grigoriev, A.M.; Leutner, Mechthild; et al., eds. (2013). The Chinese Revolution in the 1920s: Between Triumph and Disaster. Routledge. pp. 213–5.
  6. ↑ Chiu, Stephen Wing Kai; Lui, Tai Lok (2000). The Dynamics of Social Movements in Hong Kong: Real and Financial Linkages and the Prospects for Currency Union. Hong Kong University Press. p. 215.
  7. ↑ "Liaison Office legal chief Wang Zhenmin: 'Hong Kong is part of red China'". 5 December 2017.
  8. ↑ "Ex-chief exec. CY Leung defends calls for Hongkongers to embrace 'Bay Area people' identity". 10 May 2018.
  9. ↑ "財經新聞, 股市分析, 投資理財 | Hket經濟日報 | 投資頻道".
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Richard C. Bush. [2005] (2005). Untying the Knot: Making Peace in the Taiwan Strait. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 0-8157-1288-X.
  11. ↑ Tatlow, Didi Kirsten (12 August 2020). "How Hong Kong was lost". Sinopsis. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
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