Hong Kong Protests: In Seizing Control, China Sidelines its Allies

But the establishment has struggled to balance Beijing’s desire for control with residents’ demands to preserve the autonomy that has shielded them from the mainland’s feared security services and opaque, often harsh legal system.

When protests erupted last summer, the city’s leadership was responsible for trying to quell it but was not empowered by Beijing to make major concessions, resulting in an impasse. The pro-Beijing camp now also sees the Communist Party’s new assertiveness as a sign of its impatience with the local establishment’s failure to pass national security laws on its own.

“They delegated that authority to us to do it and we failed, we failed 23 years. So they said, OK, we’ll take it back,” said Mr. Chan, the top government adviser. “So we can’t say anymore that we didn’t have a chance.”

Beijing also increasingly recognizes that the influence of its pro-business allies has fueled public anger over the small pensions and costly housing that have made Hong Kong one of the most unequal places in the world. Support for the pro-Beijing camp has fallen to record lows: They suffered a resounding defeat in local district elections in November, and could see potentially heavy losses in legislative elections in September.

The party’s push for more overt control throws into question the role of Hong Kong’s elite in the coming months and years. Establishment figures now find themselves in the awkward position of having to defend a law they have not seen in detail, amid growing pressure from Beijing to demonstrate loyalty.

“I am also disappointed that we can’t see the bill,” Elsie Leung, a stalwart Beijing ally and former secretary for justice, told reporters, in a rare admission. She said, though, that she believed that Beijing had heard different views about the law.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/27/world/asia/china-hong-kong.html