Dollars and democracy in Hong Kong: Understanding the logic of Chinese policy

Recent disputes between China and Great Britain over political reform and airport financing in Hong Kong have helped clarify the logic of Chinese policy toward the territory. Despite appearances to the contrary, the disputes are only partly about democracy and money. For the PRC, they are fundamentally about creating the conditions for the Chinese government to exercise sovereignty after 1997 and about the fear that Great Britain will do anything possible to complicate China’s establishment of authority over the territory. This article thus rejects as inadequate several conventional explanations for China’s Hong Kong policy. Its conclusions hold significant implications for Hong Kong’s future and for our understanding of China’s foreign policy calculations elsewhere.     

Mass media and politics in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Before the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from Britain to the People's Republic of China, many people of Hong Kong and observers were pessimistic regarding freedom of the press in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). After July 1, 1997, however, press freedom in the HKSAR appears to persist and it seems as if the optimistic scenario of media autonomy has been neglected by many Hong Kong residents and observers. Nevertheless, media autonomy in the HKSAR is dependent on a number of factors. This article suggests that a contingency perspective can be adopted to comprehend the dynamics of media autonomy in the HKSAR.     

Politicians and decolonization of Hong Kong

This article discusses the nature of political leadership in Hong Kong in general and the dilemmas facing politicians in the process of decolonization in particular. The politicians are certainly not performing “public service” as in a colonial administration. They are competing for political power and control in the government during the transition of Hong Kong from a British colony to a Chinese Special Administrative Region. Some politicians adopt a mobilization style of leadership to draw public support; some maintain an elitist style to preserve the status quo; some use a confrontational style to push for a democratic government and to resist Chinese intervention in the internal affairs of Hong Kong; some take a cooperative and compromising approach in resolving conflicts and dealing with China; and some attempt to adopt a moderate style by emphasizing rational and workable solutions to political dilemmas. The dilemmas of transition include: (1) the choice between democracy and conservatism; (2) the proper relationship between Hong Kong and China after 1997; (3) the conflict as to whom the politicians represent: the Hong Kong people or the Chinese leaders. The choice of any two polarized positions in the dilemmas will result in devastating consequences for Hong Kong. The task of the politicians is therefore to balance, rather than to accentuate, the divergent tensions between the antagonistic political forces. In the final analysis, the politicians will have to play the role of balancer between the future sovereign master and various political actors.     

The Second Wave of Incorporation in Latin America: A Conceptualization of the Quest for Inclusion Applied to Argentina

Between 1996 and 2009, a process of struggle for and (after 2002) partial achievement of the second incorporation of the popular sectors took place in Argentina. This process involved a combination of routine and contentious political dynamics that reformulated state‐society relations in the postcorporatist period. As a continuation of the first incorporation (1943–55), the second incorporation displayed some similar features; other attributes were specific to this second process, mainly that it was not corporatist but territorial and that the central agents of transformation were not trade unions but the disincorporated popular sectors, which were territorially organized into a “reincorporation movement.” This article conceptualizes these dynamics and analyzes the role played by the main political actor related to this historical process, the piquetero (picketer) movement.     

Unproductive Activities and the Rate of Surplus Value at the Industry Level in Korea, 1995–2015

ABSTRACT

In order to explain how the Korean economy underwent structural change through the two crises of 1997– 1998 and 2008 within the context of globalisation, this article focuses on class analysis and inter-sectoral value transfer by estimating the sectoral rates of exploitation along with the sectoral monetary expressions of labour time. Our data indicate the possibility that the expansion of unproductive activities, accompanied by intensification of exploitation within the unproductive sectors, might not have overtaken capital accumulation in Korea during 1995–2015. It can also be concluded that the condition for manufacturing’s capital accumulation steadily improved since the 1997–1998 crisis but started to deteriorate after 2011. Our value-theoretic analysis provides a foundation for understanding the context of the regime change, which may plausibly characterise the Korean economy in the last couple of decades.     

Hong Kong Workers toward 1997: Unionisation, Labour Activism and Political Participation under the China Factor

This essay delineates the three related areas on Hong Kong's labour front, unionisation, labour activism and political participation, which have been transformed by the new China factor of 1997 sovereignty retrocession and economic integration. During the last two decades, the decolonisation-democratisation processes have rapidly politicised organised labour to such an extent that political unionism displaced social unionism as the hallmark of the Hong Kong labour movement. Yet, under the impact of economic recession and restructuring with high unemployment and wage freeze, the struggle for livelihood concerns may become the bedrock for labour activism in China's Hong Kong into the 21st century.     

The support of Hong Kong Chinese for democratic reform

This research paper has two major objectives. First, it explains the variations in public support for the British-led democratic reform in late June 1994. Second, it attempts to account for why the reform has only received mild rather than overwhelming backing from the local public. The significance of the research lies in the fact that according to comparative studies, public attitudes do shape democratic prospects. It shows that the low priority attached to democratic reform since the handover of Hong Kong can be better understood by referring to the basis of public support for the non-demoncratic political system before 1997. Models of political culture and rational choice are put to the test in comparing their explanatory power for public support of the British-led democratic reform and the rational choice model has been found to be more powerful. The social base of the political reform, as well as the political implications of the research are also discussed in this essay. Ming Sing is Assistant Professor of Dept. of Public and Social Administration, City University of Hong Kong. He studied Political Science at Yale University and got his D. Phil. from the Oxford University. His major research interests are comparative democratisation and social movements in East Asia. K. M. Lee is the Lecturer at the Division of Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong. His major interests are political economy, social development and comparative politics of East Asia. Both authors would like to express their gratitude to the City University of Hong Kong for its generous financial funding of this research.     

Cross-Border Families in Hong Kong: The Role of Social Class and Politics

The massive relocation of industrial activities from Hong Kong to mainland China that followed in the wake of China's acceptance of foreign investment has given rise to two different sets of cross-border familial relations. In the first case, middle-class managers and technicians from Hong Kong have taken “second wives” during their stay in southern China. Hong Kong's mass media have been generally tolerant of this second-wife phenomenon, seeing it merely as a case of funglau (sexually potency), justifying it in terms of middle-class men's “soft spot,” and blaming the first wives for neglecting their duties. In the second case, workers from Hong Kong have crossed into the mainland in search of spouses because they believe that women in China are more affordable than those in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's restrictive immigration policies result in these mainland wives and children having to wait for ten years or more before receiving a one-way permit to migrate to Hong Kong. When they do arrive in Hong Kong, they have been discriminated against and condemned as causing Hong Kong's social and economic problems. This article examines how social class and politics have affected the way in which the mass media and the Hong Kong government have dealt with these two sets of cross-border families.     

Haven under erasure?: Hong Kong,global Asia and human rights

Discussions of Hong Kong's human rights situation tend to focus on the ex-colony's struggle to protect civil and political rights against the encroachment of the Chinese state. Without contradicting the well-grounded concern with Hong Kong's human rights future articulated in these discussions, this article offers a complementary narrative of human rights development in post-1997 Hong Kong that looks beyond the national frame of such discussions. Drawing attention to Hong Kong's position as a regional centre in the struggle for human rights in Asia under globalisation, the article argues that the activities of local and transnational human rights advocacy groups in the city show positive and promising possibilities of coalitional solidarity on the ground of human rights. Notably, the protests against national security legislation opened up opportunities of articulating diverse struggles for the rights of various social groups, including migrant groups, with the local struggle for civil and political rights. A perspective of Global Asia enables a reading of this important episode in Hong Kong's struggle for human rights that suggests more open-ended future possibilities than the common nationally-framed accounts.     

Citizenship,economy and social exclusion of mainland Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is often viewed as a Chinese immigrants' city. This article discusses three interrelated dimensions of the social exclusion of migrants designated as “new” Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong. First, it is argued that globalisation has triggered intense economic rivalry among world cities as they undertake economic restructuring. Second, the political attempts of territorial states to establish their own legitimacy and strengthen their governing capacity are major catalysts that induce the social exclusion of immigrants. Third, the nature and strength of local place-based social identity is vital to determine the difficulties new immigrants face in being included in the host society. After recounting the history of Chinese immigrants and their recent profile in Hong Kong, the article examines the relationships between Hong Kong's economic development and the state's immigration policies, and how Hong Kong's state policies have constructed a form of Hong Kong identity vis-à-vis Mainland Chinese, drawing out the mechanisms that determine the social exclusion of Mainland immigrants since the 1990s.

“We asked for workers but human beings came.” Max Frisch(quoted in Hollifield,2000:149)     

论香港特別行政区立法会的功能和改革方向

在自由主义和民主主义结盟反对封建主义的历史进程中,形成了一套关于国家建构的系统学说。香港并非国家,但这套学说却在香港社会关于特别行政区立法会功能角色的讨论中拥有不小的影响力。片面强调"两制"差异,以自由主义代议制学说描摹一个地方行政单位的立法机构,终将沿着这套学说的国家建构逻辑挑战"一国"之本。本世纪初以来,香港特别行政区立法会出现内部对立、扩权,职能上轻立法、重监督的趋势和现象,与这种学说在香港社会的影响不无关系。就解决历史遗留的香港问题而言,"一国两制"是各方都能接受的"最大公约数",讲求平衡政府原则、混合政体设计的共和精神较契合香港特别行政区的这一政治现实,或可成为引导特别行政区立法会变革的方向之一。     

The attentive spectators: Political participation of the Hong Kong Chinese

Based on a large-scale territory-wide questionnaire survey, this study purports to delineate the pattern of political participation of the Hong Kong Chinese. It is found that though the overall level of participation remains low, political activism has nonetheless increased since the early 1980s. Political participation in Hong Kong is primarily parochial and conventional in nature, yet there also exists a significant expressive and unconventional component. The mode of participation is fragmented and largely individualistic. Hong Kong Chinese are increasingly inclined to take collective actions, but participation mobilized by political groups is still limited. Hong Kong Chinese however pay much attention to politics. In view of the coexistence of high cognitive participation and low behavioral participation, Hong Kong Chinese can be appropriately described as “attentive spectators.” He is the author ofSociety and Politics in Hong Kong (1982) andHong Kong Politics in the Transitional Period (in Chinese, 1993)     

香港族裔经济中的印尼华侨与华人

20世纪七八十年代,有不下20万的印度尼西亚华侨自中国内地迁居香港;而近30多年来,印尼家务工人亦接踵而至,其在香港的人数现已超过13万人。这两群看似毫不相干的移民,在21世纪全球化以及区域移民的大语境下相遇,共同构建了香港经济活动中奇特的族裔景观,具体包括印尼食品店、服装店、手机店、家具店等等。基于文化背景、语言条件以及香港公民身份等因素,第一代印尼归侨以及千禧年前后开始定居香港的印尼华人或自己充当雇主,或在族裔经济中担任雇员,自然而然成为在港印尼族裔经济的先驱者与主要获利者。本文根据2013年到2016年初的田野调查和深度访谈,梳理在港印尼华侨华人的移民背景以及类别,探讨印尼华侨华人如何在印尼家务工人移民潮的推动之下,启动他们的族裔资源,使之成为具有商业用途的资本,从而促进了过去十多年来香港印尼族裔经济的蓬勃发展。     

Red Flag over Hong Kong,by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita,David Newman,and Alvin Rabushka

Abstract

The body of literature dealing with the retrocession of Hong Kong is growing rapidly as the changeover draws nearer. Red Flag over Hong Kong distinguishes itself by going beyond what is happening or what has happened to predict what will happen after I July 1997. To give their analysis of the future credence the authors rely on a scientific “model of decision making, not on access to insiders or the divination of tea leaves” (p. xii).     

The Politics of the Minimum Wage in Hong Kong

This article provides an account of the recent introduction of a minimum wage in Hong Kong in 2011. Traditional welfare state theories had their origins in rich democracies. We refine the theoretical arguments in accordance with the semi-democratic nature of Hong Kong. We argue that the legislation was initiated reluctantly by the business-friendly government under unfavourable economic conditions. Any subsequent concessions to labour were not attributable to labour strength or political oppositions, which were very weak. Instead, multiple miscalculations by the politically dominant business side allowed the labour movement to gain limited grounds throughout the struggle. We also apply our arguments to the case of Singapore, illustrating how welfare state theories can be adapted to less democratic systems.     

Unity and Alliance: The Financial Future of Greater China

Greater China has been separated and divided for over a century. The reunification of Hong Kong and Macao on the eve of the New Millennium has paved the way for Greater China to reunify as a single economy with a single internationalized currency. History shows that financial and monetary collaborations are essential to the future of Greater China in the global arena. We argue that collaboration might begin with a common board in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei for Greater China enterprises to list and trade in one synchronized market. The common board would also facilitate public and private bonds in support of the infrastructural development and globalization of Greater China enterprises. Due to its established financial market, system and culture, Hong Kong would be the undisputed home of the Greater China Enterprises Board. Financial collaboration would advocate monetary alliance when the Chinese renminbi is fully convertible. When the time comes, the offshore renminbi based in Hong Kong would become the counterpart of the Eurodollar in London. The Asianyuan, as it might be called, would be the truly internationalized and globalized renminbi.     

“完善‘一国两制’制度体系,落实‘爱国者治港’根本原则”专题研讨会综述

全国港澳研究会于2021年2月在北京举办"完善‘一国两制’制度体系,落实‘爱国者治港’根本原则"专题研讨会。夏宝龙同志在讲话中表示,习近平总书记关于"爱国者治港"的重要论述,是对香港回归以来"一国两制"实践经验的高度提炼,是对"一国两制"实践规律的深刻揭示,为推动"一国两制"实践行稳致远、保持香港长治久安指明了方向。"爱国者治港"是"一国两制"方针的核心要义,是推进"一国两制"事业的时代呼唤,要坚持"爱国者治港"的客观标准和要求,对相关制度进行完善。与会专家学者表示,"爱国者治港"是在香港特别行政区维护国家主权、安全、发展利益的重要前提。香港现行选举制度还不能为全面落实"爱国者治港"原则提供坚实的制度保障,需要尽快加以完善,修补漏洞。     

Imagining globalisation: The world and nation in Chinese communist party ideology

The study of migrant workers in Hong Kong has given attention to Filipinas. There has been just one published study of Thais in Hong Kong, despite the fact that they are a significant minority, and about half of them are domestic workers. This article presents the results of a survey of Thai workers, assessing a range of issues: scale of migration for work, remittances, roles and aspirations in Hong Kong, and perceptions of work. The survey indicated that the Thais interviewed were reasonably satisfied with their life in Hong Kong. While most are involved in “low status” activities, Thais appear to do better than Indonesian migrant workers in terms of the wages and conditions they achieve, and report less abuse. In broader terms, migrant labour is one option amongst many for working class Thais seeking better incomes but seldom achieving upward class mobility].     

The prostitute

Migrant domestic workers rarely take part in — let alone organize — public protests in the countries where they work. Public protests are virtually unheard of among migrant domestic workers in Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia, and especially in the Middle East and the Gulf States. Over the past decade and a half, however, migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong — mostly Filipinas and Indonesian women — have become highly active, organizing and participating in political protests. Hong Kong's migrant domestic workers protest in a place where they are guest workers and temporary migrants, denied the opportunity of becoming legal citizens or permanent residents. Increasingly, these workers, their grassroots activist organizations, and the nongovernmental organizations with which they are affiliated frame their concerns in terms of global, transnational, and human rights, not merely local migrant worker rights. This article takes the “Consulate Hopping Protest and Hall of Shame Awards” event — part of the anti-World Trade Organization protests in Hong Kong in 2005 — as an ethnographic example of domestic worker protest and as an entrée through which to ask what it is about Hong Kong and about the position of women migrant workers — whose mobility and voice is both a product and a symptom of globalization — that literally permits public protests and shapes their form and content. The article illustrates how migrant workers’ protests and activism have been shaped by domestic worker subjectivities, by the dynamics of inter-ethnic worker affiliations, and by the sociohistorical context of Hong Kong as a post-colonial “global city” and a “neoliberal space of exception.”     

Economic integration and the circulation of Hong Kong dollars in Southern China

As the economies of Hong Kong and southern China have in recent years become more closely integrated, the phenomenon of currency substitution has gained in importance. This article provides both theoretical and empirical analyses of the circulation of Hong Kong dollars in Mainland China. The observed phenomenon of currency substitution is first explained from both macro- and microeconomic perspectives. The empirical study then estimates the quantity of Hong Kong dollars circulating in southern China over the last fifteen years. Regression analysis indicates that the growth rate of Hong Kong's foreign direct investment in China, as well as the growth rate of trade between Hong Kong and China, and the difference in real returns between Hong Kong dollar denominated assets and Chinese renminbi denominated assets are some of the main determinants that have contributed to the widespread circulation of Hong Kong dollars in southern China