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本帖最后由 lilyma06 于 2011-12-28 09:11 编辑
Paranoia in Hong KongA witch-hunt against a U.S. diplomat hurts the territory.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204552304577114082539096586.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Chinese government organs in Hong Kong are stepping up attacks on America's representative to the territory, Consul General Stephen Young. Last Friday, the Foreign Ministry's Lu Xinhua called in reporters from the Chinese-language press to accuse Mr. Young of interfering in local politics. Such a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Mr. Lu said, could lead to a diplomat being declared persona non grata and expelled.
Pretty serious stuff, and from that demarche one might think Mr. Young had exceeded his instructions, perhaps by endorsing an opposition party. Not the case. His supposed offense was to hold a press conference on December 6 at which he praised Hong Kong's fulfillment of Deng Xiaoping's promise of "one country, two systems" and its progress toward democratization. That's the kind of statement Beijing used to welcome.
Asked about a scandal involving vote-rigging in local elections last month, Mr. Young went on to express confidence in law enforcement to get to the bottom of it. He also echoed the message of Beijing's top official on Hong Kong affairs, Wang Guangya, that an important qualification for the next chief executive would be popularity with the public.
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These anodyne remarks were interpreted by Beijing-owned newspapers as "fanning the flames" of discontent. The Chinese government's apparent objective is to discourage foreign diplomats in Hong Kong from consulting with local politicians, both pro-government and opposition, and making any comments on local affairs, even positive ones. There's a whiff here of the old Soviet approach of blaming foreigners for anything that goes wrong.
This intimidation gambit could make it impossible for diplomats to do their jobs and end up harming Hong Kong's economy. One reason the U.S. and many other countries maintain substantial consular staff in the city is its role as a commercial hub for the region. That means cooperation on a wide range of activities, from port security to disease prevention to combating money laundering.
It would also hurt Hong Kong's autonomy. In 1984, China signed a treaty promising to preserve Hong Kong's separate system for 50 years after the 1997 return to Chinese sovereignty. Local officials have signaled in the past that they welcome the support of foreign governments to preserve that status.
It is on this basis that the U.S. continues to give Hong Kong privileges extended before the handover, but in return the U.S. Congress requires the State Department to monitor compliance with the treaty. By harassing diplomats, Beijing is putting Hong Kong's special status in the international system in jeopardy.
The animus toward Mr. Young may derive from the Obama Administration's more forthright criticisms in the last year of Beijing's human rights record. In a May speech to the American Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. diplomat echoed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's comments on the deteriorating rights in China, including the disappearance of prominent dissidents such as Ai Weiwei and Gao Zhisheng. "So long as brave people like [Nobel Peace Prize winner] Liu Xiaobo remain imprisoned or detained for simply trying to exercise their constitutionally protected words and actions, we will not remain silent," he promised.
If that offended Chinese leaders (and it should be noted Beijing puts out an annual report critical of U.S. human rights problems), they could continue to defend their treatment of people they say violated laws. Instead they fired a shot across the U.S. bow by harassing a diplomat posted in China's freest and most democratic city. This only hurts Hong Kong and draws more attention to Chinese efforts to bully the pro-democracy opposition and dominate the territory's politics.
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发表于 2011-12-23 12:35