In Hong Kong, can you be a patriot and criticise the Communist Party? Definitely

"Listening to the party and following the party is the most comprehensive consensus in Macau." Those were the words of Zhang Zongzhen, a national member of the advisory Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, to reporters on the last day of the CPPCC's annual session this month - in a reference to the ruling Communist Party of China.

That sentence naturally made the headlines of many state media reports the next day, because Zhang is not only a prominent Macau businessman but also a member of the Executive Council, the body of advisers to Macau's chief executive.

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Now Beijing is stepping up the pressure on Hong Kong to learn from Macau by "listening to the party and following the party".

Beijing is stepping up the pressure on Hong Kong to learn from Macau by "listening to the party and following the party". Photo: AFP alt=Beijing is stepping up the pressure on Hong Kong to learn from Macau by "listening to the party and following the party". Photo: AFP

After the introduction of the national security law in June last year, Beijing is looking to further tighten its political grip over Hong Kong through plans unveiled this month to overhaul the city's electoral system. These would ensure only patriots would be allowed to stand in future elections, and only "staunch patriots" would be allowed to "hold important positions, wield vital power, and shoulder major governance responsibilities" in Hong Kong's power structure, including the executive, judiciary, legislative, and statutory bodies.

The Chinese leadership's moves came in the wake of the massive and often violent anti-government and anti-Beijing protests of 2019, which fuelled the central government's paranoia that it was losing control of the city.

Through a series of seminars and press briefings over the past few weeks, senior Chinese officials have made it abundantly clear that to count as a patriot, one must support communist rule on the Chinese mainland.

All this has understandably caused considerable concerns in Hong Kong and overseas over the rights and freedoms of the city's 7.5 million residents, as promised in the Basic Law - which guarantees the capitalist way of life for 50 years under the one country, two systems policy following the handover in 1997.

One of those concerns is that given the rising political heat, can Hongkongers continue to criticise the Communist Party publicly and freely without fear of retribution, as promised by the late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, the architect of the policy?

The Chinese and Hong Kong are hoisted on July 1, 2020, to mark the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong's handover from Britain. Photo: AFP alt=The Chinese and Hong Kong are hoisted on July 1, 2020, to mark the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong's handover from Britain. Photo: AFP

In other words, if one openly criticises the party, will that person be deemed unpatriotic?

In the past, the answers to those questions would be no-brainers. But Beijing's latest campaign to push for "patriots governing Hong Kong" have made some people think twice before answering.

In the 1980s, Deng repeatedly told visitors from Hong Kong that after the handover, people in the city would be allowed to criticise the party and should be counted as patriots, so long as they loved the motherland and Hong Kong.

Until recently, Beijing has followed Deng's policies and adopted a pragmatic attitude regarding the distinction Hongkongers and overseas Chinese tended to make between loving the country in an abstract sense and loving the party, even though on the Chinese mainland, officials have long preached that true patriotism calls for accepting that they are one and same.

In the latest move to push for "patriots governing Hong Kong", senior Chinese officials - including Xia Baolong, Beijing's top official in charge of Hong Kong - may have stopped short of defining patriotism as loving the party, but they have given detailed requirements that a patriot must love the People's Republic of China, which is led by the party, and should not take any action to undermine communist rule on the mainland.

Hong Kong is known for critical debate and critical thinking through a vibrant media industry and other platforms. Photo: Reuters alt=Hong Kong is known for critical debate and critical thinking through a vibrant media industry and other platforms. Photo: Reuters

Some Chinese analysts have taken pains to explain that Beijing's latest definition does not mean that a patriot must love the party - instead, they say, it means a patriot must respect the party and its rule over the country.

According to Xia and other officials, Beijing believes that the majority of Hongkongers are patriotic, and the electoral reforms are aimed at excluding those who hysterically attack the central government; openly advocate "Hong Kong independence"; bad-mouth or spread pessimism about China and Hong Kong in the international community; or beg for foreign sanctions against China and Hong Kong - the so-called red lines.

The Chinese government will adopt an understanding and inclusive attitude toward people who have lived in a capitalist society for a long time, lack adequate knowledge of the mainland and therefore may hold prejudice against it, according to those officials.

Hong Kong is known for critical debate and critical thinking through a vibrant media industry and other platforms.

So long as the people don't cross those red lines listed by the Chinese officials, they should be allowed to continue to express their diverse opinions, including criticising the party, without fear of being labelled as unpatriotic or even worse. Moreover, patriots can sometimes be fierce critics because they want Hong Kong and the nation to get better.

For the betterment of Hong Kong, listening to the party and criticising the party should be allowed to coexist.

Wang Xiangwei is a former editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post. He is now based in Beijing as editorial adviser to the paper

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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