A delicate concoction made of China: Hong Kong and the Taiwanese flag

Arizona Daily Wildcat Clay Haskell

in Tiananmen Square, China's National Day was celebrated in Hong Kong for the first time. It was a surprisingly natural celebration. The People's Liberation Army allowed public tours of their formerly British barracks, the local police band played the Chinese national anthem and a glorious display of fireworks rocked the harbor to awe a gawking crowd. For a week, a multitude of five-starred red banners decorated the city. Simultaneously, these flags were hoisted high above the streets and waved by happy toddlers below. For a city that had spent its entire 156 years of existence politically isolated from the mainland, this buoyant celebration seemed almost too easy. However, another National Day loomed on the horizon.

Oct. 10 marks the day that, in 1911, The Republic of China successfully overthrew 2,000 years of Chinese dynastic rule. That government was subsequently brought down by Mao, and its leaders fled to what is now Taiwan. Oct. 10 is still celebrated passionately in Taiwan as its own National Day. In Hong Kong, this has traditionally been observed by the flying of Taiwanese flags.

Of course, old rivalries die hard. To this day, China and Taiwan still feud over who has the rightful Chinese government. It is a common understanding in the world, due largely to the bitter declarations of the mainland, that there is only "One China." Because of this posturing, Taiwan is officially unrecognized by a great majority of the world's countries. By a simple extension of logic, that would mean that now, Taiwan must also go unrecognized in China's own newest city -

All week long, there had been many reports in the newspapers about how the Taiwan flag issue would play out. Some pro-Taiwan groups promised that they would respect the mainland Chinese government and would refrain from flying the flag. Others promised nothing. Editorials circulated in Hong Kong's "free press" urging citizens not to display Taiwanese flags so as to avoid embarrassing China.

As the dawn of Oct. 10 bathed Hong Kong's central business district with light, a dozen large Taiwanese flags were seen draped from a pedestrian overpass. Local journalists flocked, expecting a controversy to erupt any minute. Strangely, amidst the buzz of cameras, nothing happened. The flags remained. All day, in fact, these journalists hovered and waited. Finally, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, a few plain-clothes policemen swooped up the flags and, dragging them across the sidewalk, disappeared. The reaction was immediate.

Leaders of pro-Taiwan groups demanded to know why the flags were removed. After all, there are no laws on the books in Hong Kong preventing the display of the Taiwanese flag. In response, a government spokesman said that the flags were a potential traffic hazard and they were removed to prevent drivers from staring at them. However, many claimed that this explanation was unacceptable. Why, only a few days before, there had been Chinese flags hanging from the very same spot, and they were unmolested. Finally, the spokesman hedged. He declared that the "One China" policy had to be upheld no matter what. So the flags came down.

Now these were powerful words of change in a city that is supposed to be run according to the phrase "One Country, Two Systems." In fact, the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984, the document guaranteeing Hong Kong's right of Basic Law, also guaranteed that the Hong Kong government would remain autonomous over domestic affairs.

This raises some foreboding questions. How could China's unwritten law apply in a supposedly autonomous Hong Kong? Worse, how could Hong Kong's government fail its own people and let local basic rights be trampled under the weight of Chinese politics? And all this, just three months after the hand over?

However difficult these questions, perhaps the answers are not as negative as they would seem. In fact, maybe the Taiwan flag controversy has shown quite the opposite. It is possible that the Hong Kong government is actually very skilled at combing the delicate political fibers that bind this city to the mainland.

China and Hong Kong don't trust each other yet, with dark resentment stemming from June 4, 1989. To Hong Kong, Tiananmen Square was where peaceful students demonstrated against an inefficient and corrupt regime, and were gunned down for their trouble. To China, Tiananmen Square was where counter-revolutionary forces repeatedly made blatant and lawless attacks on the government before order was restored. The rub of the matter is this: the resources used to stage the Tiananmen Square uprising were "Made In Hong Kong." Quite literally, opportunistic Hong Kong had a massive role in funding and supporting the student movement. Look what happened.

So now, after three months of peaceful business followed by a glossy National Day, what would the Hong Kong government have to gain by taking its new landlord to task over a simple flag that isn't even its own? True, there is no law against the Taiwanese flag, but a law could be made, and that would be nearly impossible to change. Why risk a crackdown now when China has finally hinted at long-overdue reforms?

Even more delicate was the way that the flags were actually removed. It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon. So, for the busiest part of the day, those flags were plainly flying. Better, when the press finally got their story, there were no police uniforms in the pictures. There was no visible trace of misdirected authority to anger the populace. While China seemed to get her way, Hong Kong's chief executive bowed and meanwhile, winked to his own citizens.

It can be said that the Taiwanese flag issue is a small fish between two economic sharks in the same puddle. One shark is huge and slow but its stubborn size makes it remarkably powerful. The other shark is smaller and quicker, weaker maybe, but also pragmatically adept at getting its own way. Instead of direct confrontation, that may be best achieved by swimming in circles.

Clay Haskell is a non-degree seeking graduate student currently in Hong Kong on a Fulbright Fellowship.