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Lai said Wu's comment was nonsensical, insisting that Hong Kong is under the protection of the Basic Law, specially created for the Special Administrative Region, which gives it autonomy over its own affairs.
As chairman of the NPC, Wu is supposed to be an expert on China's Constitution and laws. How could Lai, a Hong Kong businessman, know more than Wu about the law? The fact is that these two people live in different worlds, with totally different views of the nature of law.
Wu's comment exposes the fatal flaw in China's legal and constitutional practices. Strictly speaking, his indiscreet remark amounts to a serious dereliction of duty. This affair reveals the fact that to Wu, the articles of China's Constitution and Hong Kong's Basic Law are both unimportant.
In reality, power is exercised in China according to the will of individual leaders. It is not necessary to consider the Constitution or the Basic Law. This is the concept of law in China: When the Constitution contradicts the law, the Constitution becomes invalid. When the law contradicts the will of a leader, the law becomes invalid. In practice, this means the articles in the Constitution that guarantee human rights and basic freedoms are frequently restricted by other regulations or even by the illegal exercise of power by people in authority.
The NPC is responsible to supervise Hong Kong. It is no wonder that Hong Kong people are concerned when the chairman of the NPC reflects a dictatorial mentality and disregard for the rule of law. In other words, "How much power you have depends on how much power we give you."
To China's Communist Party leaders, the Constitution is just an ornament, created to give a favorable impression to the rest of the world. But to Jimmy Lai and the Hong Kong people, the Constitution and the Basic Law define both the powers and the limits to power of the authorities that govern their lives. They take them seriously.
The Constitution and the Basic Law are social contracts that came into being through the combined efforts of many people. They should be respected by both the government and the people. If either side violates them, it is an abuse of the rule of law.
Lai's outburst against a top Chinese leader reveals the frustration felt in Hong Kong over the lack of respect afforded its people, and its legal system, by the central government in Beijing. The concept of "one country two systems," which is supposed to allow Hong Kong to retain its way of life for 50 years, is already losing credibility after 10 years of exposure to Beijing's dictatorship political system and political culture. The people of Hong Kong do not feel confident that their rights and freedoms will be protected.
Is the chairman of the NPC aware of his mistake in blatantly defying the power of law?
He seems to be following the old Chinese concept of a ruler as a giver of grace and purveyor of punishment. It's no surprise that the people of Hong Kong are doing their best to defend their rights and freedoms in the face of this threatening attitude on the part of those who are supposed to be serving them and protecting their interests.
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(Dr. Chang Chuan-fong is Asia director of the International Educational Foundation and former associate professor in the Department of Education at Minghsin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. ©Copyright Chang Chuan-fong.)
