Center of Attention

Nor can it be said that Hong Kong people ruled themselves during the 13 years between the signing of the Joint Declaration and the handover at midnight on June 30. During that interregnum, Hong Kong became a kind of condominium run by Britain and China, especially in matters straddling 1997. Added to that were the acrimonious Sino-British disputes over electoral reforms and landmark infrastructure projects such as Hong Kong's new airport and container terminal. Even the local budget for the 1997-98 fiscal year was thrashed out by British and Chinese diplomats behind closed doors before it was presented to Hong Kongers.

As the handover approached, China's hand in shaping the future special administrative region (SAR) became more apparent. First, Beijing anointed an ad-hoc group called the Preliminary Working Committee to bridge the impasse over Governor Chris Patten's political reforms. It was superseded by the Preparatory Committee, made up of people from Hong Kong and China but chosen by Beijing. It was responsible for creating the SAR's first political institutions, notably the selection of its chief executive. China's top concerns were evident in the committee's unpopular decision to recommend invalidating sections of laws upholding civil liberties.

But the handover, and the birth of the SAR, have cleared the decks. For the first time, Hong Kong people genuinely have a chance to assume responsibility for their own destiny. They now have their own constitution, the Basic Law, and they will be ruled by one of their own, a chief executive selected by an electoral college made up of Hong Kongers. In time, they will be governed by their own elected representatives -- a point President Jiang Zemin stressed in a keynote speech in Hong Kong on July 1. China's leader also repeated a longstanding pledge that the SAR would enjoy autonomy in "executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication." Jiang added: "No central [government] department or locality may or will be allowed to interfere in the affairs" of the SAR. With goodwill and a vigilant awareness of mutual interests, there is no reason "one country, two systems" should not work.

That leaves Hong Kong's people to face the challenges that will confront them in the new era. Though the outgoing colonial administration has left a city in excellent working condition, problems abound. One is the explosion in property values that is pricing middle-class citizens out of home ownership and stretching already-long waiting lists for public housing. There is a widening gap between the richest and the poorest in the community. Overcrowded schools need attention too, as do questions relating to welfare for the growing elderly population and the SAR's continuing competitiveness in the international economy.

And Hong Kong people alone must grapple with such issues. The new government can use a period of quiet to settle in. Patten, for one, has wisely said he would not offer advice or criticism from the sidelines for a while. Indeed, it would not be productive for outsiders to lecture Beijing or meddle in Hong Kong's affairs, which must now be handled by the SAR itself. If foreigners, however well-intentioned, were to intervene in Hong Kong, that may well prompt China to do the same in countermeasure, upsetting "one country, two systems." The British, like other countries with major economic and other stakes locally, have legitimate interests in the SAR. But any role they choose to play should be constructive, rather than confrontational, especially when politics is involved.

One boon for the new Hong Kong is that it can face its problems free of the tensions generated in recent years by Sino-British conflicts over its post-1997 directions. Britain is now essentially out of the picture. Indeed, there are increasing signs that Beijing-London ties are on the mend, now that Patten and his boss, former prime minister John Major, are both out of office. It may have not been politically correct for new British PM Tony Blair to attend the investiture of the SAR's controversial provisional legislature on July 1. But his decision to send the highest-ranking British representative left in Hong Kong, Consul-General Francis Cornish, signals a calculated decision to look to the future rather than dwell on the schisms of the past. Blair also had a lengthy head-to-head meeting in Hong Kong with Jiang, in which the British leader stressed the importance, for the SAR as well as for Britain, of good relations with Beijing.

The positive feelings engendered by the dignified handover will not last forever or extend to all corners of society. Hong Kong's tussles between "pro-Beijing" and "pro-democracy" forces will continue. They should be fought where they belong -- in public forums and the electoral arena. Encouragingly, the Democratic Party, led by Martin Lee, seems committed to participating in the Legislative Council elections scheduled for next May. Beijing welcomes their participation, and some Chinese officials have even begun to suggest that allowing dissident views is healthy for Hong Kong. That, of course, also scores points in the West. But whatever China's calculations, the SAR should be happy that both Beijing and the Democrats appear committed to electoral politics.

Long after the handover, Hong Kong will remain what it has been for some time -- China's most important interface with the world. That is a legacy of the colonial era and of the small but important foreign population that will continue to enrich Hong Kong life and culture. Now that it is formally a part of China, the SAR may more consciously take on another, equally important role: linking together the disparate elements of the Chinese world. Indeed, in terms of economic and even political exchanges, Hong Kong can become the nexus of "Greater China." It is significant that about 60 Taiwan dignitaries were invited to attend the handover ceremony in a private capacity. That augurs well for using the SAR as a base for continuing cross-strait contacts.

Inevitably, Hong Kong will become a key catalyst for wide-ranging changes in China itself. Not only will the special region remain a primary source of capital for the mainland's modernization, as it has been for many years. It will also be a conduit for ideas about management, finance and, perhaps, appropriate freedoms that will benefit the nation. The Joint Declaration envisaged that Hong Kong would retain its capitalist economic system and lifestyle for 50 years after 1997. Before that time is up, the two systems in the mainland and the SAR may have converged to such a degree that remaining differences are largely inconsequential. In fact, say insiders, that was precisely what wily old Deng Xiaoping had in mind when he first dreamed up "one country, two systems."