Analyst Says Basic Law Promises Are A 'pipe Dream'

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2018-03-11 HKT 09:49

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  Analyst says Basic Law promises are a 'pipe dream'

Political analyst Chris Yeung says the people of Hong Kong - like the West - have wrongly bet on China, thinking that President Xi Jinping will make the country more democratic, instead of steering it towards repression, state control and confrontation.

Speaking on RTHK's Letter to Hong Kong, Yeung says scrapping the two-term presidential limit means all the promises in the Basic Law are now fanciful.

"The promise of democracy, enshrined in the Basic Law, has become a pipe dream, among other promises," he said. "On the face of it, both Hong Kong and the West are losers in their bets on China."

But he went on to say that the ruling Communist Party could stand to lose even more if its success in economic reform and opening-up fails to bring progress towards a free, open and democratic China.