The (British) Empire is No More: Guardian commentator

The Western, especially British, press has been in a knot over the non-visas for British MPs wishing to “investigate” the handling of dwindling Hong Kong student protests.  But, Guardian commentator Mary Dejevsky, in stark terms, reminds Britons Hong Kong is no longer a colony and that Britain should know its diminished place in the international political-economic pecking order.  So, get a grip Brits, the empire is long gone!

 

…Some have argued that in banning the British MPs, Beijing is not only reminding Hong Kong who is boss, but acknowledging the UK’s continuing influence and standing. According to this logic, a bunch of high-minded MPs is too dangerous to be let loose in the former colony. The opposite, I fear, is true.

Beijing feels it can swat away what it sees as a minor irritant at no cost to itself – reputational or economic. The UK is neither a major trading partner nor, in China’s eyes, a diplomatic heavyweight. The Westminster parliament can huff and puff, but – as visits to China by the prime minister, the chancellor and the mayor of London all show – we need them more than they need us.

The harsh truth is that for all practical purposes, the UK’s influence in Hong Kong died as the royal yacht sailed away. Thereafter, “one country two systems” meant only what Beijing was prepared to let it mean – and as much as Hong Kong, with its commercial clout, was able to insist.

The UK can, and should, treat democracy-minded envoys from Hong Kong with the respect they deserve. But if there is to be political change there, it is the people of Hong Kong who must press their case – as, perhaps, a new generation is starting to do.

In the light of this, some of what Ottaway told the BBC in response to the ban was simply abject. He said, among other things, that he and his colleagues would have “refrained from making any public comment while there”. (Er, they would clam up to save China’s face?) Then he suggested that the visit, “far from doing damage, would help in raising understanding of … the UK’s legitimate interest in Hong Kong’s future”. Oh dear, oh dear.

When will the penny finally drop? Hong Kong as a British colony is no more. The UK has no “legitimate interest” there beyond a natural concern for human rights. Its MPs can go around the world advocating “values” but they have no special hotline to Beijing, and any preaching about “democracy and the rule of law” from the former colonial power is unlikely to convince.

The UK may have a particularly guilty conscience about Hong Kong – as indeed it should have. But if it wants to influence what happens there, staking a claim to almost proprietorial privilege is not the way. Indeed, if Zimbabwe, South Africa or Kashmir are any sort of precedent, attempts to lay down the law as the former colonial power only fuel resentment.

The British empire is over. For a medium-sized country, the more productive course is to seek allies, and for the UK the ideal source of support over Hong Kong is the EU, whose economic clout at least is more equal to Beijing’s. As so often, too, a little more self-knowledge would not go amiss. It is not only Russia that finds it hard to let go.

The full piece can be read at:  http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/01/britain-hong-kong-no-longer-colony-empire-china#start-of-comments