William McGurn writes: Even with news the Hong Kong government will hold talks with those occupying the city’s streets, protesters will likely not succeed in their two stated goals: the resignation of Hong Kong chief executive C.Y. Leung, and rules guaranteeing honest elections for future chief executives, starting in 2017.
What the students have achieved, however, is something far more alarming for any regime lacking the security of political legitimacy: They’ve made that regime’s leaders look ridiculous.
There are many symbols of a modernizing China — gleaming skyscrapers, state-of-the-art infrastructure, a record IPO on the New York Stock Exchange — whenever Beijing finds itself challenged by ordinary Chinese, it opts for a response right out of Communist central casting like this week’s tear-gassing of the most gentle, law-abiding citizens you’ll find. In so doing, authorities elevated the humble umbrella into a democratic icon, used by protestors to shield themselves from sun and rain and, now, their own police force firing tear gas.
This Wednesday, the entire holiday celebrating Mao’s regime was up-ended by a local pro-democracy councilman, Paul Zimmerman. During the official ceremony, a smiling Zimmerman unfurled a bright yellow umbrella. The photograph of that yellow umbrella — standing out sharply against the sea of grim black suits and red flags — went around the world, just another of the many highly public embarrassments not only for Leung but for his masters in Beijing.
Leung must be getting used to it. Today, no one in Hong Kong refers to Leung by either his name or his office. In a city of more than 7 million people, he’s referred to as “689,” a reminder of the number of votes in the Beijing-appointed committee that selected him as Hong Kong’s leader.
To put it another way: The emperor has no votes!
It must be maddening for Xi Jinping, China’s relatively new premier. Xi hails from the We’ll Show Them Who’s Boss school of governance, and in the short time he’s been in office he’s sent a message of zero tolerance for dissent.
Those targeted include Xu Zhiyong, a mainland lawyer who led a movement for transparency and fairness and was jailed this year after being convicted in a sham trial — for the high crime of “gathering a crowd to disrupt public order.”
So Xi fancies himself a tough guy. And as a man who has made his way up the Communist Party of China, he likely shares the mainland stereotype of Hong Kongers as rich, spoiled and soft.
But here’s the reality: A 17-year-old Hong Kong kid with thick black glasses and a bowl haircut is making a monkey out of Xi before the entire world.
The kid’s name is Joshua Wong, an evangelical Christian and first-year university student. Wong is very young, too young. He’s made a few mistakes, and he’ll make more. But guess what? This teenager has set the leadership in both Beijing and Hong Kong back on their heels.
How do you think that sits with Xi — or the hard men in the Politburo when they calculate whether Xi and Leung are up to their jobs?
Yes, authorities could send in the People’s Liberation Army troops to clear the streets, and no one ought to rule it out. That, however, would instantly invite comparisons with Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Is this the face of China Xi really wishes to present to the world just before President Obama and other heads of state come to Beijing for the Asia Pacific Economic Forum in November?
