중국과 러시아는 철저한 공산주의 사회였었다. 쏘연방이 무너지고, 동구권의 많은 사람들이 전세계, 특히 미국과 캐나다로 이민을 많이 왔었다. 그들은 공산주의 습성에 젖어서, 특히 생산직에 있었던 사람들은 철저하게 두얼굴을 갖고 직장생활을 하곤 했었다. 그사람들이 나빠서가 아니고, 공산주의 체제에서 살아온 습관이 그렇게 만든 것이다.
예를 들면 생산라인에 투입된 동구권 사람들은, 수퍼바이져 또는 메니져들이 현장을 둘러 볼때는 열심히 일하는것 처럼 움직이지만, 그들이 지나가면 그다음부터는 일손을 놓고, 잡담과 또는 담배 피우면서 시간만 죽이는 것이 그들의 일상이었었다. 공산주의 체제가 그렇게 만든것이다. 즉 감시를 받을때는 열심히 일하는것 처럼, 감시가 사라지면, 내팽개치고.... 그런 악순환속에서 생산성이 향상되기를 바라는것은 하늘의 별을 따오는것 만큼이나 어려웠었다는 것이다.
서구의 나라들은 그런 감시체제속에서 직장생활을 하는게 아니고, 정해진 시간을 열심히 일하고, 전연 공산주의 체제속에서의 직장생활과는 다른 책임과 의무가 확실히 구분된, 자유분방한 사회라서 생산성이 공산주의 체제와는 비교가 안되게 향상되고, 아이디어를 개발하여 채택되면 보상금도 받고.... 자율적인 체제라서 감시를 받으면서 직장생활을 한다는것을 상상도 하지 않는다.
홍콩이 100년동안 대영제국의 식민지로 있으면서, 완전히 서방세계에서도 부러워 할 자유시장 경제를 유지해 오면서, 동남아시아를 벗어나, 서방세계의 금융중심지로 발전하는, 아시아지역에서는 서구사회생활이 주민들의 삶속에 깊이 자리하고 살아가는 부자나라, 홍콩이었었다.
1997년, 100년간의 리스기간이 끝나면서, 영국은 약속한데로 중국에 홍콩을 반환하면서, 최소한 50년동안은, 중국의 공산당 정부에서는 허용이 안되는, 영국의 통치하에 있을때처럼, 자치정부, 자유로운 의회활동, 언론의 자유, 그리고 표현의 자유를 허락해 주기로 약속했었다.
금년도에 7백40만이 거주하는 홍콩의 반환 25주년이 됐는데, 그약속은 무참히 다 깨져버렸다. 앞으로 홍콩의 운명에 대해서는, 모든게 중국 공산당의 손아귀로 들어가, 어떻게 변화될지 아무도 추측이 불가능한 상태의 공산당 시스템으로 변해가고 있을 뿐이다.
영국이 홍콩을 중국에 반환하기전까지는, 홍콩은 동남 아시아를 비롯한 전세계의 금융시장 활동의 중심지 였었으며, 불란서 파리에서 유행하는 모든 Fashion의 중심지로 자리를 굳히면서, 전세계로 부터 많은 관광객들이 모여들어, 제2의 불란서 수도 '파리'와 같은 유행의 첨단을 유지 했었다.
당시 한국에서도, 최소한 홍콩을 한번정도는 관광 다녀와야 친지들과의 대화에서 소외를 당하지 않을 정도로 유명한 도시였었다. 오죽했으면 "홍콩의 밤거리...."라는 유행가들이 끝이지 않고 한국민들에게 인기를 끌었을까?할 정도 였었다.
땅은 좁고, 인구는 밀려들어, 홍콩의 가옥들과 호텔들은 보통 서구사회에서 볼수있는 정도로 여유있는 공간이 부족했었다. 오죽했으면 사는 공간을 '닭장'이라 불렀을까? 그정도로 왕성하게 발달됐던 곳인데.... 공산주의는 약속을 지키는것을 헌신짝 버리듯이, 시류에 따라서 버리고, 억누르고, 심하면 감옥에 투옥시키는.... 반인륜적 행동을 적용 시켰었다. 현재도 진행형이다.
2020년이 되면서 부터 중국정부의 하수인으로 전락한 홍콩정부는 정치적 반대목소리를 내는 시민들을 붙잡아 감옥에 투옥시키고, 홍콩의 기본법, 즉 시민헌장으로 보장된 자유를 누릴수 있음에도 불고하고, 불법으로 의회를 만들어 공산주의 길을 내걷기 시작한 것이다. 의회는 현재 완전 공산주의 신봉자들로 채워져있다.
홍콩대학의 정치행정분야의 교수인, John Burns씨는 1997년 홍콩반환시에 보장된 홍콩기본법에 명시된 자유민주주의를 베이징 당국이 유지해줄지에 대해서 많은 회의를 갖게 됐었다.
"홍콩은 '막스레닌당' 지배하는, 시민들의 자유를 완전 통제하는 정부가 되고있다. 이런 상황에서 어떻게 완전 서구스타일로 운영되는 의회를 기대할수 있겠는가?"라고 한인터뷰에서 한탄했다.
권력을 쥐고있는 정부관계자들은 2019년에 한달이 넘도록 홍콩시민들의 독재정부 반대시위 운동이 있은후 홍콩의 정치적 안정을 유지하기이해 반정부 운동자들을 색출하는 정책을 계속하고있다라고 그는 설명한다.
홍콩이 공산주의자들의 손아귀에 떨어져, 홍콩의 자유시민들이 삶의 고통을 받는 광경은, 우리에게는 커다란 교훈이 되는 것이다. 바로 서울에서 50키로 미터도 안되는 북쪽에는 김일성 3대 독재정권이 꿰차고 우리 남한을 접수할려는 야욕을 버리지 못하고 있기에 말이다.
그래서 주시하지 않을 수 없는 것이고, 다행인것은 이번 대선에서 가까스로 윤석열 국민의 힘 후보가 당선되여, 다시 자유민주주의 국가로 되돌아서게 된것은 하늘의 도우심으로 나는 보고있다. 대선때 선관위 주관으로 부정선거를 그렇게 많이 저릴렀는데도...
A resident walks besides the Chinese and Hong Kong flags hanging from a residential building to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, at a public housing estate, in Hong Kong, Saturday, June 25, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Zen Soo, The Associated Press
Published Wednesday, June 29, 2022 5:59AM EDT
HONG KONG (AP) -- When the British handed its colony Hong Kong to Beijing in 1997, it was promised 50 years of self-government and freedoms of assembly, speech and press that are not allowed Chinese on the Communist-ruled mainland.
As the city of 7.4 million people marks 25 years under Beijing's rule on Friday, those promises are wearing thin. Hong Kong's honeymoon period, when it carried on much as it always had, has passed, and its future remains uncertain, determined by forces beyond its control.
Before the handover, many in Hong Kong worried that life would change when Beijing took over. Thousands rushed to obtain residency elsewhere and some moved abroad. For the first decade or so, such measures looked overly dramatic - this bustling bastion of capitalism on China's southern coast appeared to keep its freedoms, and the economy was booming.
In recent years, Beijing has been expanding its influence and control. Those moves appeared to be hastened by mass pro-democracy protests in 2014 and 2019. Now, schools must provide lessons on patriotism and national security, and some new textbooks deny Hong Kong was ever a British colony.
Electoral reforms have ensured that no opposition lawmakers, only those deemed to be “patriots” by Beijing, are in the city's legislature, muting once lively debates over how to run the city. China has installed John Lee, a career security official, as the successor to Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
Freedom of the press has come under attack and pro-democracy newspapers openly critical of the government, such as Apple Daily, have been forced to close. Its publisher Jimmy Lai has been jailed.
Hong Kong also has banned annual protests marking China's June 4, 1989, crackdown on the pro-democracy movement centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, with authorities citing pandemic precautions. The city's tourism and businesses are reeling from its adherence to stringent COVID-zero policies enforced on the mainland.
Alex Siu, a building services engineer, was born in Hong Kong and only left in 2020 - his parents had ensured he'd have the option by getting him a British National Overseas passport years earlier.
Siu moved to Manchester, England, with his girlfriend after getting fed up both with Hong Kong's work environment and the political situation. He's homesick for the food, friends and family, but isn't planning to go back.
“I believe there is no hope because the government holds absolute power,” Siu said of the deteriorating political freedoms in Hong Kong. “Us little citizens, we don't have much power to oppose them or change the situation.”
Kurt Tong, former U.S. consul general to Hong Kong and managing partner of consultancy The Asia Group, said the changes reflect growing dissatisfaction in Beijing with the freewheeling semi-autonomous region. The consternation deepened when some of the millions of Hong Kong residents who marched in peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2019 stormed the city's legislative complex and at times violently clashed with police.
“The things that China found irritating about Hong Kong started to become more prominent, and the things that it found attractive about Hong Kong started to be less prominent, and friction built up over time,” he said.
Beginning in 2020, the authorities launched a crackdown on political dissent, arresting dozens of activists and imprisoning them for unauthorized assembly, despite provisions guaranteeing freedom for such gatherings under Hong Kong's Basic Law, the city's constitution.
John Burns, an honorary professor of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong, was skeptical that Beijing would ever allow Hong Kong full democracy or universal suffrage, goals enshrined in the Basic Law at the time of the 1997 handover.
“Hong Kong was going to become part of a local government of an authoritarian country ruled by a Leninist party. How could it be a Western-style parliamentary democracy?” Burns said in an interview.
The authorities cracked down and moved to stamp out dissent to help restore stability after the months long 2019 protests, he noted.
“But this is a brittle stability based on the imposition of the law and the arrest of pan-democratic leaders and jailing them, chasing them out,” he said, and many in Hong Kong still support the pro-democracy movement even if they are silent for now.
“We're in a kind of hellish place. Hong Kong is not part of the system and therefore it can't bargain that way, (but at the same time) we are not free. We are in this hybrid middle ground,” Burns added. “The party has never had to rule a place like Hong Kong, so it's learning to as it goes.”
Former Democratic Party chairwoman and ex-lawmaker Emily Lau says she is disappointed with the changes but not surprised. “When you deal with a communist regime, you shouldn't be expecting anything. Nothing should surprise you,” Lau said.
She's focused on Hong Kong's future. The city remains distinct from the mainland, she said. Her friends and colleagues may be imprisoned, but she can visit them and they can choose their own lawyers - rights usually denied political prisoners in China.
“I know it's very difficult. But I think we owe it to ourselves and to future generations to do the best we can to fight for our core values, which are human rights, democracy, rule of law and personal safety, and social justice,” she said.
Chan Po-ying, 66, whose longtime partner and fellow pro-democracy activist Leung Kwok-hung - better known by his nickname “Long Hair,” is serving a nearly 2-year prison sentence and awaiting a hearing on national security related charges, says she is pressing on.
“I have persevered for a long period of time, I believe that I should not give up so easily, especially during this difficult time,” Chan said “The government and the law have granted these rights to us (under the Basic Law).”
In May, during an election for Hong Kong's new chief executive, Chan and several others held a small protest to demand universal suffrage. On June 4 this year, the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Chan together with two others, stood on a street in silent protest, dressed in black and wearing white face masks with black “x's” taped across them.
However, with security tight ahead of Friday's ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the handover, Chan put out a message to Hong Kong media saying she and her group would not stage a protest.
After being summoned for a “chat” by state security police, they decided “on that day, we cannot conduct any sort of protest activity,” she said.
AP writer Kelvin Chan in London and news assistant Karmen Li from Hong Kong contributed to this report.
https://www.cp24.com/world/hong-kong-in-limbo-25-years-after-british-handover-to-china-1.5967586