Kit Poon, The Political Future of Hong Kong: Democracy Within Communist China

摘要

The Political Future of Hong Kong is a well-nuanced evaluation of Hong Kong's future as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The introduction presents an overview of the major crises which diminished the legitimacy of the first Chief Executive, then highlights the book's main focus-I.e., the role of the Chinese leadership in shaping Hong Kong politics and the impact of this on SAR democratization. The book's analytical framework represents a new approach that seriously considers Beijing's influence as a self-interested stakeholder in Hong Kong's future, without discounting continuing British legacies. The volume specifically examines the office of the Chief Executive because it embodies two often conflicting imperatives: the center's need both to preserve executive power and to accommodate "new and rising" local demands for "democratic representation" (p. xix).