Claremont, California ¨C Some of the Chinese government¡¯s recent policies seem to make little practical sense, with its decision to impose a national security law on Hong Kong being a prime example. The law¡¯s rushed enactment by China¡¯s rubber-stamp National People¡¯s Congress on June 30 effectively ends the ¡°one country, two systems¡± model that has prevailed since 1997, when the city was returned from British to Chinese rule, and tensions between China and the West have increased sharply.
Hong Kong¡¯s future as an international financial center is now in grave peril, while resistance by residents determined to defend their freedom will make the city even less stable. Moreover, China¡¯s latest move will help the United States to persuade wavering European allies to join its nascent anti-China coalition. The long-term consequences for China are therefore likely to be dire.
It is tempting to see China¡¯s major policy miscalculations as a consequence of over-concentration of power in the hands of President Xi Jinping: strongman rule inhibits internal debate and makes poor decisions more likely. This argument is not necessarily wrong, but it omits a more important reason for the Chinese government¡¯s self-destructive policies: the mindset of the Chinese Communist Party.
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