The disputed anti-subversion law, against which half a million people took the streets of Hong Kong, will not be presented to the Legislative Council (Legcon) for approval on Wednesday. The local government head, Tung Chee-hwa, in fact decided to suspend the parliamentary review of the norm. Will the bill therefore be filed away? It is difficult to say what will happen. The situation is very complex , responded Father Gianni Criveller, a missionary of the Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions (PIME), contacted over the phone by MISNA a few hours after Tung’s announcement. The bill may remain suspended to re-emerge in a more favourable moment for the government, or it may be re-proposed earlier with substantial amendments, some already proposed, rendering the law acceptable for the majority of the population, added the missionary, a researcher of the diocesan ‘Holy Spirit study centre of Hong Kong. What is certain is that both Beijing and Hong Kong authorities did not expect such a reaction from the people and it was a large mistake to try and minimise, as some politicians did with a certain degree of cynicism and a poorly concealed sense of superiority, the awareness of the citizens of the possible consequences of the law on civil liberties. Not only, the protests against the law, known as ‘Article 23’, were also an occasion to emphasise two emerging factors of the civil society of Hong Kong: the wide participation of the middle class and the visibility and credit of the Catholic Church, with the personal involvement of the Archbishop Joseph Zen. The people always listen to the Archbishop’s opinions underlined Fr. Criveller to MISNA even those outside the Catholic community, which counts 5% of the residents. It is not usual in Hong Kong to see nuns, priests and catechists marching for politically correlated issues, insisted the missionary depicting the always moderate character of the members of the local Church. The fact that the expression of the protest was not to be underestimated was instead clearly understood by the leader of the Liberal Party, James Tien, member of the government coalition that unexpectedly abandoned Tung, forcing him to postpone the voting of the bill. The head of the government, with a certain political lightness attributed to him by many, thought it would be sufficient to ensure the support of the DAP (Democratic Alliance for Progress) pro-Chinese movement to be automatically followed by its liberal ally, representative of the financial world. But he was wrong. On Saturday Tung with great emphasis had also proposed three significant modifications to the law, hoping to close the matter. But the way in which he did it irritated allies and opposers. The amendments annulled the extension to Hong Kong of what is judged ‘subversive’ in China a change auspisced by both the Christian Churches and spiritualists of the Falun Gong, persecuted by Beijing but free in the former British colony prohibiting searches without court warrants and making concessions to the press on the disclosure of ‘State secrets’. But Tung introduced the amendments without consulting the Legislative Council, with a procedure out of parliamentary regulation. This may have been among the motives for the resignation of Tien, who also appears to have understood that the days of Tung’s government are coming to an end and wants no involvement in its eventual fall. According to local press sources, Tien consulted with Beijing which apparently reassured him on the fact that the approval of the law is necessary but not urgent. Is a change of leadership in Hong Kong in the makings? According to Fr. Criveller, Tung’s political choices are weighed down by a ‘paternalistic confucian’ vision that clashes with the necessity for at least consultation with all the political forces in a context such as the former British colony. But aside from this sort of legitimacy crisis of the local government, what bothers Beijing is the failure on an economic level: In the intent of the central government, Hong Kong must become a ‘good example’ to convince also Taiwan that the ‘one nation two systems’ model can be applied with success, explained the missionary, who conducts studies on relations between Christianity and the Chinese culture, but he remains the man personally chosen by former president Jiang Zemin, and his substitution without approval of the still influential political figure would be a hazardous move. Given also that internal equilibrium in China is a top priority over all else for Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao.