When Tony Blair visited Hong Kong in October 1998, he said Hong Kong, once an obstacle, was now a bridge in Sino-British relations. London and Beijing were in a daily dispute in the last five years of Hong Kong’s term as a British colony when Chris Patten, the former Tory chairman turned last governor of Hong Kong, tried to ensure an honorable retreat of the British Empire by giving us a dose of too-little, too-late democracy. At a press conference, I questioned the British prime minister about whether Mr. Patten had done anything wrong. While Mr. Blair praised Mr. Patten, I could clearly sense that London was relieved to have gotten rid of Hong Kong.

Fast forward to July 2003, another visit by Mr. Blair, when Hong Kong was embroiled in an intense debate over universal suffrage, after a huge demonstration with more than 500,000 people. While Mr. Blair repeated the mantra that Britain hoped Hong Kong's chief executive and the whole legislature would be democratically elected soon, he added that "what is vital is that Hong Kong continues its advance, as set out in the basic law [Hong Kong's China-imposed constitution], but maintains the stability that is the ultimate bedrock of your success here. I believe the Chinese leadership is dedicated to achieving that. Hong Kong remains a unique political construct, and its progress was necessarily going to be managed progress, but that is in the interests of everyone." [emphasis added] (see http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page4258.asp)

It is extraordinary for Mr. Blair to emphasize stability and managed progress in this part of the world when he, a week earlier, on July 18, 2003, told the U.S. Congress it is a myth that "freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law are American values or Western values." "Ours are not Western values," Mr. Blair declared, "They are the universal values of the human spirit and anywhere, any time, ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same. Freedom not tyranny. Democracy not dictatorship. The rule of law not the rule of the secret police." (see http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page4220.asp)

"We'll be with you in this fight for liberty," Mr. Blair told the Americans. I only wish the British prime minister had not excluded this part of the world in his freedom agenda. That would have been a much better legacy this otherwise unusually courageous and insightful politician would have left us. Somehow, the China Exception creeps in.