Tai Yiu-ting, an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, has published a series of articles in his column in local newspapers to systematically propose, plan and advocate "civil disobedience".

What is disobedience exactly? The original intent of "civil disobedience" is to defy an unjust law by violating it on purpose in the hope of having it amended under public pressure into a just, good law. Now which existing law are Tai and his followers planning to defy?

In fact, the target of the "civil disobedience" movement Tai and his cohorts plan to wage is Hong Kong's constitutional law under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle. The political forces they represent want to subvert the political system based on the "One Country, Two Systems" principle, and the only way to do so is "regime change" through a "color revolution" or some other form of populist movement. However, Tai and his fellow anti-constitution advocates do not have the guts to let Hong Kong society know the truth.

In an article published on March 15 Tai vows to change the existing political system in Hong Kong because the Legislative Council (LegCo) and Chief Executive (CE), both democratically elected, cannot represent the wishes of the majority of local residents. He also labels the SAR government headed by the CE an "autocratic regime" in an article published on March 30 and wants to "turn the autocratic regime into a democratic constitutional government."

In that article he admits that he did want to overthrow the current government by force but gave up the idea because "the autocratic regime has well-organized armed forces" the opposition "can never match no matter how hard it tries". So much for "Let Love and Peace Occupy Central", the new title he has given the "civil disobedience" movement.

The author is a current affairs commentator. This is an excerpted translation of his article published in Hong Kong Commercial Daily on April 17.

(HK Edition 04/18/2013 page9)