Hugo Swire, a minister of state with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the British government, published an article in two Hong Kong-based newspapers recently in a very public show of interference in Hong Kong's internal affairs, saying Britain "stands ready to support" universal suffrage in Hong Kong "in any way it can." Such glaring meddling with Hong Kong's constitutional reform by a foreign government has naturally come under strong condemnation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.

Former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang immediately spoke up in defense of her former colonial master's attempt to manipulate Hong Kong's implementation of universal suffrage. She argued that as a signatory of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Britain has the right and responsibility to monitor closely whether and how the promises in the Joint Declaration are delivered. At this point there is no doubt that anti-China forces around the world are now rearing for another offensive, with their sleeper cronies in Hong Kong itching to prove their worth in a battle to the death by way of Hong Kong politics.

Chan's political organization is called Hong Kong 2020, but what is so special about this name? It is widely known that China resumed sovereign rule over Hong Kong in 1997 and the city is scheduled to conduct its first Chief Executive (CE) Election by universal suffrage in 2017. The year 2020, on the other hand, symbolizes Chan and her followers' political ambition: seeking to win the 2017 CE Election and then proceeding to seize Hong Kong's governing power completely in three years' time, which means in 2020. That should allow them to turn Hong Kong into a new concession territory of the Western powers.

Swire's open pledge of whatever "support" the British government can provide for (universal suffrage in) Hong Kong could be a stroke of genius. The unspecified "support" could be in any form imaginable - political, intellectual, strategizing and biased media cheerleading around the world, you name it - except military aid, which would be suicidal in front of China's armed forces. As a matter of fact, they are doing practically everything they can already, including activating the operatives they planted in the SAR government and such important fields as the legal service, business community, chamber of commerce, media industry, political parties and whatnot. A smokeless version of "color revolution" is unfolding quietly as we speak.

Of course it is obvious and they know it that this elaborate political gamble of theirs is doomed from the start. That said, the real target of their clamor about democracy in Hong Kong is actually the much larger mainland. Their ultimate goal is to first upset Hong Kong's political situation and then influence the mind of many more people north of the boundary in the hope that China will eventually fall apart like the Soviet Union did and never be able to rival the US.

Faced with such a precarious situation, China may choose to deal with it in two ways. One is to remain calm and watch those cronies of Western powers in Hong Kong come out of the woodwork to carry out their foreign masters' orders, since they don't have what it takes to genuinely threaten the nation's overall interest anyway; the other is to throw a decisive punch at the right moment and end Hong Kong's misery once and for all. Think of it as a second handover of Hong Kong if you will.

In a word, today's confusion in Hong Kong cannot last forever. "2020" will not be the year when the dead-and-buried colonial rule is resurrected in Hong Kong as Chan wishes for, but rather a witness to the city getting back on the right track after righting the wrongs she and her foreign masters have done.

The author is a current affairs commentator.

(HK Edition 09/27/2013 page9)