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Representatives

of the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS), now widely seen as the leader of ongoing protests, met with government officials on Wednesday. They discussed arrangements for "formal talks" between student leaders and the three members of the Task Force on Constitutional Development later this week. Media reports indicate that the students are annoyed with the government for choosing the constitutional basis and legal framework for the Chief Executive election by universal suffrage in 2017 as the topics for their talks. These talks have now been called off.

Personally I never believed this meeting stood any chance of achieving a "breakthrough". I certainly understand why the student leaders are annoyed. But they remain oblivious to the fact that, from the beginning, they have been barking up the wrong tree. They still refuse to recognize the unquestionable authority of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) over Hong Kong electoral reform. It is quite shocking that they still do not understand why it is called constitutional reform.

Whether they are sincere about talks with the SAR government or not, the HKFS has only itself to blame for a lack of common ground between the two sides. This is because student leaders have allowed the ringleaders of "Occupy Central" to dupe them into believing that "true democracy" or "genuine universal suffrage" could be achieved by blackmailing the central government at the expense of Hong Kong. The protesters should calm down. They should recognize that "international standards" for the implementation of universal suffrage do not exist, instead of believing what certain Western media outlets say.

Given all the hype by biased press, locally and elsewhere, it is easy to see why the remaining "occupiers" still believe they are doing the right thing. How can anyone, especially the young, feel bad after such flattery and indulgence as they have received? Clearly they are totally sold on Benny Tai Yiu-ting's warped redefinition of "civil disobedience". The mere mention of "international standards" has convinced them that their infringement of other Hongkongers' rights is justified. This is despite the fact they have no idea of what exactly this is, or why neither Washington nor London can hold their electoral systems up as a universal template.

What saddens me most is the apparent reluctance on the part of protesting students to acquire some genuine insight into the hypocritical workings of Western politics. I'm sure many of us have done this in our youth, which is why we are able to ask important questions before deciding on committing ourselves to a political cause of such magnitude.

Maybe it is too much to expect that our children should think everything through before joining protests. But isn't that what parents should do instead of letting children find out on their own, even if they may get hurt in the process? I guess we have to accept this sad episode in the life of our city. It is the price we have to pay for underestimating the willingness of Western powers to sacrifice everybody else for their own gain. The most important thing for us to do is try our best to bring the young "occupiers" back to their senses. We should help them see it is not the SAR government that is "toying with popular wishes" but those who have convinced them to buy into this "true democracy" nonsense.

We need to help them understand that modern Western democracy is not about "people's rule" so much as about power sharing through fair competition and compromise. And fair competition is subject to a host of social, economic and political limitations in deference to each country's unique conditions. That is why the United States and United Kingdom's electoral systems are different - as are India's and Singapore's.

Just because Hong Kong is a capitalist economy and former British colony doesn't mean it can become a "mini India" or any independent political entity for that matter. Hong Kong is an inseparable part of China, which has been a unitary state for thousands of years. There is only one China. This is why this nation of 1.4 billion people, including Hong Kong people, cannot and will not copy any other country's political system. Anyone who says otherwise is lying and very likely harbors self-serving motives, such as convincing some unwitting Hongkongers to challenge the central government's authority over the city's constitutional reform. This is in the hope of somehow upsetting China's peaceful economic development.

The author is a veteran current affairs commentator.

(HK Edition 10/10/2014 page10)