Hong Kong flies flag as Beijing fumes

His words were reinforced by a former Deputy Director of Beijing's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Chen Zuoer.

"Why did some Hong Kong people wave the flags of a foreign country during the protests? Does waving the colonial flags help resolve this matter?" he asked.

"Those flags should be sent to history museums, rather than being displayed in the streets."

He accused the protesters of being ungrateful for all the Mainland had done for them, including the provision of protective clothing during the 2003 SARS outbreak – a somewhat unfortunate choice considering an infected visitor from the Mainland brought the disease to Hong Kong in the first place. Beijing initially tried to suppress information on the outbreak, hindering the work of SAR health authorities.

Another retired official of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Lu Ping, had even harsher words for the protesters. In an article in the South China Morning Post newspaper, Lu said those who did not recognise they were Chinese should look at what is written on their passports or they should renounce their Chinese nationality.

"Our country would not be bothered losing this handful of people," Lu said.

However, a political scientist at Hong Kong's Chinese University, Ivan Choy Chi-Keung, said the critics of the city's restive population were missing the point.

"They need to understand the origin of this sentiment, which stems from Beijing's interference in the election of our Chief Executive and the controversy over national education," Choy said.

There is, of course, no chance whatsoever that Hong Kong will ever gain independence from Mainland China. As its recent activities in the South China Sea indicate, Beijing is in the business of acquiring real estate, not giving it away, and any outsider who suggests to the contrary is immediately given a lecture about interference in China's internal affairs.

Those who dissent within China are routinely branded as "splittests", which in the Chinese lexicon is synonymous with "terrorists", and offenders are usually treated as such.

The question is whether Hong Kong can continue with its semi-freedoms at least until 2047 – the half century after handover when the "one country two systems" policy is up for review – and whether it can continue to push the envelope and get the modest democratic reforms many of its people passionately desire and most would agree is a good thing.

A lot will depend on how the Beijing Government evolves over this time and the signs are not hopeful. Most observers believe current changes in the leadership herald an era of greater conservatism and possibly greater authoritarianism, especially in the areas of political and social reform.

In his earliest statements, new President Xi Jinping has expressed concern about corruption and threats to internal stability. In Chinese political discourse that could well be foreshadowing a crackdown on liberalising tendencies that are beginning to emerge among sections of the country's growing middle class.

With 13 per cent of the nation still living on the poverty line, and growing resentment at the way party officials have enriched themselves and their families, there will be plenty to occupy the incoming Politburo.

Hong Kong's best hope is to lay low, hang on to what it has got and see what can be gained out of the interesting times that probably lie ahead.