The sheer contrast in portraying, and demonizing, chief executive-designate John Lee Ka-chiu visualized the ever-widening social political gap between the West and China on the meaning, as well as the practice, of democracy. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, by practicing the principle of "one country, two systems", was reduced to a "warzone of words" on the legitimacy of the newly elected head of the city.

Over the past 25 years, Hong Kong, an inalienable part of China, has been operating with elegance and adroitness to solicit the best of the East and the West since its return to China. US-led Western powers, however, have also been manipulating with, if not weaponizing, Western-style democracy to undermine the influences of the motherland.

Lee is not the first one who stands at the center of the political arena, the forefront of the ideological battle between China and the West, but he is now witnessing the bitterest dispute ever before he officially takes office. Luckily, Hong Kong stands strong and still in a series of political farces and circuses, including Washington’s "Summit for Democracy", a delusional convergence of Western-style democracies and their vassal states signifying yet another attempt to impose this system on others and also demonize any alternative democratic systems.

These political farces, from Washington’s summit to the European Union’s annual Hong Kong report, all took place at a time when Western democracy faces its lowest approval of all time. It is a "democracy" that attempts to remove its presidents from day one, censors its previous president from all major social media platforms, and where 30 percent of voting Americans refused to recognize current US President Joe Biden upon his taking office. American democracy is a system where corruption has been renamed "lobbying" and thrives and where "revolving doors" have created an elite caste of multimillionaire politicians.

In retrospect, American democracy is a system in which think tanks filled with unelected policymakers financed by the military industrial complex (the deep state) craft the nation’s foreign policy, where torture has been made legal, and where wars are waged without the consent of the American people.

Why would the US want to export a failed system sowing division and ultimately a system of autocratic control with no checks and balances, and above all, a system that in no way delivers to the people living under it?

Western-style democracy has become a superficial popularity contest in which whoever has the most funding and greatest exposure "wins". It is a system in which politicians will tell the public whatever they want to hear but once elected keep not a single promise. It is a vicious cycle of electing and regretting. It creates an increasingly unconvincing illusion of free choice between two parties, but two parties that ultimately serve the corporations and financiers funding their campaigns, not the people actually voting for them.

Western politicians spend much of their time raising funds rather than doing the job they are supposed to do, working against each other rather than together for the common good.

A democratic system should be based on the culture, historical background, economic stage, maturity level of its population and also with preconditions such as a nation having complete sovereignty with no foreign meddling, no big-money influence, and a neutral and fair media, along with some level of direct democracy (referendum) and a fully transparent voting system. So far, the West is still struggling and is far from achieving the "democratic utopia" it otherwise pretends to be. Democracy is derived from Greek, meaning "power to the people", and in the West we are still very far from anything of the sort.

The West wanting to export its model of "democracy" through coercion, meddling, regime-change wars and "color revolutions" is at face value fundamentally flawed. Ultimately, democracy is a process of self-determination in which sovereignty above all else holds primacy and must be respected. Hong Kong was the victim of a US-backed "color revolution" in 2019, in which a minority of radicals claimed to be fighting for freedom and democracy while in their actions out on the streets, they were acting more like fascists, secessionists and in some cases terrorists. Their actions unfolded in complete contradiction to their slogans. So it is important to understand Hong Kong’s past in order to objectively evaluate its present situation and the direction the city is taking.

Hong Kong is on its way to finding its own model of democracy, democracy with Hong Kong characteristics. It will be a model respecting the concept of "one country, two systems". Now that the National Security Law for Hong Kong has been enacted, foreign meddling has been kicked out, and electoral reforms have already been passed, we shall finally have a Legislative Council that can work together for the good of the city as opposed to the previously chaotic terms filled with foreign-backed agents undermining genuine democracy and basic forms of civility.

In this system, trust has been given to LegCo, and how it delivers to the people will be essential. There are urgent problems to tackle such as housing and inequalities. Democracy should be a constant work in progress, a flexible system based on key performance indicators and deliverables as opposed to a rigid system based on empty promises. Considering that before 1997 Hong Kong had never been a democracy, people need to understand that it is a work in progress requiring people to learn what democracy is really about. Maturity will come with time, and in the future, people shall look back and see that setbacks were in fact opportunities.

I really believe at this historic moment of the 25th anniversary of the HKSAR, we are entering a new era of opportunities for a better future where the city can position itself as a key bridge between the West and the Chinese mainland, enjoying and personifying the best of both worlds. China by 2028 will be the world’s largest economy and something everyone in China can be proud of and of course a part of, including in Hong Kong. We are witnessing and living through a unique age in world history.

The author is a Swiss financial and political analyst based in Hong Kong.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.