Hong Kong, the pearl of the Orient. The perfect embodiment of Yin and Yang. Hong Kong is a place unique to the world. It’s easy to fall in love with this place, eating at the cheapest Michelin star restaurant, exploring the world’s most expensive real estate market, taking a ride on the Star ferry, for the thrifty Hongkong’s Night markets, the double-decker trams, the abundant five and four-star hotels and many more make it way too easy. Hong Kong is futuristic, it’s one of the most expensive cities in the world. It is a safe haven for those who enjoy Western and Eastern cultures, a melting pot. Hong Kong has 250 islands, though most of them are uninhabited they add to the sui generis topography of Hong Kong. Hong Kong makes the cut for one of my favorite places. But that was all a year ago when the tall skyscrapers blinded me from seeing the vast sea of troubles that sent it’s the wave to Hong Kong through the years.
To understand Hong Kong’s protests, one has to understand it’s history. Hong Kong’s history starts with the country where all modern issues originate from: Britain. Britain ruled Hong Kong for a hundred and fifty-six years. Then in the year of 1997, Britain handed over Hong Kong to China. But before that in the year of 1984, then prime minister Margaret Thatcher and China’s premier Zhao Ziyang signed the Sino- British Joint Declaration. This was also known as “One country, two systems”. This signified that Hong Kong would become a semi-autonomous region, it would enjoy the freedom of speech, independence, the right to vote, etc, but all of this would only last till the year 2047, but China is not waiting.
Now to understand how Hong Kong governs itself. Hong Kongers do not directly vote for their leader (chief executive), it is done by a small committee approved by China and that leader does not make laws.either. Making laws is done by the Legislative Council or LegCo, LegCo has 70 seats. Within these seventy seats, a broad classification can be made, pro-democracy, pro-China, and independent. Over the years, the pro-democracy has won the vote although they occupy a minority in the LegCo, that is because Hong Kongers vote to only 40 of the 70 seats while the rest is represented by the business industries of Hong Kong.
The rest of the represented seats are pro-China because that would mean more trade and profit for the industries. But according to article 68 of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hong Kongers would elect all of the council members of LegCo, but that never happened. So the Pro-China part of the council-controlled it, despite never winning 50% of the votes. Obviously this does not sit still with the pro-democracy parties, the council was designed in a way where the executive branch would have easy control and which would serve Beijing well. In the current days, Hong Kong has seen the mysterious disappearances of booksellers, arrests of pro-democracy activists and this is scaring the Hong Kongers. So what’s the worst that could happen if China became the governing body of Hong Kong?
China, as we know it is a communist country, but it is not a liberal democracy and it is not a dictatorship either. The people in mainland China are forced to suppress their opinions, they live in a highly censored environment. The censorship has reached an extent in which the present students are not made aware of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, a real black mark in Chinese history. China, unfortunately, has contravened many human rights violations, which includes arresting and mysteriously helping people who voice their opinions against the state disappear. One of the recent ones was the mysterious disappearance of Shi Zhengli, the lead virologist at the Wuhan Virology Lab where it is believed COVID-19 could have originated from. It is hypothesized that Zhengli could have the answers to the world’s questions on the origins of the pandemic.
It also includes the death of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, who was held under house arrest and died in Chinese custody for his pro-democracy thoughts and works. China went to great lengths to suppress the public outcry for him, by banning candle emoticons, the name “Shi-shi” and many more. But Xiaobo did not go without a dig at the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping has been compared to Winnie the Pooh for facial resemblance, hence that favorite childhood icon has been banned in China. Before Xiaobo died, he and his wife took a picture holding Winnie the Pooh mugs (see image). Moving on, China’s only reason to escape international consequences has been the question “So do you want to do business or not?” and ever since Xi Jinping came to power, matters have been slowly descending to hell.
So what has happened in Hong Kong to combat this? Protests. There have been numerous protests in Hong Kong, for example in 2014 (refer Umbrella Movement)tens and thousands marched to the streets as a result of China’s intervention in their elections. But none of them have had the power the recent ones have had. In the 2019 protest, more than a quarter of the population of Hong Kong came forward to protest against the extradition bill.
Why did the protest emerge after four and a half years? It all started when a young couple (Amber Poon Hiu-wing and Chang Tong-kai) went to Taipei, Taiwan for vacation on February 8th, 2018, but only Chang Tong-kai returned to Hong Kong on February 17. One month later, Chang Tong-kai confessed to murdering his enceinte partner. This is when the issue of how to persecute him arose, the Hong Kong officials could not do anything as the crime was committed on foreign soil and they could not send him to Taiwan to be persecuted there, as Hong Kong and Taiwan have never made an extradition agreement. An extradition agreement is an act of making someone return for a trial to another country or state where they have been accused of committing illicit acts. The Hong Kong officials proposed an extradition bill with Taiwan, but that same bill would also allow extradition to mainland China, this would be like sending a lamb to a slaughterhouse.
This bill incited fear amongst the population of Hong Kong, especially the younger generation who were the central voice to this movement. Many want the bill to restrict its boundaries and many more want it completely discarded. Furthermore, the police brutality the people still experience deepens their resentment towards Beijing.
The people of Hong Kong have suffered various physical and emotional injuries from these ongoing protests But Beijing isn’t stopping, recently in May, it passed a national security bill that would come into effect in September which further intensified the protests. China is slowly erasing its borders with Hong Kong. Unfortunately, I do not have more words to describe this large culmination of events, but there is one thing the world needs to do and that is to support Hong Kong.
The Chinese people are being silenced against their own will and in the near future, their lives are going to be on stakes with the rise of facial recognition. Day by day, China looks like an impeccable picture of George Orwell’s 1984. They are unable to hold their own government accountable even during the pandemic, they are unable to seek justice. Democracy may not be the greatest form of government in the world, but democracy does give the people the most significant thing a government could; a voice. Only in a democracy will there be whistleblowers, protesters, and people who can live with dignity. For the first time, people are watching the battle between Hong Kong and the Dragon on a mainstream level.
Even if the worst-case scenario comes true, the people can show the world and the future generations that they did not adhere to whatever that was thrown at them, no they stood up for themselves, they used their voice, they fought and maybe just maybe it might inspire others under the thumb of oppression. The future of Hong Kong remains a mystery. 2047 is on the horizon, it’s coming, very soon as a matter of fact. But until then Hong Kongers have a voice and they are going to scream with it.
Sources: I really do not have any exact sources I can name, all of the information in this article has been a culmination of haphazard information I collected from teachers, TV shows, newspapers, etc.. but please do dwell more on this topic. What I have written is very minimal and it's basically the synopsis of the entire situation.
The current situation in Hongknong is indeed horrifying( not to forget the plight of its citizens). That was a very well researched article and the way you have articulated it is superb!