As I’ve described in recent articles, China is undertaking massive campaigns to boost its economy and position in the world. From Made in China 2025 to the Belt and Road Initiative, it has committed itself to internal growth and external influence. So it must be with considerable embarrassment that one of its crown jewels wants no part of it.
Since June 2019, the residents of Hong Kong have been protesting over what they see as intrusion by the mainland government. It began when Hong Kong’s puppet rulers tried pass an extradition treaty with mainland China. As most residents there know, the Chinese justice system is fraught with corruption and barbarism. The bill began months of protests, riots, and repression, until it was finally withdrawn in September. By then, however, a broader movement had spawned to challenge mainland encroachment. This movement was slowed by the Covid virus but re-started in May 2020 when the mainland forced a new security law onto Hong Kong. The law gave pro-mainland authorities greater authority to crush dissension.
Tragically, this is an inevitable clash between two societies at different places in their development. Mainland China is authoritarian whereas Hong Kong is democratic. This is not the same as Republican v. Democrat, nor even capitalist v. communist—these are different positions on the governance spectrum. While you can find countries in-between, you’re not going to find one country in two places—at least not for long. The systems threaten each other. Ultimately, they have to reconcile toward one another, which in this case means Hong Kong reconciling toward the much larger mainland.
So, it appears that Beijing is not content to wait until 2047 to end this dichotomy, which it promised when it received Hong Kong back from Britain in 1997. It is going to pull Hong Kong back into the fold in the coming years—first slowly, then more quickly. And in doing so, it will set Hong Kong back a hundred years.
Reference:
Amy Qin, “Why Are People Protesting in Hong Kong?,” New York Times, 27 May 2020; see also https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/world/asia/hong-kong-protest-china-anthem.html
Austin Ramzy and Mike Ives, “Hong Kong Protests, One Year Later,” New York Times, 9 Jun 2020; https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/world/asia/hong-kong-protests-one-year-later.html
Shibani Mahtani, “I Am from Hong Kong, not China,” Washington Post, 26 May 2019, A16.
Shibani Mahtani and Anna Kam, “Protesters detained as Hong Kong unrest continues to spread,” Washington Post, 4 Aug 2019, A18.
Keith B Richburg “Hong Kong’s system was bound to fail,” Washington Post, 18 Aug 2019, B1.
Daniel Nieh, “Here’s what the world could lose in Hong Kong,” Washington Post, 8 Sep 2019, A23.
Wikipedia, “2019-20 Hong Kong protests,” accessed 18 Aug 2020.
Photo: LA Times