Since March 2019, the state of Hong Kong has been in a turmoil due to the uprising protests which have completely distorted the peace in the country. The people are afraid and the youth has all to lose if the extradition bill is passed by the legislature of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a democracy but not entirely a democracy; ironical. It is a semi-autonomous state which is governed both by Hong Kong and China. Before going into the depth of the protests, let us first examine the root cause which gave spark to this fire.
The Sino-British Joint Declaration
Since the Opium War when British captured Hong Kong by invading the Chinese mainland, they used it as their military staging point. This was fairly dangerous for the Chinese as they had their rival enemy on the door in times of war. There were times in the 20th century when Hong Kong remained no more important to the British and they considered relinquishing the lease back to China but the strategic benefit which seemed much better to the Chinese disregarded their option to give it back to them. In 1949, when the People Liberisation Army came into power, the West was afraid that the communists will get back Hong Kong, which would prove to be an invaluable post of espionage for them. Following this in 1984, Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed in which British agreed to return not only the New Territories but also Kowloon and British Hong Kong itself when the lease term expired.
Under the declaration's terms, Hong Kong would become a special administrative region (SAR) under the People's Republic of China (PRC), and it was expected to enjoy a high degree of autonomy outside of foreign and defence affairs for 50 years, beginning from 1997.
Hong Kong citizens could continue to practice capitalism and political freedoms forbidden on the mainland in accordance with the "one country, two systems" principle under the mini construction of Basic Law. The policy has helped preserve Hong Kong’s civil service, independent courts, freewheeling press, open internet and other features that distinguish it from the Chinese mainland.
In light of the recent developments, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that China has had plans to take over the entire state ever since the agreement was signed and has been instrumental in the growth of Hong Kong only to interrupt in its administration and take over its entire economy.
Hong Kong includes 426 square miles of territory in the South China Sea, and it is today one of the most densely occupied and economically independent parts of the world. While the People's Republic of China rejected the democratization of Hong Kong, the region had become enormously lucrative. Today it qualifies as one of the most significant financial centers and trade ports in the world. This makes it the strongest point for the Chinese to gather the entire control when they are facing an economic downturn in their country.
Beijing's desire for greater political control has caused considerable friction from time to time between the two countries with people coming out in large numbers to protest as it happened in the Umbrella Revolution 2014. Events since 2004— particularly in the summer of 2019—have shown that universal suffrage continues to be a rallying point for Hong Kong, while the PRC is clearly reluctant to allow Hong Kong to achieve full political freedom.
2019 Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill (ELAB) Movement
The Extradition Law Amendment Bill is a proposed bill by the Hong Kong government to establish a mechanism for transfers of fugitives wanted in countries and territories with which it has no formal extradition agreements, including Taiwan and the Chinese mainland, which was introduced in February 2019.
The introduction of the bill caused widespread criticism domestically and abroad with concerns being raised regarding the erosion of Hong Kong's legal system and its built-in safeguards, as well as damage to Hong Kong's business climate. Ongoing protests called for a complete withdrawal of the bill as they contended that the law would allow virtually anyone in the city to be picked up and detained in mainland China, a country in which judges must follow the orders of the Communist Party. Here is how the movement rose and caught a humongous fire.
The protestors have used the methods of decentralised leadership, geographical dispersal in groups, the flexible and diverse tactics, black boc methods, using laser pointers to distract the police and spraying paint on surveillance cameras. The protest is multi faced as there are ‘brave fighters’ on one hand and also ‘non-violent activists’ on the other. The movement is not restrictive to any particular group of Hong Kongers but has involved almost every single person.
The movements were alternatively carried out by putting out messages on the Lennon wall, boycotts of all the outlets to scrap off the business, hunger strikes, non-cooperation movements, police station blockades, petition campaigns, and also human chain.
The Hong Kong government has tried to suppress the protests by banning of rallies, brutal police tactics, thug attacks, the arrests of high-profile activists and metro line closures but these have failed to dampen the unrest. Critics condemned Carrie Lam's arrogance, and her extended absence and avoidance of public attention after her apology and believed that these factors enabled the protests to escalate. Ma Ngok, a political scientist at CUHK, remarked that the government "has lost the trust of a whole generation" and predicted that the youths would remain angry at both the government and the police "for years to come".
Hong Kong Administrative scrutiny
The Legislative Council of the HKSAR or LegCo is the unicameral legislature of the HKSAR of the People's Republic of China. It is a semi-autonomous democracy where the legislature is a body comprising 70 members, 35 of whom are directly elected through
five geographical constituencies , while the other 35 are indirectly elected with limited electorates who actually control the politics. Because pro-Beijing lawmakers hold 40 of 70 seats in the Hong Kong legislature, the bill is likely to pass if it came to a vote. This weakens the position of Hong Kong in terms of their administrative control already.
The China Roleplay
For those who question as to why China is bothering to have preventive measures much before than 2047 which they actually agreed to, the answer to them is that “One country, two systems” was never intended to result in Hong Kong spinning out of China’s control. Under the Basic Law that China crafted as Hong Kong’s “mini-constitution,” Beijing retained the right to prevent any challenge to what it considered its core security interests. The law empowered Beijing to determine if and when the people of Hong Kong could directly elect the territory’s leadership. It also allowed Beijing to veto laws passed by the Hong Kong Legislative Council, and granted China the right to make final interpretations of the Basic Law.
China, however, has seen the current scenario as a silver lining in light of its own economic slowdown. Trump’s trade war is hurting China’s economy. In fact, China’s economic growth stalled to a 27-year low of 6.6%. The protests in Hong Kong give China an opportunity to quell that discontent by redirecting their attention toward a common enemy – the demonstrators, who, according to government accounts broadcast on state television, are violent and often paid provocateurs doing America’s bidding. China also blames the US administration to legalize the protests as they wish to create a double high attack from both their internal and external sites.
In 1997, Hong Kong’s GDP was equivalent to 18 percent of the mainland. Chinese companies raised most of their capital on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Today, things are vastly different. In 2018, Hong Kong’s GDP was equal to only 2.7 percent of the mainland. Shenzhen alone has overtaken Hong Kong in terms of GDP. Less than 12 percent of China’s exports now flow through Hong Kong. The combined market value of China’s domestic stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen far surpasses that of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Investment flowing into and out of China still tends to pass through financial holding vehicles set up in Hong Kong, in order to benefit from the region’s legal protections. But China’s new foreign investment law (which will take effect on January 1, 2020) and other recent policy changes mean that such investment will soon be able to bypass Hong Kong. And although Hong Kong remains the largest offshore clearing centre for renminbi, that role could easily be filled by London or Singapore, if Chinese leaders so desired. Wrecking Hong Kong’s economy by using military force to impose emergency rule would not be a good thing for China. But the negative effect on the mainland’s prosperity would not be strong enough to prevent Beijing from doing whatever it believes is necessary to maintain control over the territory.
Here is the GDP chart of Hong Kong’s dampening economy.
To make them the giant in the South Asia and to have no repercussions thereof on the economic front, China wants the full power to control their sea trades from the South China Sea, preserve their economy by taking over one of the efficient trade centres of the world and establish their dominance in the world.
Meanwhile, Beijing has started tackling the economic problems that it believes are the source of much of the anger among Hong Kongers. Housing prices have tripled over the past decade. The median rent has increased by nearly 25 percent in the past six years. As many as 250,000 people are waiting for public housing. At the same time, income growth for many Hong Kong residents has fallen below the overall increase in cost of living.
Q. What is there in stake for the other countries?
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission warned that the new law could “create significant risks for US national security and economic interests in the territory”. It said the law would allow Beijing to pressure Hong Kong to extradite US citizens living or passing through the territory under “false pretences”. The EU, UK and Canada have also expressed serious concerns over the proposed amendment while the Hong Kong International Chamber of Commerce said the changes could cause businesses to reconsider selecting the city as their regional headquarters.
Conclusion
The Hong Kong citizens are free but bound in chains. The extradition can work in the favour of promoting peace and prohibiting criminal activities in foreign lands but at the same time, the misuse of power is the biggest concern hovering over its citizens. Do you believe that there is a space for the “one nation, two systems” to thrive or is the system reaching its end? Think about it!
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