What's happening in Hong Kong?
We moved across the globe to Hong Kong (HK) to study abroad for a year in 2015. This certainly was our most enriching and outstanding life experience in our young adult lives. However, little did we know that the city, where the East meets the West, was becoming one of the most politically heated global regions and that Hongkongers’ struggle for democracy against the authoritarian superpower of China would turn into a remarkably inspiring movement.
We got to observe first hand the political tension and identity crisis prevalent throughout the city. Since the years of us leaving, Hong Kong has dominated international headlines, with wide-scale protests, and we have witnessed from the sidelines police brutality against protesters. We watched appallingly 5,000 miles away, but inspired by the many Hong Kongers fighting for their rights, their state and their identity despite force and imprisonment. The movement has taken crucial turns this year, but the fight is not over yet. This article will explore the issues regarding HK, how it affects us all, and what we can do to help.
We call the city #HomeKong for a reason: the resilience of Hong Kongers constantly fighting for their home. Remarkably uplifting to witness.
Let's go back to the start
China lost Hong Kong to the United Kingdom in 1843 but was returned in 1997 as part of the Sino-British agreement. Nevertheless, HK's transition was not so seamless due policies put in place by the British before handover. Hong Kong became a special region of China and adopted the Basic Law as its mini-constitution with highly democratic articles that the city should maintain until 2047. The constitution is based on the 'One Country Two Systems' formula which guarantees a capitalist system for Hong Kong, liberty to choose local governors democratically, and freedom from Chinese communist rule, among others (So 2011: 103-104). Many have criticised the UK for interfering before the handover, and others have criticised the UK for not going far enough. But even with the basis of the democratic principles in place, China has failed to upload them.
“I should have done more” - Chris Patten, last British governor of Hong Kong.
The decolonisation of Hong Kong was interesting because instead of gaining back freedom from imperialist governance, it was transferred to an authoritarian government. Arguably, Hongkongese society has never really tasted democracy.
The deterioration of democratic liberties and Chinese unlawful interference in HK affairs have accelerated a social and pro-democracy movement, which urgently screams for real universal suffrage. The city enjoys a fake democracy for two reasons (Davis 2015: 105).
1) Hong Kongers are only able to democratically elect candidates only pre-approved by the Chinese government for the Chief Executive role (the "president" of Hong Kong)
2) The election of the Legislative Council seats, which is the entity either blocking or passing bills proposed by the Chief Executive, is programmed for the automatic victory of pro-Beijing politicians. Hong Kongers' votes only count for half of the seats, since the other half is taken by business elites which are proxies to China. Consequently, any law hurting democracy will be passed anyways.
Does this sound democratic to you? Especially, since pro-democracy candidates won 90% of the LegCo seats in the 2019 election. Such results would equate to a pro-democracy win by a large margin in liberal democracies, which is the type of voting system that HK should have been enjoying.
How has China reduced liberties in Hong Kong?
Since the handover, China decided to play a long game and has pulled out sharp knives to politically, socially, and economically assimilate Hong Kong illegally. You will notice throughout this blog that we condemn and will certainly criticise any governmental and institutional entities blocking the full exercise of human rights; hence we openly oppose current Chinese policies in Hong Kong.
Tiananmen Square Massacre 1989
Hong Kongers showed their discontent with the handover even before it took place. The Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing in 1989 utterly horrified the world. Hong Kongers learnt about what their future government was capable of doing just to shut them down. Pro-democracy protesters camped in Tiananmen Square and initiated a hunger strike to demand democracy and political freedom; but the military opened fire and killed thousands of people. Not expecting any less from a political dictatorship, those events are not taught in Chinese classrooms and also censored on China’s internet.
Hong Kong is the only place within Chinese soil that can stage mass vigils to commemorate those killed in the Tiananmen crackdown.
2003 Article 23
Hong Kongers marched in 2003 for the first time since the handover against the national security law that Beijing wanted to extend to Hong Kongese territory. Half a million individuals took the streets to fight legislation that would punish civilians who spoke against China and its communist government. It would put freedom of expression, assembly and social liberties at risk but, surprisingly, the bill was shelved.
2012 Education Law
Since the early 2010s, the youth has taken over the movement management on the streets and has incited mass mobilisation. They want to see a change to have a better future, and in 2012 they took over the streets to condemn the Education National Law. The new law was supposed to bring in "moral and civic education", but it awakened an entire generation which got united to stop China from editing Hong Kong school books. The fear? Brainwashing young people with misinformation, bias, and nationalistic rhetoric (Chiew & Kin-ming 2014: 1102).
Joshua Wong, a 15 year old student activist, was aware of all those disadvantages and led these protests. We undoubtedly are big admirers of Joshua. He has set up an example since then for thousands and thousands of people to fight for their rights. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 2017 and was included in the world’s most influential leaders in 2014.
Umbrella Revolution 2014
An umbrella became the symbol of defiance in 2014 when tens of thousands of people, many of which were students, camped in the streets for 79 days, and demanded the right to free and fair leadership elections. Even though China had recently promised democratic elections to appoint their leader in 2017, Beijing eventually ruled out that possibility (Yu-Shek 2014: 223).
It received such a name because umbrellas became an essential tool to defend themselves from tear gas and violence used by the police authorities. The Umbrella movement was the first civil resistance campaign of the city, and when the world witnessed police brutality against peaceful protesters for the first time in Hong Kong.
Nevertheless, their efforts were in vain because they never got to elect their own leaders democratically, even though their constitution addresses such a right.
2019 PROTESTS
Nonetheless, the severity of the conflict peaked in 2019, when the world saw the most significant display of civil resistance the city has ever experienced. From the streets, to the airport and to university campuses, the protests ran rampant across the whole of the city as the Hongkongers protested in record-breaking numbers. For instance, 2 out of 7 million Hong Kongers marched throughout the city peacefully on June 16th. They protested against the extradition bill to enhance national security in Hong Kong which would allow the extradition of prisoners from Hong Kong to China. Considering that China has tried to pass laws to imprison Hong Kongers showing any opposition/criticism to the Communist Party, the successful implementation of this extradition bill would send people to mainland China who are fighting for democracy and human rights. Hongkongers are sceptical of fair trials and treatment in the mainland (Purbrick 2019: 468).
The 2019 protests suffered the same fate as the 2014 protests that were plagued by tear gas and an increased amount of police brutality. "Stand with HK" state that, thousands of protesters were arrested, including hundreds of children. Many have now shared harrowing statements of torture and sexual assault by the police during detention.
For a visual overview, watch Vox's explainer video below .
Despite this bill being shelved, tension remained high and protests spilled into the new year and were ignited again in the summer of 2020 when a National Security bill was announced and, unfortunately, passed.
National Security Law 2020
On June 30th, China passed the new controversial law that entered into force the same day. The fear was that this was "the end of Hong Kong" as we knew it. Several fundamental freedoms have been made illegal.
Find out what the security law means for Hong Kong:
And we have seen many arrests since it passing, from students to journalists. For instance, Joshua Wong spent months in jail and has recently been banned from running as a democratic politician. Additionally, Jimmy Lai, media mogul, was also arrested only because he showed support to protesters (Ripley & Marsh 2020). Defiant in his arrest Mr Lai told CNN,
"There is always a price to pay. I have been fighting [for democracy] throughout the years"
He said, adding that he would continue to do so because;
"Without freedom you have nothing left”.
Hong Kong Identity
Hong Kong identity is at the heart of the tension. The Hong Kongese social movement is currently divided into two branches: pro-democracy and secessionist/independentist (Kwong 2016: 63-67). Police behaviour and Chinese actions in Hong Kong during the Umbrella Movement traumatised and, consequently, radicalised part of the society. The use of force, tear gas, rubber bullets and bean-bag projectiles, even in closed public spaces, against people peacefully marching was needless (Wong 2020: 232). Such behaviour has awakened apolitical citizens by turning them into pro-democracy advocates but has also turned a low proportion into secessionists (Dapiran 2020: 146-147).
The youth take up the majority of the secessionist branch and they urgently want to break free from China and create their own independent state. They are desperate to live in a land where they can exercise basic human rights like freedom of speech, assembly, universal suffrage etc but China has proven with its actions that those are only mere dreams that will never turn into reality. This radical branch represents 17% of Hong Kongers (Promfet & Jim 2019) and, arguably, the trend is increasing in a fast speed considering that independentism was not in the political and social spectrum 6 years ago.
The feeling of being merely a “Hong Konger” rose from 38% in 2013 to 52.9% in 2019 (Yu-shek 2014: 224).
Such numbers demonstrate that there is a majority in Hong Kong that do not feel any attachment to China nor to Chineseness as they are disgusted by what their government is capable of just to avoid criticism.
To understand better we interviewed some local Hong Kong young adults to hear their thoughts on the political situation;
Alvin, 24, teacher;
Together we discuss together how the CCP is damaging in HK for many different ways, Alvin is most concerned about the invasion of freedom of speech and press;
"The government no longer cares about views on both sides/ opinions across the spectrum - seems like there can never be bad opinions about HK and China, be it on the press and media or in textbooks"
Alvin told us about how HKDSE secondary students studying history had a public exam cancelled based on questions too sensitive to the CCP.
Alvin also noted other concerning issues within education;
Most textbooks and leisure readings publishers are Chinese owned
Teachers at schools can no longer talk about politics in lessons now
Teachers getting warnings about their license taken off for participating in protests or sharing political issues on social media
Tarik, 25, Video producer;
Tarik believes that the problem at the heart of unrest is not to do with politics, but poverty;
“I think the frustration mainly comes from the insane rich-poor gap in Hong Kong. If you go to mid level of Hong Kong, Happy Valley or Repulse Bay, you will not see a sign of protest. I think that political incident was just a trigger point for that all. Most people in HK cannot even afford a house.”
He also believes that the National Security Law is not the end of Hong Kong as we know it, actually it would be able to stabilise a very tense environment. He believes that the disadvantage is how the law is perceived internationally, which could affect foreign businesses' trust in Hong Kong.
Desiree, 23, completing research at Bristol University;
Desire has spent most of her life in the UK, but still considers herself a Hong Konger.
“Honestly, it is heart-breaking to think about the political situation in Hong Kong at the moment. It has changed so much and so quickly within the past 10 years, and it is only getting worse especially for millennials and younger generations.”
However, Desiree realised that as the political situation intensified, a growth in political interest and involvement correlated.
"In the 2019 local election, we saw a record high 71.2% turnout rate – this was very significant, as politics had never really played a role in Hongkongers lives before this decade. And this election has shown how Hong Kongers are not giving up the fight for democracy."
But notes that the recent National Security Law is a “form of fearmongering” to stop Hong Kongers protesting or speaking out against the CPP.
"But since the implementation of the national security law, a lot of Hong Kongers are now scared to voice their opinion (i.e the first day of the law, a 14 year old boy had a phone case which said ‘Free HK’ on it and he got arrested. They have lost trust in the government and police."
She is optimistic about the fight for Hong Kong but believes there needs to be more international support. Superpowers like the US and UK only offer “tokenistic” solutions, for example, the UK offering many Hong Kongers a BNO visa, is good in theory, but the reality is the visa is extremely expensive and it is an unsustainable solution.
What else can I do to help?
The situation in Hong Kong is concerning but not without hope, we have seen the resilience of the Hong Kong people fight back time and time again. This is a fight for the young people, and the generations to come, as well as for many other people across China who wish for more fundamental rights. It is also the role of international superpowers as well as ordinary people like you and us to recognise the chaos created, and stand in solidarity with the protesters because in the words of Martin Lurther King Jr:
- "injustice anywhere is a threat to everywhere"
A few organisations to get involved with;
And want to hear first hand from one of Hong Kong's central activists, grab a copy of Joshua Wong's "Unfree Speech: The Threat to Global Democracy and Why We Must Act" and watch "Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower" on Netflix.
Other great reads on Hong Kong;
We will leave you with this quote by activist, Joshua Wong from his book "Unfree Speech;
"Think about it: if a bunch of leaderless young people wearing basic protective gear can wring a concession from the world's biggest military forces, then imagine what we can achieve if all of us act together."
We stand with Hong Kong. #FreeHK
Bibliography
Chiew, Y. and Kin-ming, K. (2014). Hong Kong Identity on the Rise. Asian Survey, 54(6), pp.1088-1112.
Dapiran, A. (2020). “Strike” in City on Fire: the fight for Hong Kong. Scribe Publications, pp.144-154.
Davis, M. (2015). Beijing’s Broken Promises. Journal of Democracy, 26(2), pp.101-110.
Kwong, Y. (2016). The Growth of “Localism” in Hong Kong A New Path for the Democracy Movement?. China Perspectives, pp.63-68.
Promfet, J. and Jim, C. (2019). Exclusive: Hong Kongers Support Protester Demands; Minority Wants Independence From China - Reuters Poll. [online] REUTERS.
Purbrick, M. (2019). A REPORT OF THE 2019 HONG KONG PROTESTS. Asian Affairs, 50(4), pp.465-487.
Ripley, W. and Marsh, J., 2020. Hong Kong Media Tycoon Says His Arrest Is A 'Symbolic Exercise'. [online] CNN. Available at: <https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/14/media/jimmy-lai-interview-hnk-intl/index.html>
So, A. (2011). “One Country, Two Systems” and Hong Kong-China National Integration: A Crisis-Transformation Perspective. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 41(1), pp.99-116.
Yu-Shek, J. (2014). The Emergence of Radical Politics in Hong Kong: Causes and Impact. China Review, 14(1), pp.199-232
Wong, J. (2020). “The Extradition Bill Crisis: A Global Trend in Citizen-based Democracy” in Unfree Speech: The Threat to Global Democracy and Why We Must Act Now. Roca Editorial, pp.227-239.
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