Hong Kong’s Protests Are Just the Beginning
Many Hongkongers simply don’t identify as Chinese
Hundreds of thousands of Hongkongers took to the streets this month in what was purported to be the largest public protest ever held in Hong Kong’s history. Their goal: to compel the city’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam to abandon a proposed extradition law that would allow Hong Kong criminals to be tried in Mainland China.
Demonstrators see this law as yet another pro-China move from the Hong Kong government since the former British colony of more than 100 years was returned to China in 1997. As cross-border tensions rise, Hongkongers are showing greater resistance to China’s influence than ever before.
The protests this month are an indicator that China’s attempts to win the loyalty of Hong Kongers aren’t working. The fundamental values of the two societies are simply incompatible.
When China’s former leader Deng Xiaoping formulated the “One Country, Two Systems” constitution in the early 1980s, he stipulated that Hong Kong and Macau, a former Portuguese colony, would both become known as “Special Autonomous Regions.” Both cities could keep their own government, education, legal, and economic systems. Their way of life would remain unaltered for 50 years after Hong Kong’ return to China, which would last until…
