John Katz, Editor, The American Dossier
Although technically Hong Kong is a part of China , it is a semi-autonomous region. Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire at the end of the First Opium War in 1842. It remained a British Colony until 1997. Britain gave it back to China under special conditions.
The conditions were called One country two systems. Under this agreement Hong Kong remained a part of China but maintained special autonomy as well as democratic freedoms such as the right to vote, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly.
This week the Trade War with China once again gained attention with President Trump setting September 1st deadline to impose $300 Billion in Tariffs on Chinese imports if a deal is not met. China has an additional PR Problem that they were not counting on. In recent weeks there have been street-wide protests in Hong Kong resulting in China pulling back from mandating extradition law; which was widely seen as a propaganda tool to further suppress those who freely speak against the government. The protests now continue into their ninth week.
China’s domestic issues in regard to Hong Kong seemingly have been kept very low key. Now with more world wide spotlight on trade, how China reacts to these protests must be closely monitored. China likes to hide its history of reported and unreported human rights atrocities . These protest are clearly seen as embarrassing for Xi and the governments agenda.
The freedom to protest makes Hong Kong very different from Main land China which is authoritarian. Its legal system is often used to arrest punish and silence people who speak out against the state. In 2047 Hong Kong will fully become part of China and its Authoritarian system.
China is clearly not most willing to uphold to their agreement. As reported in the New York Times since 2017 nine pro-democracy leaders have been arrested as well the targeting of free speech many mysterious abductions of booksellers.
In 2003 500k protesters successfully protested against legislation making it a crime to speak out against China. In 2014 there were protests against China's influence over Hong Kong's elections. The most recent bill for extradition is seen as encroachment on Hong Kong's autonomy.
Although the government has now suspended the bill, which would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, demonstrators want the bill fully withdrawn.
The protester's demands have broadened to include calls for more democracy and for Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam to resign.
It has been reported that there are those who have been more freely speaking against Xi on such issues as trade. Protests continued this weekend on the extradition issue calling for China to make a formal decree to not impose it.
Groups rallied in the Mong Kok district before starting their march. They called on others to join a city-wide strike planned for Monday, August 5th. It is widely speculated that China plans to impose martial law to silence them.