(Part -1 of a 4 Part Series)
James Stuber, Contributor, The American Dossier
The current protests in Hong Kong are the latest in a series of such events since the “Handoff” of Hong Kong from the UK to China in 1997. The Handoff (or “Return” as the Chinese refer to it) called for a “one country, two systems” regime for 50 years, through 2047, that would preserve many of the economic and political freedoms enjoyed by citizens of Hong Kong. The regime was inaugurated by enactment of the Basic Law of Hong Kong, establishing Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) subject to its provisions.
2003: Anti-Sedition Law
Article 23 of the Basic Law provided that the HKSAR "shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People’s Government [of mainland China].” An attempt to enact such a law in 2003 provoked a massive demonstration on July 1 of that year; the bill has not been enacted despite occasional proposals to resurrect it.
2012: Moral and National Education
In 2012, Hong Kong’s education ministry issued a plan for adoption of a “moral and national education” curriculum in the public schools. The response was demonstrations by tens of thousands of Hong Kong citizens, who believed the curriculum’s approval of the Chinese one-party state and criticisms of democracy amounted to “brainwashing” and political indoctrination. The HK Chief Executive withdrew the 2015 deadline for implementation of the program in the schools, but the controversy continues.
2014: Election via Universal Suffrage
Hong Kong has a long history of a movement for direct elections and universal suffrage, dating from British colonial times. After the handoff, Chinese authorities promised to move to popular election of Hong Kong’s Chief Executive by 2017; however, when the time came, in 2014, the proposed law provided that only candidates cleared by a Chinese government-run committee could be nominated. The response was 79 days of protests of the “Umbrella Revolution.” Leaders were arrested, and the government eventually wore them down. The result was a step backward - retention of the system of election by members of an 1,200-person electoral college largely loyal to the mainland government, who reportedly came under pressure to elect the government-preferred, and eventually victorious, candidate, Carrie Lam.
2019: Extradition Law
In 2019, the Hong Kong government proposed a bill to permit extradition of Hong Kong citizens to countries with which Hong Kong did not have an extradition treaty. Ostensibly in response to a murder committed by a Hong Kong citizen in Taiwan, the bill also would permit extradition of individuals accused of crimes in mainland China. Fearful of exposure to a Chinese legal system that is in effect an arm of the Chinese Communist Party, millions of Hong Kong citizens have taken to the streets.
We will examine the current upheaval in subsequent posts in the coming weeks:
What do they want and why?
How does this compare to Tiananmen Square in 1989?
Where to next?
Jim Stuber is the author of the recent book, What if Things Were Made in America Again: How Consumers Can Rebuild the Middle Class by Buying Things Made in American Communities.
In the book, Jim assesses the problem caused by sending American jobs overseas and
describes how consumers can solve it. Toward that end, Jim has founded a non-profit
organization, Made in America Again, with the goal of bringing home $500 billion in consumer spending, enough to balance trade and create six million jobs. Jim has kindly agreed to share his insights with The American Dossier from time to time.
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