Hong Kong's fight for democracy

Introduction

Hong Kong's fight for democratic freedom has been a long and difficult road as many past historical events has heavily hindered Hong Kong's chances of ever achieving a long last form of democratic rights. Yet even with the odds stacked against them, the citizens of Hong Kong has not given up hope as many continue to participate in the protests against the Chinese government which began in June 9th 2019.

Hong Kong's fight for democracy

Opium wars

The first opium war began on 1839 when Chinese officials destroyed 20,000 bales of opium in an attempt to control the opium addiction occurring in China. This move then provoked the British to defend their illegal drug trafficking operations by declaring war against China. On January 25th 1841, the British were then able to invade and conquer the island of Hong Kong which eventually led to China losing the war. China was then forced to concede Hong Kong to the Brits in the Treaty of Nanking and Hong Kong was official crowned as a colony of the British Empire. This though did not settle the opium dispute between China and Britain and a second war pursued which led to an eventual renegotiations over the ownership of Hong Kong. Both sides then eventually reached an agreement that Hong Kong will be leased to Britain for 99 years before being handed back to China under the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory in 1898.

Sino-British Joint Declaration

As the expiry date of the the treaty started to approach current times, China and Britain started to discuss the future of Hong Kong. Then in 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and China’s premier Zhao Ziyang created and signed the Sino-British Joint Deceleration, which is an agreement that gives Hong Kong social and political autonomy for 50 years under a "one country two systems" before returning full social and political control to China. Under this new agreement Hong Kong was considered a Special administrative region of China with its own constitution, legal system, and certain democratic rights. Rights like free speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of expression are all allowed but the main democratic right denied by the Chinese government is that Hong Kong cannot select its own leaders. Instead Hong Kong is only allowed to choose a chief executive selected by a committee with 1200 members. This rule was then further changed in 2014 when Beijing insisted on the political candidates to be chosen from a list vetted by them. This decision by the Chinese government was then met with massive amount of criticism by Hong Kong citizens who viewed this as an attack on both their basic human rights as well as their democratic rights.

The Extradition Bill

During February of 2019 the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation Bill was proposed to the Hong Kong government in order to deal with a murder case that occurred in Taiwan. The bill would then give the Chinese government to transfer fugitives under Hong Kong's jurisdiction to China for sentencing. The controversial case that then started this bill involves a 20 year old named Chan Tong-kai who was charged with the murder of his girlfriend Poon Hiu-wing during their trip to Taiwan. It was said that Chan Tong-Kai strangled and killed her girlfriend after discovering that their unborn baby was not his and instead belonged to Poon's previous boyfriend. Chang Tong-Kai was then arrested for murder on March 13, 2018 but was only charged with money laundering due to the fact that Taiwan and Hong Kong do not have set extradition agreement. This bill though was quickly rejected by the Hong Kong citizens as they viewed this move as a power move by the Chinese government in order to seize more control of Hong Kong and threaten their democratic rights. This then eventually led to the first protest on June 9th 2019 when one million Hong Kong citizens took the street to protest against the bill.

The Five Demands

Due to the fact that this is somewhat of a leaderless protest the demands of the protesters might be slightly different depending on the individual but in general there are 5 general demands that the majority of the protestors would agree to. The first and most obvious demand would be the removal of the extradition bill which as of June 15th of 2019 was actually suspended by the Hong Kong government. The next 4 demands then are the removal of Carrie Lam from office, an investigation to be held on the police brutality that occurred during the protest, for the protesters that have been arrested to be released, and greater democratic freedom.

The future of Hong Kong's Fight for Democracy

Despite Hong Kong protestors persistent and resilience on fighting for greater democratic rights in Hong Kong, it is becoming more and more obvious that China has no intention of ever allowing of Hong Kong becoming an independent nation of their own. Even after numerous months of protesting by Hong Kong citizens, China has not backed down at all, instead in response China has now moved 6000 troops up into Hong Kong's border in an attempt to deescalate the situation. Unfortunately what this means for Hong Kong is that Hong Kong's fight for democracy will largely hinge on the support of foreign aid such as the United States or Canada as Hong Kong simply does not have the power to fight an actual or political battle against China.