Rolling protests in Hong Kong have persisted for months following a National Security law which has been imposed on the region by mainland China. A recent video of a 12-year-old being violently arrested by the police for “walking suspiciously” surfaced on the internet recently, attracting public concern on the state of events in Hong Kong. How did we get here?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hong Kong police have arrested nearly 300 demonstrators who took to the streets in anger over delayed elections, including this 12-year-old girl. <a href="https://t.co/hvfr4MapPP">pic.twitter.com/hvfr4MapPP</a></p>— DW News (@dwnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1302917024742404097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Beginning
Protests in Hong Kong started in June 2019 over plans to pass a controversial extradition bill which would allow china encroach on the autonomous freedom of Hong Kong, among other things.
What started as peaceful marches spiralled into violence between protesters and the police, with police firing live bullets and protesters attacking officers, leaving many dead including man who was set on fire. Protests continued until September when the bill was withdrawn by leader Carie Lam. However, protests continued with fresh demands for a full democracy and an inquiry into police actions.
Protesters who had adopted the motto “Five demands, not one less!” specifically demanded that the protests should no longer be categorized as “riots, amnesty be granted arrested protesters, a commencement of investigations into police brutality, implementation of complete universal suffrage and the withdrawal of the extradition bill, has already been done. But why is China suddenly impatient with the independence of Hong Kong?
The Story of Hong Kong
Hong Kong was ceded to the British as one of its colonies after a war in 1842 for a 99-year period. As a new colony, it took off its own economic activity and eventually became a trading and manufacturing hub, it also became a place where migrants, fleeing poverty and political instability of persecution from mainland china run to. When the 99-year period was coming to a close, the two sides signed a treaty in 1984 that would allow Hong Kong return to China in 1997, under the “one country, two systems” principle. Under the treaty, Hong Kong would maintain its autonomy (having its own judiciary and a separate legal system from mainland China) except in defence affairs, for 50 years.
This time period is meant to elapse in 2047 but for Chinese president Xi Jinping, this may be too long a time for separatism and for citizens of HongKong, too early to give up their independence. He had previously warned against separatism, saying any attempt to divide China would end in “bodies smashed and bones ground to powder.”
Another Controversial Law and a Postponed Election
In June 2020, one year after proposing the extradition law and without meeting all the demands of protesters, China proposed a new national security law, with similar terms as the extradition bill. The law came into effect at 23:00 local time on 30 June, an hour before the 23rd anniversary of the city’s handover to China from British rule.
This law criminalises subversion––undermining the power or authority of the central government, secession––breaking away from the country. Other provisions in the law state that:
- Some trials will be held behind closed doors
- Beijing will establish a new security office in Hong Kong, with its own law enforcement personnel – neither of which would come under the local authority’s jurisdiction
- People suspected of breaking the law can be wire-tapped and put under surveillance
- Damaging public transport facilities can be considered terrorism
- The law will also apply to non-permanent residents and people “from outside [Hong Kong]… who are not permanent residents of Hong Kong.”
Critics fear that this new law which was passed without much consultation will have a “severe impact on freedom of expression, if not personal security, on the people of Hong Kong.”
While agitations about this new law heightened in Hong Kong, Legislative Council (LegCo) elections which were scheduled to hold on 5th September 2020, was moved by year under directives from mainland china. Again, hundreds of protesters had taken to the streets to demonstrate against the year-long delay to the elections about 300 people have been arrested.
With gatherings currently limited to two people, and crackdown on protesters by police intensifying, the momentum for demonstrations has been dampened and China’s security law seems to be taking full force.
The UK to the Rescue, Again
Following the implementation of the new security law in Hong Kong, the UK government made a citizenship offer to 3 million residents of Hong-Kong with British National (Overseas) status (BNO), offering them rights to settle in the UK. This decision has been strongly opposed by the Chinese government. China’s ambassador to the UK said that such a move would be a violation of agreements between the two countries and labelled Britain’s criticism of the security law in Hong Kong as irresponsible and unwarranted.
