A CITY ON FIRE: HONG KONG
By Alistair Law
Since the beginning of summer, there have been a series of pro-democracy protests throughout Hong Kong, totalling to 21 weeks of unrest. The protests have led to the Legislative Building being stormed, the airport suspending flights, closure of metro stations, and roads and highways being blocked off. But where did this all begin?
Hong Kong was a former British colony (after being acquired from China after the First and Second Opium Wars). It was held by Britain (Hong Kong and the New Territories) for a 99-year lease, which ended in 1997 with Hong Kong being given back to China. In the agreement between the British and China, there was a clause that stated that Hong Kong’s freedoms in democracy, expression, press, markets and speech would not be touched and could not be changed for 50 years.
This was troublesome for China. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are adamant about censorship of the masses and restricting freedom of speech and silencing criticism of the one-party system. This led to a conflict in ideas, with Hong Kong having free thought, with China believing in a much more censored way. For example, in the summer of 1989, students protested in China. The Communist Party decided to bring in the army, and placed Beijing under effective Marshal Law, with deaths numbering 10,000. Hence, it is clear the CCP don’t like people protesting against them.
China has slowly tried reduce Hong Kong’s freedoms throughout the last few years, seemingly accelerating the moral alignment of Hong Kong to the rest of China. At the handover in 1997, Hong Kong made up 18.4% of China’s GDP, which is extremely significant for such a small area. However, now that number is just 2.7%, so if Hong Kong’s economy falters, the impact on China is severely reduced. Hence, integrations with China have been made, such as the Hong-Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge, the sharing of technology between Hong Kong and other cities in the Greater Bay Area, and the increasing cultural alignment with China. In 2008, about half of people identified as Chinese, with the other half identifying as Hongkongers, but in recent times, especially during the summer, the number identifying as a Hongkonger has risen to the highest, since 1997. A distinct rise in patriotism for Hong Kong, especially in the youth, has led to mass protests, with one march having 2 million people.
However, these recent protests are part of a growing movement, where independence from China has become mainstream. In 2014, there was another series of protests from September through to December, over a new law implemented, that the Chief Executive of Hong Kong (the highest political position in Hong Kong), would have to be approved by the CCP. Hence, likely only pro-China candidates would be approved. As a result, the following protests became part of the ‘Umbrella Movement’, but eventually, the police broke up the protests in December, bringing that movement to a close.
So there clearly has been underlying discontent with Chinese rule. But what sparked these protests?
In early 2018, a Hong Kong resident went with his girlfriend to Taiwan, and he then murdered her. He left the country and returned to Hong Kong, which was problematic. Since Hong Kong and Taiwan don’t have an extradition agreement, one had to be made, as Taiwan wanted to try the suspect under Taiwanese Law, in Taiwanese courts. A special, one-off case could have been made to extradite the suspect, but instead, the Legislative Council of Hong Kong decided to propose the ‘Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation Bill 2019’. This basically gave the right to China to extradite suspects from Hong Kong, to China, to be tried in Chinese courts, which don’t have the best record when it comes to impartiality.
A bookstore in Hong Kong used to sell anti-China books, criticising their leader, Xi Jinping. The workers from this bookstore disappeared in 2015, and then appeared in 2016, miraculously, on Chinese State TV. They confessed to crimes like drink driving and murder, and were tried in Chinese courts and jailed. These crimes were likely lies fed to them by the CCP, or morphing them into much bigger crimes than what they actually were. Since the CCP is so powerful, they can hold people hostage, torture and then force political oppositions to confess on state TV, and then placing them in jail. This is how the CCP like to deal with those that criticise the state.
As a result, Hong Kongers were far from happy about this bill, triggering protests and marches, some numbering in the millions.
The police had to quell these protests somehow. With the Legislative Council being mostly pro-China, and the leader, Carrie Lam, being pro-China, they could not have these protests go on. Hence, towards the end of the summer, they used much more deadly tactics to try and stop the protests. Tear gas was initially used to try and disperse protesters, but with worries about the media presence, the police held back. Over 4,000 tear gas canisters have been used over the course of the protests. However, on July 29th, videos emerged of water canon testing. These vehicles were soon introduced to help disperse crowds, and the water was dyed a lighter blue, in order to help police, catch and arrest front line protesters, as the blue dye would make them stand out. In late September, Carrie Lam announced there would be a new face mask ban. Previously, protesters would hide their identity using these face masks, but with this new ban, this would mean that protesters could be arrested under the charge of wearing a face mask. This was so facial recognition cameras could work to help identify and arrest protesters, even after the protests were finished, to further aide police. Rubber bullets have also been fired into the crowd, numbering almost 2000, with one instance seeing a protester being shot in the eye. However, on October 1st, the 70th anniversary of CCP rule over China, an 18-year old protester was shot in the chest using live ammunition. As recent as 21st October, a water canon was sprayed at the entrance to the largest mosque in Hong Kong. These efforts have all been at trying to quell the protests.
The MTR (Mass Transit Railway) is the public transport network for Hong Kong. It is one of the only systems to actually make a profit, and subsidise the government, instead of the government subsiding them. By providing cheap, efficient transport, around 500,000 journeys are made on it daily. Hence, it is a useful tool for protesters to use to get to protest sites, such as Hong Kong International Airport. However, lines and stations have been closed when protests begin, stopping protesters getting to sites or protest, as the government attempt to reduce the number of protesters. These stations closures have been blamed on destruction and damage of the stations caused by protesters. This made protesters angry as they view the MTR as supportive of the pro-China government, leading to more damage of stations, and more closures. This has created a vicious cycle.
On the most part, these protests have been peaceful. Marches and sittings have been the main approach from protestors. However, a few have attempted to take things further, vandalising pro-China businesses, storming the Legislative Building and graffitiing the inside. Despite the press tending to focus on these events, many of the protests have been peaceful, such as the 3-day sit in during August at Hong Kong International Airport.
As for what will happen? Currently Hong Kong is in deadlock. The protestors are not willing to back down, and China will not budge. After withdrawing the extradition bill and face mask ban, there have still been protests since, arguing for the resignation of Carrie Lam, inquiries into police brutality during the protests and retraction of the ‘riot’ characterisation. This is accompanied by videos in August showing Chinese troops on the border in Shenzhen, given the word from Carrie Lam, they could cross over and put the city under Marshall Law, much like the incident in Tiananmen Square. Neither side will budge, so the outcome is extremely unpredictable. With the summer over, protests may die down, but during the summer next year, we may see even more intense demonstrations. With heavy media presence, China have to be very careful with their actions, as they cannot hide what they do. However, there is little the international community can do against the CCP, due to their immense power and wealth. However, with controversies of the Blizzard situation, and the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act being passed in the US House of Representatives, there may be hope for the Hong Kong people.
The fight for Hong Kong’s freedom continues.