This past summer, at least 2 million Hong Kong citizens, more than one fourth of the population, have taken to the streets and participated in marches and riots as they demand the withdrawal of a proposed extradition bill. This would allow people who are arrested in Hong Kong to be sent over to mainland China. Critics argue that the extradition plan could allow nearly anybody to be taken over to China to be detained, especially because Hong Kong's status under China would make it hard to reject an extradition request. Unlike pro-democratic Hong Kong, China is controlled by a communist party, which often prosecutes protestors because of their political agenda and is unfair in trials. On Saturday, August 31, police denied the request for a march, but angry protestors took to the streets anyways. A video went up showing the police storming a subway car after a report of protestors assaulting others and damaging property. They beat passengers who were backed into a corner with batons and used pepper spray on them, despite it being unclear if all those on board were protestors. This only added more fuel to the fire and outraged crowds gathered at the station to vandalize customer service and ticket machines. Elsewhere in the city, authorities had to close down streets by a Chinese government office and created a wall of barriers and water cannons. However, this didn't deter an angry mob who marched outside of the blockade. They had a special group fitted with gas masks and helmets start throwing gasoline bombs at the building and police. Officers countered with tear gas and special colored water cannons that stained people dark blue. Eventually, people retreated, only to start leaving a trail of fires across the city as they were followed by police until the crowds dispersed. Despite the harsh measures police are taking as a consequence, Hong Kong residents are still unwilling to back down and are demanding the unyielding government for the withdrawal of the bill.
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Questions-
1. Do you think since Hong Kong and China are in a "one country, two systems" relationship after Britain gave the island back to China about 22 years ago, that China should have the power to take criminals/those arrested from Hong Kong into their own hands and legal system?
2. The "one country, two systems" guarantee will expire in 2047 and already Hong Kong is fighting back against more Chinese involvement. What do you think will be in the future for Hong Kong's relationship with China? Will they ever gain full independence, join China, or work out another compromise?
My Answers- Despite not being its own independent country, I think Hong Kong should be able to have complete control over their legal systems as it's a part of what they are guaranteed by being semi-autonomous and the extradition bill infringes on that. I think that in the future there could be a civil war between Hong Kong and China because so many people are already protesting over this bill and all those who are for democracy won't want to be under China's communist government. Also, I think this would be more likely because they were a British colony not very long ago and they've been allowed to have some independence thus far, so they'd be more unwilling to let their freedoms get taken away.
Replies
Great job Casey! Good topic choice as it is a big news story but also one that is tough for kids to understand.
These people are fighting for something that they think is improtant to them. Self-reliance is very important to people once they find out what it is. These people of Hong Kong are fighting to show that china doesn't competely own them.
I think it's a good thing that they are choosing to fight for something like this and they don't wanna give up on their government and freedoms. I read that more than 67% of people who live in Hong Kong refer to themselves as HongKongers, instead of Chinese or Chinese in Hong Kong, because they don't align themselves with China and that's probably because they don't like that China owns them at all and are not accepting of the way that China is trying to deal with/control Hong Kong.
Keep in mind that I'm not fully aware of the details in Britain allowing China to have Hong Kong. However, with that in mind, I agree that China shouldn't be allowed to have the extradition bill in Hong Kong. Quite simply, it would go against the agreement made with Britain that gave them the province. I believe that even the Chinese know this because they recently have talked about taking back the bill. As for the future of Hong Kong's relationship with China I could see it going one of two ways. One, the United Nation steps in and enforces Hong Kong's right to have a democratically elected leader. Or two, China cracks down on the protesters even harder and the protests simmer down. I don't think it's very likely that China relinquishes control without intervention, unless the need for democracy happens to spread like wildfire all throughout the country.
I agree that China will probably try to crack down on the protestors even more, as I doubt they'd be willing to give up control of Hong Kong ever. Even if Hong Kong resisted, it's highly unlikely they'd be able to overpower China's large military for very long. I never thought about the United Nations, or any outside forces, intervening, but that could be a possibility.