This was Beijing’s intention in the 1980s when Britain and China negotiated the return of Hong Kong with little input from city residents. The Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 simply informed Hong Kong that its future would be in Beijing’s hands. Residents could move, or they could stay and accept the rule of a government that five years later would carry out the Tiananmen Square massacre, an event Hong Kong has not forgotten.

Since then, Beijing has steadily endeavored to change not only the law and political system in Hong Kong, but also the values of residents, stirring up many conflicts as a result.

Democracy, as defined by Beijing, came to mean giving up life in Hong Kong as it was previously known. If people wanted normalcy and financial stability, they had little choice but to support Beijing’s rule.

To undermine those activists who still deeply believed in democracy, freedom and human rights, Beijing and the Hong Kong government instigated slanderous rumors about them. Any activist who supported those values was branded a “separatist” or a “betrayer of the Chinese nation.”

This strategy helped undermine support for the “umbrella revolution” in 2014, in which activists called for a greater say in how Hong Kong’s leader was chosen. Those protests may have fizzled, but they led to more calls for independence among young activists and helped foster the formation in 2016 of the Hong Kong National Party, which the government now wants to suppress.

Many residents are also realizing that Beijing lied about eventually granting Hong Kong a genuine democracy with open elections.

According to the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s foundational legal text since 1997, the city’s chief executive is appointed by a committee of 1,200 members. When Beijing took control, it promised that by 2017 the city would be able to elect its top leader by universal suffrage. Residents pushed hard for this in 2014. They had hope, but it was betrayed.