What’s The Deal With Hong Kong?

Photo Credit, CNN

“Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.” – John Adams

If you have been following the news lately, there is a good chance you have noticed Hong Kong being mentioned. Over the past few months literally millions of Hong Kongese have taken to the streets in solidarity to advocate for Democracy against the ever growing threat of their personal liberties and state sovereignty being stripped away by the Communist Chinese government.

Even though Hong Kong – formally referred to as Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China – is officially part of China, it has maintained a great degree of autonomy and sovereignty from the Chinese government’s interests and agenda.

In order to make sense of the complex mess Hong Kong finds itself in with China, it helps to understand its history with the country. In 1842 the British Empire obtained Hong Kong in the aftermath of the First Opium War. In 1898, Great Britain agreed to return Hong Kong – along with the other lands – to China in 1997. Due to its geographic location as making it an excellent port, and its affiliation with the British Empire, Hong Kong became a focal point for commerce in the Far East and became a powerful naval hub for the British Navy.

During the twentieth century, the now Communist Chinese government did not hide the fact that it wanted control of Hong Kong. Premier Zhao Ziyang was very clear about this, so to calm tensions in the region, the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher proposed a resolution that became known as “The Sino-British Joint Declaration.” Signed in 1984, this declaration guaranteed Hong Kong an additional fifty years of semi-autonomous sovereignty that would now end in 2047. Which essentially brings us up to date.

Since the British government has removed itself from its affairs, Hong Kong has continued to operate as a democratic state, modeled after the common law system created by their former landlords, and even has the highest economic freedom ranking in the world. By every stretch of the imagination, Hong Kong has thrived in spite of the gruesome reality that they do not have the ability to independently stave off the encroaching end of their autonomy. So, it comes as no surprise that the Hong Kongese are turning out in droves to show their support for democracy and to voice their discontent with the ongoing presence of the Chinese government in their affairs.

The protests began on April 3, 2019 when the parliament of Hong Kong proposed a bill that would allow for criminal suspects to be extradited, held, and tried in the Chinese justice system instead of in Hong Kong. Naturally, this was not well received. Since then, the protests have grown in size and intensity. Pro-democracy demonstrations have gone from being ignored by the domestic media in Hong Kong to demanding international attention and even shutting down the Hong Kong international airport. As the size of these protests has grown, so too has the militarization of the Hong Kong police forces and the presence of the Chinese government in attempts to clamp down on the disruptions.

On July 9, 2019, Carrie Lam – a representative in the Hong Kong Parliament – killed the extradition bill that was the catalyst for these protests. Yet, still, these protests carry on. The Hong Kongese are aware of the threat that the Communist Chinese government poses for their way of life. They are cognisant of the totalitarian regime that is quite literally on their doorstep. In the People’s Republic of China, the government has little regard for human life. The people of Hong Kong are aware of this and are doing all that they can, short of massive violent uprising, to resist the boot of totalitarianism from crushing their windpipes. In Hong Kong, protestors have even been waving the American Flag, singing the Star Spangled Banner, and holding up signs stating their need for the right to bear arms. These men and women are fully aware of what fate awaits them should their liberties be lost, and once lost it is lost forever.

“…it comes as no surprise that the Hong Kongese are turning out in droves to show their support for democracy and to voice their discontent with the ongoing presence of the Chinese government in their affairs.”

This is not just a small territory resisting the imperialist tendencies of its larger neighbor. This is, quite literally, a fight between good and evil. The Communist Chinese government is seeking to expand its influence in the region by extinguishing the light of democracy and freedom in Hong Kong. While this occurs the international community maintains a stance of neutrality because nobody dares to defy China in any substantial way. The international community is forsaking 7.8 million people with their silence.

Shame on them all.

Follow this author on Twitter: @Mangold_Lenett

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