One Country, Two Systems

By Ahmad BhattiSince antigovernment protests erupted in June, hotels in Hong Kong have become ghost towns. Restaurants, normally heaving with tourists and locals, are struggling to attract diners. Nearly a quarter of American businesses polled said they were considering moving capital or assets out of the city. Now, the city is officially in a recession.So, when did this all start? On February 8, 2018, a young couple Chan Tong Kai and Poon Hiu-Wing, went from their home in Hong Kong to Taiwan for a vacation. They stayed at the Purple Garden Hotel in Taipei for nine days, but on February 17th, only one of them returned to Hong Kong. There, one month later, Chan confessed to murdering his girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time. But there was a problem. Hong Kong authorities could not charge him for murder because he did it in Taiwan. And they could not send him back to Taiwan to be charged, because Hong Kong and Taiwan do not have an extradition agreement. So in 2019, Hong Kong’s government proposed one: it would let them transfer suspects to Taiwan so they could be charged for their crimes. However, the same bill would also allow extradition to mainland China, and that is what sparked this wave of protests. China and Hong Kong are two very different places with a very complex political relationship, and the extradition bill threatens to give China more power over Hong Kong. Hong Kong is technically a part of China, but it operates as a semi-autonomous region. It all began in the late 1800s when China lost a series of wars to Britain and ended up ceding Hong Kong for a period of 99 years. Hong Kong remained a British colony until 1997, when Britain gave it back to China, under a special agreement. Known as “One Country, Two Systems,” it made Hong Kong a part of China, while also giving Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy as well as democratic freedoms like the right to vote, freedom of speech, freedom of the press etc. This made Hong Kong very different from mainland China, which is authoritarian; citizens there do not have the same freedoms. Its legal system is often used to arrest, punish, and silence people who speak out against the state. But according to the agreement, “One Country, Two Systems” would not last forever. In 2047, Hong Kong is expected to fully become a part of China. Rather than sit idly by, China has opted to not wait for the deal to expire. Under the rule of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, pro-democracy leaders have already been arrested in Hong Kong and mysterious abductions of booksellers have created a threat to free speech. But Hong Kong has been pushing back. In 2003, half a million people from Hong Kong successfully fought legislation that would have punished speaking out against China. In 2014, tens of thousands of protestors occupied the city for weeks to protest China’s influence over Hong Kong’s elections.Now, protestors are fighting the extradition bill, which is widely seen as the next step in China’s encroachment on Hong Kong’s autonomy. The sheer size of these protests shows just how much opposition there is to this bill. Despite this, if Hong Kong’s legislature votes on the bill, it will probably pass, due to the unique nature of Hong Kong’s democracy. Firstly, Hong Kong’s people do not vote for their leader. The chief executive is selected by a small committee and approved by China. Even though they are the head of the government, they do not make the laws. Like many democracies, Hong Kong has a legislature with democratically elected representatives. It is called the Legislative Council and has 70 seats. Within this system, Hong Kong has many political parties, but they are mostly either pro-democracy or pro-China. In every election, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy and anti-establishment parties have won the popular vote, but they occupy less than half of the seats in the Legislative Council. This is because when Hong Kong’s people vote, they are only voting for 40 of the 70 seats. The other 30 are chosen by the various business communities of Hong Kong, such as the finance, medical, and insurance industries. Many of these 30 seats are voted on by corporations, and because big business has an incentive to be friendly with China, those seats are dominated by pro-China political parties. When Hong Kong was handed over to China in 1997, Hong Kong and China made an agreement that eventually all members of the council would be elected by the people. But that never happened. Ever since the hand-off, pro-China parties have controlled the Legislative Council, despite having never won more than 50 per cent of the popular vote. Within this unique structure, the extradition bill has created new tensions and fueled anger among pro-democracy politicians. It has driven hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets. While this is not Hong Kong’s first protest against China’s influence, it is the biggest. Many say this time is different, because of the people involved. For the first time, professionals like lawyers and politicians are participating. But it is still young people who are at the forefront, since they have the most to lose. They are the first generation born under One Country Two Systems. And in 28 years when that arrangement ends, they will be Hong Kong’s professional class. The protests have convinced Hong Kong’s government to suspend the bill, but many want the bill withdrawn completely. That is because these protests are also part of a larger fight - to push back against China’s encroachment now, not just when time is up. 2047 is on its way, but it is not here yet. Until then, people of Hong Kong still have a voice. The best thing Beijing could do now for Hong Kong’s young people is to relieve them of the burden of thinking about 2047.