The End of Hong Kong?

Is democracy finished in Hong Kong? The handover of Hong Kong in 1997 was a significant event in international relations, marking the end of British colonial rule and the rise of China as a global power. Under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle, China promised to maintain Hong Kong's separate political, legal, and economic systems for 50 years. However, this autonomy has steadily eroded, particularly following the introduction of the National Security Law in 2020, which criminalises dissent and stifles political freedoms. This law has led to the arrests of numerous activists and political figures, sparking international criticism and concerns about Hong Kong's judicial independence and freedom of speech.

The recent convictions of 14 activists under this law have intensified these concerns, with the US, EU, and UK condemning the trials as politically motivated. The erosion of democracy in Hong Kong has prompted an exodus of residents seeking refuge, primarily in the UK. Despite international outcry, Beijing defends its actions as necessary for national security and stability, arguing they are preparing Hong Kong for full integration with mainland China. Critics, however, contend that these measures damage Hong Kong's status as a financial hub and undermine trust in China's international commitments, particularly concerning Taiwan's potential reunification.

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*VIDEO CHAPTERS*
00:00 Introduction and Titles
00:41 Hong Kong, Democracy and Chinese Rule
01:49 Hong Kong: Location and Population
02:36 A Short History of Hong Kong
04:45 British-Chinese Relations and Hong Kong
06:22 Hong Kong after the Handover to China
09:29 The Final Erosion of Hong Kong’s Democracy?
11:56 Can Democracy Be Restored in Hong Kong?

*SOURCES AND FURTHER READING*
Hong Kong Chief Executive
State Council | People’s Republic of China
1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration
Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

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#HongKong #China #democracy

[JamesKerLindsay]

The recent convictions of 14 activists under new security laws in Hong Kong are seen as the final end of political freedom in the territory. But could the erosion of democracy have been stopped? Or was it always unrealistic to expect the “one country, two systems” to last for the full fifty years? And how do you think all this will affect Hong Kong? Will it make it more stable, as Beijing believes? Or will it undermine it, as critics argue? As always, I look forward to your thoughts and comments below.

[DuckDudgers]

By reneging on its 50-year pledge of autonomy for Hong Kong, China pretty much shot itself in the foot in the long run. There is now absolutely no way that Taiwan would ever trust Beijing if the latter offered a similar agreement — if the PRC can't stand a democratic city under its authority, how will they ever allow an island with a thriving democracy? I find a peaceful conclusion to the One China policy to be less and less likely, I'm afraid.

[VladTevez]

The biggest disappointment was Jackie Chan speaking against the protests

[rpgbb]

I think the argument is wrong. Hong Kong’s democracy was never alive. Only in 1992 with HK’s last British governor, Chris Patten, there was a pathetic last minute rush to create a sort of democracy in the territory. For 150 years, Britain ruled by law, people had no saying in the way they were ruled. It has been the same in Singapore, just rule by law, not rule of law, no wonder the triad connected Lee family took over and democracy is a travesty there. Interesting now how HK has become similar to Singapore, the national security law is like Singapore’s Internal Security Act.

It’s ironic that most of the activists in HK can trace their roots to the 1960s Chinese Leftish anti-British groups, who were pro-Beijing

[chef]

Hong Kong is such a relatively (compared to the late 90s) small portion of Chinese GDP that Beijing has seemingly decided the façade of democracy is no longer worth the economic benefit. Honestly this feels like a move I'd expect of any major power dealing with an internal region full of people ideologically opposed to its national government. China increasingly isn't required to appease foreign powers.

[FlamingBasketballClub]

Closed Trials? Sounds like a kangaroo type of court proceeding.
💀💀💀

[jwhan]

So Chinese gained the land, the UK gained the population who fled from the land, the US gained Taiwanese favour over PRC, and Singaporeans gained attractiveness as the financial hub of the region. For now, it seems that everyone has their own gain. So, is it good?

[FredoRockwell]

Great video, and a very important topic. I think allowing China to remove Hong Kong from the UN list of non self governing territories was a moral failure, and what's happened since then just follows on from that. It's really tragic - HK has been such a vibrant, exciting and free place for so long. 😢

[GameChanger-crhx]

Democracy in HK? When the UK was colonising Hong Kong, there were no elections and the Governor was appointed from a foreign country. It must be difficult for them to let go .... so called democratic sovereign countries have their own subversion laws to ensure peace for the majority. Countries around the world does not have to adopt the same forms of governance from the West, which has a relative short history.

[ABCantonese]

I'll come back to this once i can get to a place where i can actually watch this in peace, but having living roots from there, I will say this:

The PRC government lives to paint nationalism over everything, but the truth is, everyone is wary of the government. You hear about this getting painted over as an ethnic or cultural thing, that they want independence...

Few wants actual independence, but with the way things are going, would you blame them? Nationalism is not a reason to be an a-hole. People haven't forgotten where they came from. They know they're Chinese. Otherwise, HK and Taiwan would not be the buddies that they are.

There's just no trust in the government.

[twood]

The article 23 is pretty much a national security law, every country has it, I don't understand whats the big deal with HK. Why can't HK have it? As far as I can see the one country two system means there need to be a one country first then they can have the two system. If a small number of HK people only want the two system not the one country, then what does that tell you James Ker-Lindsay? I support HK's democratic process, however I do not support western interference in the matter, the HK people should choice their own path. After the US and UK interference which lead to uprising in HK is just unacceptable, HK is part of China, let the Chinese figure it out. Destabilized HK to hurt China, that's the real aim. There are countless evidence pointing to US and UK direct manipulating the event and have CIA on the ground calling the shot, have you not seen them James? HK had a chance to move toward Democracy, but the western interference killed their dream. Now people in the west spoke of how sad it is for HK that they can no longer have a western style Democracy, but why no one talk about what you did to HK. HK's Democracy is dead was not because of Beijing, it is the result of western interference. Stop destabilized other country ffs, just leave them alone, leave the global south alone.

[achmedaan]

I think only mentioning the number of Hong Kongers that moved to the UK is a poor way to represent the exodus out of Hong Kong. The Hong Kongers I personally know are willing to move to any developed country to get out of HK if they can find work there. I think the statistic of emigration from HK would be more useful.

[MuiltiLightRider]

It really is fascinating how bad Chinese foreign policy has been since Xi took over. Up till the 2010s, China had, largely through it's inaction, convinced the world that it would be "a responsible stakeholder in the international system" and had made no major moves that signaled an aggressive foreign policy. The West, with the exception of the US, had largely disarmed, people were seeing NATO as "braindead" and there were larger movements in Korea, Japan, and the Philippines to kick out the US presence. But just in a couple years with their actions in the South China Sea, Hong Kong and Covid crackdowns, spats with India, and Wolf Warrior Diplomacy, China squandered all the geopolitical goodwill it had built up for basically nothing in return. If they'd just waited two more decades, they would've gotten Hong Kong back and could implement all these same laws and nobody would bat an eye since it was within the purview of the agreement.

[xincao]

China does not want to actively infringe on Hong Kong's political rights, let alone restrict Hong Kong's economic power. The cause of this incident is that someone in Hong Kong launched a Hong Kong independence movement, which is prohibited by China. In other words, China's 50-year special administrative power granting Hong Kong is based on the premise that Hong Kong will not launch a Hong Kong independence movement. And because Hong Kong launched a Hong Kong independence movement, China chose to shrink Hong Kong's political power. This is "legitimate defense"

[rpgbb]

I think the argument is wrong. Hong Kong’s democracy was never alive. Only in 1992 with HK’s last British governor, Chris Patten, there was a pathetic last minute rush to create a sort of democracy in the territory. For 150 years, Britain ruled by law, people had no saying in the way they were ruled. It has been the same in Singapore, just rule by law, not rule of law, no wonder the triad connected Lee family took over and democracy is a travesty there. Interesting now how HK has become similar to Singapore, the national security law is like Singapore’s Internal Security Act.

It’s ironic that most of the activists in HK can trace their roots to the 1960s Chinese Leftish anti-British groups, who were pro-Beijing

[danielsamuel]

I believe the distance between Hong Kong and Britain should be far enough for UK to mind their business, and let the Chinese on either side of the divide to settle their differences, I don't really know western countries can't mind their business.

[yawninglion]

It's definitely not the end of HK's democracy, as it was never a democracy to begin with. However, we can quite sure this marks the end of civil liberty in Hong Kong.

[jimmylam]

For the 150 years that Britain has ruled HK, all the time the HK Governor is APPOINTED by the British Crown, not elected by people. The Legislative councilors are APPOINTED by the Governor, not elected by people. There is no democracy in HK under British rule. Why, when HK is returned to China, Britain cries so loud about democracy! I hope you could give your viewers a fair explanation. I am a HK citizen. I am happy with the political system and peace and stability that we now have.

[michaelthomas]

If China had simply more or less kept the One Country Two Systems idea alive the entire Taiwan situation would be very different today.

[TheRealBozz]

Let's not be mock shocked here. This was a foregone conclusion at hand off.