Three decades ago, the joint declaration between China and Great Britain over Hong Kong laid the blueprint over how the city would be ruled after its return to China in 1997. However, in 2017 the Chinese authorities openly claimed that the declaration was a historical document that no longer had any practical significance. Now, the blueprint acknowledged by an international treaty is ready to be tossed in the trash can.
The breach of the treaty enraged Hong Kong people with the Chinese Communist Party. In 2007, the National People’s Congress-Standing Committee (NPC-SC), the legislative body of China, decided that universal suffrage for the chief executive of Hong Kong would start with the 2017 election. However, in 2014, the NPC-SC changed its initial decision, suggesting that the Hong Kong people only vote for the two or three candidates whom the Communist Party selected and approved.
The recent proposed extradition bill became the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Although the Chinese government attempts to get rid of the joint declaration it signed with Great Britain, the treaty still serves as the safeguard of the Basic Law of Hong Kong. The Basic Law guarantees that the Chinese central government cannot imprison and sentence people as it did in the autonomous regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. In other words, the Chinese authorities cannot stifle dissent in Hong Kong with an iron fist.
Although the population of Hong Kong is only 7.4 million, the spirit of the city has tremendous impact on the 1.3 billion Chinese who hope for a democratic society. Every year, tens of thousands of Hong Kongers hold vigil to commemorate Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square. By contrast, in mainland China, hundreds of people are imprisoned annually just for talking about the Tiananmen Massacre on the internet.
In Hong Kong, there is an influential vocal community of pro-democracy activists and lawmakers, and this has been “irritating” the evil regime in Beijing. The Chinese Communist Party desperately wanted to chip away at the independence of Hong Kong’s institutions. To demand free elections, Hong Kongers seized control of downtown streets for 11 weeks in 2014.
Hong Kong has become a beacon of freedom in China. For months, Hong Kong people have been persistently protesting the extradition bill and demanding voting rights. Why are the Hong Kong people strongly against the bill?
The bill was designed to allow Hong Kong to detain and transfer people wanted by the Chinese Communist Party in countries and territories with which it has no formal extradition agreements, including Taiwan. If the extradition bill were passed, virtually anyone in Hong Kong could be picked up and detained in mainland China, where judges must follow the orders of the Communist Party. Last week, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced an end to the extradition bill that touched off the territory’s worst political crisis since its handover to China.
The evil Chinese regime apparently lost this round, after months of demonstrations of Hong Kong people. However, ending the bill is not enough. Without free election, there would be no representation. Without a government truly representing its people, Hong Kong would be the next Xinjiang and Tibet. The notorious extradition bill has become the last straw that kept Hong Kong young people protesting the Chinese authorities and fighting for their freedom.
Every day, we hear Hong Kong young people chant “Restore Hong Kong, revolution of our time.” A short video about an interview with a Hong Kong protester has been widely spread on the internet recently. When watching it, many people cried just like the man in the video who covered his face and head. He said,
“We are fighting for a permanent future. I’ve no one to love. I have nothing to care, but this, but this. So I’m willing to die. For this.
-Why? Because this is our home.
-Why won’t you fight for your home? As simple as that. We are trying to do our best to fight for at least two or three decades.
– Do you see these students [protesting] here? When 2047 comes, the students will all become middle-aged and they will all be slaves. We will all be slaves.
-If we don’t fight right now, we won’t have another chance.”
