The Hong Kong Protests

[Kreekakon]

Hey there everyone, I thought I'd make a thread on a fairly large piece of news right now which is going on in Hong Kong. For full details, I found that this piece of news covers the meat of the issue rather well:

http://www.vox.com/2014/9/28/6856621/hon...-explainer

I'd HIGHLY recommend reading the entire thing to understand just what is going on, but for those of you who want a more tl;dr version, this expert explains the motives behind the protests:

This began in 1997, when the United Kingdom handed over Hong Kong, one of its last imperial possessions, to the Chinese government. Hong Kong had spent over 150 years under British rule; it had become a fabulously wealthy center of commerce and had enjoyed, while not full democracy, far more freedom and democracy than the rest of China. So, as part of the handover, the Chinese government in Beijing promised to let Hong Kong keep its special rights and its autonomy — a deal known as "one country, two systems."

A big part of that deal was China's promise that, in 2017, Hong Kong's citizens would be allowed to democratically elect their top leader for the first time ever. That leader, known as the Hong Kong chief executive, is currently appointed by a pro-Beijing committee. In 2007, the Chinese government reaffirmed its promise to give Hong Kong this right in 2017, which in Hong Kong is referred to as universal suffrage — a sign of how much value people assign to it.

But there have been disturbing signs throughout this year that the central Chinese government might renege on its promise. In July, the Chinese government issued a "white paper" stating that it has "comprehensive jurisdiction" over Hong Kong and that "the high degree of autonomy of [Hong Kong] is not an inherent power, but one that comes solely from the authorization by the central leadership." It sounded to many like a warning from Beijing that it could dilute or outright revoke Hong Kong's freedoms, and tens of thousands of Hong Kong's citizens marched in protest.

Then, in August, Beijing announced its plan for Hong Kong's 2017 elections. While citizens would be allowed to vote for the chief executive, the candidates for the election would have to be approved by a special committee just like the pro-Beijing committee that currently appoints the chief executive. This lets Beijing hand-pick candidates for the job, which is anti-democratic in itself, but also feels to many in Hong Kong like a first step toward eroding their promised democratic rights.

This is a very big deal for Hong Kong because it shows that China is being rather dirty, and sneaky with their "claims" on allowing Hong Kong to continue holding the democracy it holds.

They said that in 2017 they would allow them to elect their own executive, but the way things are shaping up China has no intentions of actually letting them pick someone with Hong Kong's best interests in mind. The candidates will basically all be:

1. Mr. I love China
2. Sir Long Live Communism
3. Baron RIP Democracy

You get the idea.

I think that it is very wise for the Hong Kong people to try to stand up for their freedom here, and now, because if they let this slide then there's no telling how much of their freedom will slowly, but surely be etched away by the China government.

I am rather skeptical however on how long the protests are going to be able to hold out. I found that it is often the case that governments will usually try to outlast such protests by waiting for the passion to die down, and still slowly get away with what they were originally after. It happens.

The Taiwanese people are also rather worried about this whole incident, because they believe that if China is already starting to slowly make such political advances on Hong Kong then Taiwan itself may very well be next in line subject to some sort of policy that it has no power to really ignore.

What are all your thoughts on this?

EDIT: Also regarding Taiwan, it really doesn't help that our president is frankly rather cowardly who doesn't stand up to domestic problems very much, and has frequently dropped hints that he sees it beneficial for Taiwan to be joined again with China.

[MrBehemoth]

I think it's incredibly important that democracy is maintained and the protestors are doing the right thing. I would advise them to be careful though: the last thing they want is to give Beijing an excuse to take away any autonomy that Hong Kong already has.

I wonder... Since the deal was initially made between China and the British government of Hong Kong before governance was handed back, would it be appropriate, or even helpful, or not, for the UK to get involved in talks? Or would this just rub salt into various wounds and undermine the whole autonomy thing. I suspect the latter.

[i3670]

Breaking News! A communist autocracy may not keep their promise!

*Reminds of the protests against the USSR carried out by the auxiliary states which either ended in them getting run over by tanks or getting their independence. Keep in mind, that they got their independence because the USSR was collapsing.

[Mudbill]

I agree with the protestors. It's important to stand up and at least try to do something about the issue. If you let too many things slide, you never know what will happen and what you'll lose.

But yes, they must be careful. China is well known for its censorships and they likely intend to keep that awesome reputation intact. Perhaps this is a reason to get the media involved; spread the news internationally and raise awareness. Perhaps that will cripple the Chinese government's idea of "dealing with it" and "throwing it under the blanket" because you can't hide it if everyone knows it.

[Kreekakon]

I wonder... Since the deal was initially made between China and the British government of Hong Kong before governance was handed back, would it be appropriate, or even helpful, or not, for the UK to get involved in talks? Or would this just rub salt into various wounds and undermine the whole autonomy thing. I suspect the latter.

Unless the British are ready to get into some nasty business, I'd think that they would really like to stay out of it, and let the country sort out its own "internal affairs".

It would be really nice though for a large power to stand up and challenge China, but I doubt too many are that ready to get involved. Especially since China has a reputation of not doing business with you unless you abide by their rules.