The View From China on Hong Kong’s Massive Demonstrations

Photo Credit: Frank Li / NewscomAs thousands of protestors flood downtown Hong Kong in opposition to Beijing’s efforts to control the political future of the “Special Administration Region,” there is growing concern about how this situation will be resolved.

For the people of Hong Kong, the issue is straightforward. Under the terms of the Basic Law, negotiated between the People’s Republic of China and the British government when Hong Kong was still a colony, the PRC committed itself to preserving the institutions that had made Hong Kong such a success—a free press, an independent judiciary, civil liberties and a civil society—for the half-century after reversion in 1997.

This program of “one country, two systems” was touted not simply as a means of ensuring the continued prosperity of Hong Kong, but also as a bellwether for the possibility of eventual application to Taiwan.

Because Hong Kong had not held elections while under British rule (a hypocritical point from Beijing’s perspective), how the territory’s chief executive would be selected had to be addressed in the Basic Law. A gradual transition was agreed upon, wherein Hong Kong would implement a policy of universal suffrage over time to elect a chief executive.

In 2014, in preparation for the scheduled 2017 elections, the universal suffrage plan was unveiled. Beijing held to the letter of the agreement—there would be elections for a chief executive where all the eligible citizens of Hong Kong could vote, but the range of possible candidates would have to pass muster from Beijing.