Democracy and Protest in Hong Kong
Hong Kong has an interesting relationship with China. While technically part of China, Hong Kong is a capitalist powerhouse. The official term used for this phenomenon is "One country, two systems."
Hong Kong is due to have elections for its own chief executive. China acknowledges that this is part of their agreement, but with a caveat, candidates who can run must be approved by Beijing.
Understandably, this creates resentment, as Hong Kong's cultural identity is very different than China's and it is unlikely a candidate approved by Beijing would represent Hong Kong well.
Protests ensue. Despite a government deadline for the pro-democracy protestors to leave, many remain. This is a story we will want to keep tabs on for further development.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-29494885
This seems to me to be an excellent example of Lincoln's quote, "A house divided against itself cannot stand... It will become all one thing or all the other." There is simply no way, at least while China remains firmly communist, for Hong Kong to be easily capitalist. China has far too much power over the small territory due to the substantial size difference. Hong Kong will be constantly subjugated. While China may be making a show of following the treaty to avoid upsetting the Brits, and, for that matter, the rest of Western World, I doubt Hong Kong will remain truly capitalist much longer. Perhaps when more of the Chinese people dislike communism it can resume in full force, but for now, I foresee a steady decrease in true capitalism for Hong Kong.
ReplyDelete-Liam Brookhart
I think it's awesome. Go Hong Kong, stick it to the Chinese!
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