Hong Kong Protests: The Fight for Hong Kong's Freedom

For the past 100 days the people of Hong Kong have taken to the streets to protest against the now-shelved extradition bill, the bill would have allowed China to extradite Hong Kong criminals. Now protesters have expanded their demands to create a true democracy, which they define as: police accountability, amnesty for arrested protesters, the halt of categorising protests as riots, and the implementation of universal suffrage. Neither the protesters nor the government have plans to compromise on the issues which has lead to violent confrontations between the police and the protesters. Still the people of Hong Kong gained their first victory from the protests on September 4th, 2019 when Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, officially stated that her government will formally remove the extradition bill. The people of Hong Kong are still not satisfied, and conflict continues to grow in Hong Kong. As tensions continue to rise from the stalemate between the government and the people, it is imperative to take a look at what has caused this major conflict, and to do so we must look long rich history. In 1884 Hong Kong was leased to the British for 99 years by China. During this period, Hong Kong established its own government, legal system, and laws that reflected the British system and not the Chinese one. When the lease ended in 1997 Hong Kong was given back to China, but made the decision to follow the principle of “one country two systems”. This meant Honk Kong was able to keep their previous laws in place and  enjoy “a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs”(BBC 19) for the next fifty years. Causing Hong Kong to have different civil rights, legal procedures, and government structures compared to mainland China resulting in more freedoms for the people of China.Though Hong Kong enjoys various freedoms compared to mainland China, their freedoms are slowly being taken away. Many civil rights groups have accused China of meddling in Hong Kong, citing examples such as the legal rulings that have disqualified pro-democracy legislators and the fact that five Hong Kong booksellers, and a tycoon who had disappeared from Hong Kong, all eventually re-emerged in legal custody in China. In addition, China has been meddling in Hong Kong’s democratic reform by placing a pro-Beijing leader into power in Hong Kong. Due to the high number of pro-Beijing political members, an increasing amount of laws have been placed to restrict the citizens of Hong Kong's rights, and slowly take over Hong Kong. To do this the Hong Kong government introduced an extradition bill,  this bill would allow for the extradition of suspects to China to be tried under the mainland’s opaque judicial system. This act by Hong Kong’s government was the final straw for the people of Hong Kong and so protests erupted in June of 2019. Even though the extradition bill was formally repealed from the government in September, the protests are still persisting because the people of Hong Kong want to become a democratic nation separate from China. Currently China is doing everything within its power to gain control of Hong Kong including:voter fraud, bribing government officials, and passing laws that erode the freedom for the people of Hong Kong. Due to the constant pressure and attacks from China on Hong Kong’s freedom, Hongkongers have turned to the United States for support during this crisis  urging lawmakers to pass a Bill in support of pro-democracy protesters. One of the bills they are pushing for is the Human Rights and Democracy Act, which would require Washington to annually assess the city’s special status under American law and allow it to sanction leaders who undermine Hong Kong’s democracy. In Washington the Bill is rapidly gaining momentum and was backed by 20 senators - a fifth of the Senate - and 29 representatives in the House as of September 18, 2019. Though the bill was greeted warmly in Capitol Hill both Beijing and Hong Kong’s  government are strongly against America’s meddling with Hong Kong’s internal affairs. The outburst by China on the bill has led the House and the Senate to delay the vote on the bill. Currently Hong Kong’s government is not submitting to any more of the protesters demands, and so protests will continue until the government of Hong Kong is willing to create a democracy in their sovereign state.