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@jenwriter17 @emberynus-the-dragonslayer @seekjustice

The situation in Hong Kong is very complex so you may wish to read some news articles and do your own research on the matter but I will try to explain what I know as best as I can.

First, a little background… The Hong Kong island is technically a part of China. While China’s Communist government is, for the lack of a better description, very authoritarian, Hong Kong is a democracy that is autonomous and self-governing (i.e. it has its own parliament, judiciary and legislature).

How this strange situation came to be is this: Back in the 1800s, the British took Hong Kong from China in the Opium Wars and ruled over the territory as one of their colonies. Thus Hong Kong has developed differently compared to that of mainland China. In 1898 after the Opium Wars, the British government signed what was essentially a 99-year lease for the Hong Kong territory with the Chinese government, which was set to expire in 1997. As 1997 came close, both governments worked out a deal. In 1984, the British agreed to return Hong Kong to China on the promise that China would give Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy for 50 years until 2047. China wouldn’t impose its government on Hong Kong, and Hong Kong’s capitalist system and society would remain unchanged for that 50 years. The setup became known as “one country, two systems”. Thus Hong Kong became a special self-governing administration region of China. This was intended to protect Hong Kong’s economic policies, democratic freedoms and position as a major international trade and financial hub.

All this is very nice in theory but as you can guess, it did not work out so well in practice. Although Hong Kong is supposed to govern itself, over the past years, pro-democracy activists have claimed that China has not upheld its end of the bargain and has meddled in Hong Kong’s legal rulings as well as its elections to ensure that their preferred candidates are chosen. While Hong Kongers enjoy many freedoms that people in mainland China do not have, these freedoms are perceived to be on the decline as China works to consolidate its power. As the year 2047 approaches (well within the expected lifetimes of many young people in Hong Kong today), there have been cases of people in Hong Kong disappearing (e.g. the disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers) and later reappearing in custody in China.

What sparked the current protests is an extradition bill proposed by the Hong Kong government in response to a homicide case in 2018. A Hong Kong man was accused to have murdered his pregnant girlfriend while they were on holiday in Taiwan. The man then flew back to Hong Kong. As the crime did not happen in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong authorities could not pursue the case. However, they also could not extradite the accused for prosecution in Taiwan as Hong Kong does not have an extradition treaty with Taiwan, and negotiating one would be problematic since the government of China does not recognise the sovereignty of Taiwan (Taiwan is another island region that regards itself as independent but is also officially part of China… but that is a story for another day). To resolve this issue, the Hong Kong government proposed an extradition bill that would allow the extradition of fugitives on a case-by-case basis. However, the Hong Kongers began to worry that this new extradition bill may be used by the Chinese government to detain and punish Hong Kongers under the Chinese justice system and erode their rights and freedoms.

So the protests calling for the withdrawal of the extradition bill began. It began with peaceful assemblies and rallies. However, the situation has since escalated with clashes between protesters and the police (along with the alleged involvement of triad members supported by China), allegations of police brutality and all the pent-up unhappiness due to the increasing living costs and social inequality faced by the people over the years. What we are seeing now in Hong Kong is a society without any trust in their government and authorities. The fights are happening very frequently and are getting more violent and intense each day. Even though the extradition bill looks very dead right now, the people have continued to protest, making more demands for things like the stepping down of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, the release of the protesters who have been arrested and greater democratic freedoms.

I think it is quite certain that Hong Kong will never be the same again after this though I am not sure how this will all work out. China, as you may have guessed, has been sending their troops to the border.