Hong Kong Independence and Protests
Introduction
For about one hundred and fifty years, Hong Kong fell under the political administration of the British rule, their colonial masters.
On July 1st, 1997 the British rule gave way to the People’s Republic of China, who took over Hong Kong’s sovereignty. With this move, Hong Kong was declared a Special Administrative Region, in the end that they would be fully autonomous, save for the Defense and Foreign Affairs dockets. This would therefore mean that Hong Kong would conduct its affairs under the Basic Law, but even then their interpretations could be amended by mainland China at any given time. It would go without saying, that judicial processes are always known to rule in favor of the ‘bigger
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Notable again is the fact that The Chief Executive of the region has powers to appoint or to dismiss the top team for his government, which is mandated with the formulation of government policies.
According to the Basic Law that guides legal matters in Hong Kong, the region would ultimately embrace universal suffrage in conducting electoral processes, especially with regard to the position of The Chief Executives.
To this extent, the law was silent on when and how this would be realized, and has been the epicenter for Hong Kong’s cry for independence, and the various protests from civil rights groups and students’ bodies. Various instruments have been used to spearhead an end to these serious controversies, which continue to ripple the society apart in this day and era of great civilization and human rights activism. In this book, we will give a brief highlight of numerous items that are central in the roadmap to Hong Kong independence, noting how far the region has come, and what is the legal standing of China, the influence of Beijing, and other world leaders.
1. The British Rule exits: On July 1st, 1997, the British rule gave way to the People’s Republic of China, who took over Hong Kong’s sovereignty. This must have been deemed to be the start of great awakening and
Executive power is vested in the office of the President of the United States. The President has the dual role of being the chief of state and the head of government. The President is also commander in chief of the armed forces. He issues executive orders, and appoints Supreme Court justices (with senate approval). The president is also called "the chief legislator" because he indirectly proposes many bills, considers all bills from Congress and signs them into law or vetoes them.
give up Hong kong, and grant Britain special rights in China that other countries do not have( Russ).This not only placed debt upon the country but also opened the gates of China to other countries. Not only was china slowly losing control of their borders and foreign relations, but their population was also crumbling from the inside and the political structure was now in jeopardy with the corrupt emperor Cixi taking control of the dynasty. The internal and external burdens left china searching for hope and assistance from someone they could trust to take over the reins and get this once powerful country back on track.
The most important leadership hat of the president is the Chief Executive Hat or power. In respect to this hat, the president of the United States has the power to enforce laws of the United States, create policies, appoint federal judges, and fires or hire officials or representatives within the executive branch. This hat is important because it enables the president to make decisions that help maintain the economic stability as well as the political stability of the country. For instance, by enforcing laws and appointing federal judges, the president is able to make decisions that help maintain stability within the United States. In turn, this enables economic indicators such as businesses to flourish efficiently.
While The boxer rebellions is still ongoing, the British were selling opium, a poisonous drug made from poppy plants, to the chinese people. The British colonies refused to stop importing opium and continued selling opium to injure the chinese. In document 1 The Opium War, The chinese suffered shameful defeat and were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, which gave Britain the island of Hong Kong and free from the chinese laws at the chinese ports. China’s humiliated lost made them resist against the British rule, eventually leading to the Opium Wars. Although they were manipulated by the British, they still resisted to prove their loyalty and their love for their country. This indicates that the chinese people show Nationalism by portraying the pride they have for their country. The chinese also shows ideology by showing loyalty to their sacredness and ancient culture. In conclusion, imperialism altered China to a country that has nationalism and pride for their
The Chinese just like the Russian revolution both became communist governments in the end. In the positions that
Kaye Hong grown up in San Francisco and attended university of Washington. At the begging of his essay, he was not sure where he should lie his future in because he sees his future clearly in both China and America. Through half of his essay, we can tell that he is also considered China as a weak and low quality county by saying, “I shall deplore China’s lower standard of living, that the chaos of China’s government offers me no promise of economic security” (62). Although he had thought of go back to China, the bad living condition and insecure economy has immediately stopped his thinking. To put it differently, Hong is also lack of knowledge of China, and they way he looks at China’s future was incorrect. Indeed, at that time China’s economy and condition were not as good as today. But due to his enormous population, it is possible for its citizens to make it strong and rich, which this is also what the Stanford students are trying to express. However, Hong is very pessimistic with China’s
The People’s Republic of China with a population 1.3 billion, is the third largest country in the world and has a land size of 960,000 square kilometres. It is a rapidly growing economy, with living standards being raised every year. However, human rights violations are still a part of daily life in some part of China and can still be seen in the present time. The most controversial issues include discrimination, right to live and not to be subject to torture, freedom of religion, opinion, to fair public hearing, rights to family and the right of movement. (The Consulate General of The People's Republic of China, 2003),(Infoplease, 2009)
"Washington State University." Fall 2014 British Imperialism in China and the Spread of Western Ideals. N.p., 28 Aug. 2014. Web. 19 Sept. 2016.
Ho-fung Hung’s work attempts to reconcile the widespread expectation that China’s rise would lead to a fundamental change in the global status quo with the observed fact that China has become increasingly connected to and one with the global status quo. To do this, he must first examine China’s rise and prove that it upholds the global status quo, and further must look into the origins of China’s rise, going back to the 13th century, to understand why this rise seemingly changed so little about the global world order.
China has been in a state of revolution and reform since the Sino-Japanese war of 1895. As a result of Japan’s victory over Russia in 1905, China’s constitutional reform movement gathered momentum. This forced the Manchu government by public opinion to make gestures of preparation for a constitutional government, an act to which reformers in exile responded enthusiastically by establishing a Political Participation Society (Cheng-wen-she) (1, pg.84).
September 26, 1984 – the United Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China release the Joint Declaration, a document detailing the then future handover of the island of Hong Kong and its surrounding territories from British colonial rule, to rule by the PRC. Exactly thirty years later, hundreds of students rush over the security barricades of the central government building in Hong Kong with anger, tenacity, and fear in their eyes. Many are still youths, students from local secondary schools exercising their disappointment of modern Hong Kong in the only way they believe they can: protest, beginning a series of events now known as “The Umbrella Movement.” Four days earlier, however, hundreds had begun gathering around that building, unhappy with the current political system in place in Hong Kong, furious at the way the Beijing government of the PRC seemed to be closing in and suppressing their social and political freedoms. Though the protests were meant to be relatively peaceful demonstrations, the large collections of people disrupted traffic and business throughout Hong Kong. Soon Hong Kong police forces were called in to disperse the crowds, and when protesters refused to leave, the police resorted to the use of pepper spray and tear gas, causing an uproar among witnesses. In response, to protect themselves from the tear gas, protesters began carrying umbrellas to use as shields, thus the movement was dubbed “The Umbrella Movement.” In the following months, the series
The movement that conveyed Hong Kong people’s discontent with the British colonial government is the Hong Kong Leftist riots in 1967. After the breakout of the Cultural Revolution in China, pro-communist leftists in Hong Kong actively found opportunities to cause conflicts against the colonial government. The labor disputes at the Hong Kong Artificial Flower Factory were a perfect time to instigate Hong Kong people to oppose its colonial government. Along with the success of leftists demonstrations in Macau and Hong Kong’s social conflicts stemmed from poor working conditions, the disputes developed into large-scale demonstrations against British colonial rule. Many pro-communist demonstrators shouted Mao’s slogans with Little Red Books held in their hands. At the end of the demonstrations without the supports of Hong Kong citizens, the riots failed and were discontinued by the first Premier of the People 's Republic of China, Zhou Enlai.
China has always had a bitter feud with Japan over what Tokyo labels as the Senkaku Islands and Beijing calls the Diaoyu Islands. In 2012, emotionally charged anti-Japanese nationalist protests broke out across China, signaling the dissatisfaction of Chinese citizens towards Japan. This is particularly intriguing: any form of outward dissent, such as protests and demonstrations on a large scale, are decidedly rare within China. Why were the protests allowed to happen? In this paper, I briefly summarize the conflict in 2012, I explore why the Chinese government, usually anti-protest and anti-disturbance-of-peace would allow and approve such protests, and how it sends a signal of the Chinese government’s dissatisfaction with Japan’s actions. I explore the implications of by allowing these anti-Japanese protests to happen, China is signaling its willingness to take on a stronger role in the
At the time that Wai made ‘ChungKing Express’, Hong Kong was pending to be handed over from the British democratic powers, to the Chinese communist government. This period was very turbulent for the Hong Kong people as they were in anticipation of a great change, but they didn’t know whether it would be negative or positive.
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has become more integrated and willing to cooperate within the global political and economic systems than ever in its history. However, there is growing apprehension in the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. in regards to the consequences of rising in economic and military power in China. Descriptions about Chinese diplomacy in the policy and scholarly are less positive lately concerning China’s obedience to regional and international rules. There was little debate in the U.S. and elsewhere in regards to whether China was or was not part “the international community.” Scholars and experts in the early 1990s have contended