I started this thread without knowing too much about the protest and in particular why it is still going on strong (it started 3/31/19). I'm a bit amaze at the energy behind it. What is sustaining it? What is China doing, or not doing. How the HK government has respond and is responding. I think it's interesting to see how involved China gets here, to use her strength or not to crush these protesters --- I think that gives the rest of the world a preview in China's future looking behaviors. If it stays out and let HK handles without interference, then it truly does respect the one country, two government in HK arrangement (literally vs symbolically as respect to Taiwan). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Hong_Kong_anti-extradition_bill_protests The 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests are a series of ongoing demonstrations in Hong Kong against the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill proposed by the government of Hong Kong. The legislation was proposed by Secretary for Security John Lee in February 2019 in response to a murder that occurred in Taiwan the previous year in which the suspect had fled to Hong Kong. As a special administrative region, Hong Kong is jurisdictionally distinct from mainland China and maintains a separate governing and legal system under the "one country, two systems" principle. The regional government was unable to transfer the fugitive to Taiwanese authorities, citing a lack of formal extradition arrangements between the two jurisdictions.[17] If enacted, the bill would allow local authorities to detain and extradite people who are wanted in countries or territories that Hong Kong does not have extradition agreements with, including mainland China and Taiwan.[18] Opponents of the legislation fear that it would place Hong Kong residents and visitors under the jurisdiction of mainland courts (which are controlled by the Communist Party of China) and apply not only to criminals, but political dissidents as well.[19][20][21][22] Demonstrations against the bill first occurred in March and April,[23][24][25][26] but escalated in June. At least 240,000 people (up to one million according to organisers) marched in protest of the bill on 9 June.[27] Protests on 12 June, the day the bill was scheduled to proceed to a second reading in the Legislative Council, marked a sharp escalation in violence, as riot police employed tear gas and rubber bullets against demonstrators.[28] Since this protest, accusations of excessive force by police have eroded public trust in law enforcement. Investigations into police behaviour and greater accountability for their actions became part of protestor demands in subsequent marches.[29][30] Following this protest, at least 338,000 people (up to two million according to organisers)[31][32] attended a larger march on 16 June.[33] On 1 July, the 22nd anniversary of the territory's handover from the United Kingdom in 1997, over 190,000 people (550,000 estimated by organisers) participated in the annual pro-democracy protest.[34] A portion of these demonstrators split from the march and broke into the Legislative Council Complex, vandalising central government symbols in the chamber.[35] Chief Executive Carrie Lam suspended the extradition bill on 15 June[36] and further declared it to be "dead" on 9 July, using an ambiguous Cantonese phrase (壽終正寢 Jyutping: sau6 zung1 zing3 cam2) that may be translated as "dying a peaceful death".[37][38][39] However, she did not state that the bill would be fully withdrawn from the legislative process and has not addressed protestors' other demands.[40][41] Executive Council members Regina Ip and Bernard Charnwut Chan have stated that the government does not intend to make further concessions. Instead, it will focus on preparing a policy address in October and wait for protestor momentum to slow before District Council elections in November.[42] Protests have continued through the summer, often escalating into heated confrontations between police, democracy activists, pro-Beijing triad gang members, and local residents in over 20 different neighbourhoods spread throughout Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories.[43] As demonstrations continue, protestors have increasingly called for direct elections to choose Legislative Council members and the Chief Executive, an issue that itself triggered mass protests in 2014.[42]
Hong Kong's airport, one of the busiest in the world, canceled all flights as protests raged this is from the then-15 yr old student leader of the Umbrella Revolution / Protest of a few years back what's next? the worst case scenario; The HK Gov't may declare this as an act of terrorism, and request help from Beijing, who then send in the PLA https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...g-kong-protests-shut-down-airport/1984594001/
There are many reasons behind the protest. Some want independence from China, some want more self rule, some want to have better living standards. At this point everyone who have a grievance is probably in on the protest. I expect as more and more parts of the city gets shutdown, there will be a shift of attitude toward the protest by most of people in HK. If people cannot make a living, how long will the average HK people support this protest movement? HK is almost entirely dependant on mainland for survival with respect to food, water etc. I do not see the movement ending well for the city.
It might be more complicated than I realize but I think boils down to HK doesn't want to be subsumed by PRC and the people see that happening incrementally. You never know how much you will miss your colonizing imperialist government till its gone.
it is a riot plus organized terrorism attacks. US, UK Taiwan are behind this. It will be cracked down soon.
you have no idea what ur talking about; overwhelming majority of the protesters were born after 1997, when the UK was kicked out of HK. HK's constitution, the Basic Law. was written by the PRC, . The Basic Law calls for 1 country 2 systems, to be uphold for 50 years. HK is to operate as a Special Admin Region (SAR) w its own system until 2047, at which time, HK will become just another Chinese City Beijing has reneged on that; the extradiction law introduced by Carrie Lam is the most vivid eg of that. for the most part, HKers just want Beijing to follow the law that it had written for the HKSAR
ur going off tangent which, in a roundabout way, amounts to an admission that u have no idea what ur talking about when you said this
Going off on a tangent? I've written like three sentences total in this thread. I've followed the coverage like most other people who pay attention to current events. From what I've gathered the people of HK are pushing back against ever increasing PRC influence in HK en masse. If they don't like PRC influence now, I very much doubt they are going to like it when the PRC takes over in the future. If you are expert on the subject, I'm happy to read anything you'd like to write on the subject in this thread, the condescending/insulting posting while also displaying the inability to spell or correctly construct sentences is a bit boorish.
the protest is well organized by teenagers and college students using social media. they've been protesting continuously for the past few years. don't just use baseless convenient claims, elaborate how is the US involved ? how is the UK involved ? how is taiwan involved ?
My comment about the British was obviously tongue-and-cheek. Who have I insulted? It is somewhat ironic Britain has taken a lot of grief for their colonizing and now many HK residents would love nothing more than the protections of the British government and a return to British rule. As I understand it, British rule of HK was far from perfect but still preferable to PRC rule.
u need to stop playing dumb. u need to stop making false claims. your lack of understanding of HK and its history manifests itself. stop publicizing your lack of understanding, go read the Basic Law. pre-1997, almost 100% of HKers welcome the handover to China; they were chanting en masse "hit the road, b****", along w other Cantonese vulgarities, when Margaret Thatcher expressed the desire to renew the lease on HK, Kowloon and the new territories. also, during the last 2 decade as a colony, all the laws / day-to-day operations / decisions were made by HK citizens. the Brits, merely figure heads, were not involved
Hong Kong needs to find a way to establish its independence. Otherwise, it is just a matter of time before they are subsumed into the larger fascist apparatus of formerly communist China. Yes, I know they still call themselves "communists," with "Chinese characteristics". Those other characteristics are the ones that distinguish communism from fascism. It is the acceptance of market economics as long as they can be overridden by the state. As a result, they are now in practice fascists. And they will not ultimately tolerate the idea of "two systems". There is only one way in the autocratic mindset of the leaders of fascist China. Their way. The alternative is prison or death. That is how people like these think.
mojo best to remain silent and be thought of as a fool, than to speak to remove all doubt. ur less-informed about HK than HTM
Even if that is true, it does not appear there is any prospect for me to become any better informed about this subject as a result of dialoging with you.
