Hong Kong, it was a British colony till 1997, after which it was “returned” to China. The people there weren’t really happy with following Chinese rules and wanted autonomy, then a compromise was made which came to be known as the “one country, two systems arrangement”. According to this arrangement, Hong Kong has more autonomy than other cities in China and its people have more rights.
China has been trying, again and again, to impose its laws on Hong Kong so it can control it. Last year, the Chinese government passed a bill imposing its security laws on Hong Kong, the matter blew up and the public was outraged. Over half a million people came out to the street to protest and in some areas of Hong Kong they became very violent. Even after the bill was withdrawn, Protesters started asking was full democracy as they believed China may try something like this again in the future. Clashes between the police and activists became violent to such an extent that the police started using live bullets while activists used petrol bombs.
Today, while the world is suffering due to Covid-19, China has been very aggressive, showing its dominance and might to the world. China’s recent decisions put Hong Kong in turmoil. China just declared that it plans to pass a bill for imposing its national security laws on Hong Kong. The excuse it gave was that it wants to prevent any violent protests like last year from happening in the future. It plans to take advantage of the current situation, to take control of Hong Kong against its will. This decision has been met with criticism from both the International community and the people of Hong Kong. No one wants to see protests like last year happening, especially in these dire times where social distancing is very important.
The United States of America has strongly condemned this decision and believes its probably part of China’s scheme, the objective of which is still not clear. This bill is said to be the end of Hong Kong’s autonomy, something that was promised by the central government to the people of China.
Human rights advocates worry the law will be used to target those criticizing the government. China plans to enforce this law through Article 18 of the Basic law which allows certain national laws in mainland China to be applied to Hong Kong either through declaration or local Legislation. But Experts tell us that the whole procedure is wrong and things have been twisted to China’s convenience.
Hong Kongers are going to take to the streets again, we expect the violence to get worst but Hong Kongers will not lose hope, they made a miracle last year and they probably will make it again.
