“I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery.” ― Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Hundreds of thousands of people marched at the weekend against legal changes that would make easy to extradite people to China from the semi-autonomous city. The population of Hong Kong is around 74 lakh and almost 10 lakh people are protesting on streets against the extradition bill.
Is Hong Kong the same as China?
Hong Kong is a special administration region in China (SAR). Hong Kong, unlike China, is a democratic country where they can criticize the police or any other governing body. In 1997 Hong Kong was completely freed from British rule and was handed over to China under the agreement “one country – two systems”. Hong Kong is physically present in China but they have their own currency, flag, they use different language, they have different government and passport system. They also use a different currency which is called Hong Kong dollar whereas China uses a currency called Yuan. Unlike Hong Kong, people from China can not directly enter Hong Kong, they need permission to enter the territory.
The Law which went Wrong
The reason which kindled the protest was trivial initially if we consider the global perspective. It started with a murder case. A young couple from Hong Kong traveled to Taiwan for a vacation where the girl was murdered by her companion and then he traveled back to Hong Kong. Since no treaty of extradition was signed between Hong Kong and Taiwan, sadly the boy was exempt from punishment. China made a big mountain of the molehill and declared that they need to have more control over Hong Kong to diminish this kind of situation. Thus they declared a bill which would make it possible to send suspects to mainland China for trial. Hong Kong, who has separate regulatory bodies and constitution, was agitated about the fact that China can accuse innocent wrongly and perform whatever they would want to do. Public anger also stoked up when police applied aggressive procedures against demonstrated. Hong Kong felt their rights and freedom of speech and expression were been violated.
Effect of the Hong Kong Protest in US-China trade war
The Hong Kong protest plays a major role in US-China trade war because the “Extradition Law” protest is the biggest one in the history of Hong Kong. Chinese media is blaming that foreign interference, mainly from West, is influencing or funding this protest. China also suspects that Western countries are devising to destabilize Hong Kong so that they might have an upper hand over China in Trade War. During the protest, an interesting fact has come up that many protestors are hoisting US flag or using their t-shirts. This added fuel to the situation. The protest will also open a path for the US to point finger on how China is ruling Hong Kong. There has been news that China is going to make large scale military invasion in Hong Kong which will lead to a massacre. US senators are also discussing that if China intervenes in this protest then they will cut down the privileges (in matters of trade and economy) of Hong Kong and they will put sanctions on China.
Hong Kong VS China: The Great Mayhem
According to the “one country two systems”, Hong Kong has the full right to live freely until 2047. China’s hunger to grab and rule Hong Kong is proving to be a great threat for them. The economy of both countries is at stake currently. Protest at Hong Kong Airport has caused a reduction in productivity which in turn is causing a decrease in GDP, loss of revenue, disrupted supply chains and shelved investments, the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. Recently China’s failure of launching a satellite, HELSINKI had created tremendous pressure on them to maintain their image in front of the public. They made sure that the new is not being covered widely by media and was also one of the reasons why China wanted to control Hong Kong. China is in a critical geopolitical situation now because Hong Kong will be highly supported and highlighted by other countries like Japan, countries from the West. The protest will turn into lousy scenarios in the upcoming days.
OFFICIAL MEDIA PARTNER: NEWSWIRE
OFFICIAL PROMOTIONAL PARTNER: IBS MESSENGER
Comments