Hong Kong is known for its sweeping horizon and profound common harbor, and with an area mass of 1,104 km2 (426 sq mi) and a populace of in excess of seven million individuals, is one of the most thickly populated regions on the planet. At the end of World War II, the population was only about 600,000; it swelled with refugees when the Communist Party won the civil war in China in 1949.
Hong Kong's populace is 93.6% ethnic Chinese and 6.4% from different groups. Hong Kong's Cantonese speaking majority start primarily from the neighboring Guangdong territory, from which a significant number of them fled to escape wars and communist rule
in mainland China from the 1930s to 1960s. These refugees were a source of cheap and willing labor.
in mainland China from the 1930s to 1960s. These refugees were a source of cheap and willing labor.
Notwithstanding, the presence of occupants in the region during Imperial China, the idea and reality of advanced Hong Kong owes much to the 155 year British rule. Hong Kong was built as a province of the British Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42). Hong Kong Island was initially ceded to Great Britain in "in perpetuity"by China in 1842 after the Opium War ,followed by the peninsula of Kowloon ceded in 1860 and after that the New Territories was put under lease for ninety-nine years in 1898. The PRC never accepted these "Unequal Treaties," which it viewed as products of imperialism. The end of the lease to the New Territories led to the return of the entire territory to China. Under the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed in 1984, Hong Kong is to be ruled "with a high degree of autonomy" until 2047. The guiding principle is "one country, two systems," meaning that the territory can keep its distinctive lifestyle and economic system for fifty years, by which time Hong Kong and China are expected to be more alike. It was occupied by Japan amid The Second World War (1941–45), after which the British continued control until1997.
Last August 31 2014, the tenth session of the Standing Committee in the twelfth National People's Congress (SCNPC) set points of confinement for the 2016 Legislative Council election and 2017 Chief Executive race. While notionally taking into consideration for universal suffrage, the choice forces the standard that "the Chief Executive should be an individual who cherishes the nation and loves Hong Kong," and stipulates "the system for selecting the Chief Executive by widespread suffrage must give relating institutional safeguards for this reason". The decision expresses that for the 2017 Chief Executive race, a nominating board, mirroring the present 1200 member Election Committee framework consisting of individual named by local big shots, business factions and Beijing loyalists be formed to choose two to three applicants, each of whom must get the backing of more than a large portion of the parts of the assigning panel. After prevalent race of one of the selected competitors, the Chief Executive elect will have to be designated by the Central People's Government. The methodology of framing the 2016 Legislative Council would be unaltered, yet after the new process for the election of the Chief Executive, another framework to choose the Legislative Council by means of widespread suffrage would be produced with the approbation of Beijing.
While Li Fei, acting secretary general of the Committee, said that the method would ensure the expansive steadiness of Hong Kong now and later on. Pro-democracy promoters saw the decision as a treachery to the principle of "one person, one vote," in that hopefuls deemed unsuitable by the Beijing authorities would have been preemptively screened out by the system. The Standing Committee decision is set to be the premise for electoral change created by the Legislative Council.
The Democratic Party officials guaranteed to veto the recommendations for both races as being naturally undemocratic. Additionally in light of the NPCSC decision, Occupy Central movement affirmed that they would organized peoples noncompliance dissents.
The expressed objectives of the HKFS and Scholarism are:
General suffrage.
The Chief Executive Chun Ying Leung's resignation.
The withdrawal of the decision of the National People's Congress Standing Committee.
The new electoral reform plan that includes civil nomination of Hong Kong's Chief Executive.
What had Beijing decreed that demonstrator are not glad about?
1.The four past Chief Executives, after the end of British rule in 1997, were chosen by a council of 1,200 individuals, a large portion of whom had solid ties to China. This panel size has developed from 400 in 1996 to 1200 as of now.
2.Elections for Hong Kong's Chief Executive, its prime leader, is set to happen in 2017 and votes from the general public will take effect for the first time. However a month ago, China's National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) precluded further voting changes, implying that only the hopefuls that Beijing favors of can run.
A huge number of Hong Kong residents would like the locale's 2017 chief executive election to involve and include a range of candidates, not only those endorsed and favored by China.As a results disordered scenes in the city of Hong Kong and rough conflicts between demonstrators and security forces have continued as thousands of activists occupy the city’s financial centre.
Hong Kong's conspicuous Occupy Central movement joined forces with student nonconformists after a week of protest and a general strike. Occupy Central demanded to two distinct requests:
1)the prompt withdrawal of the NPCSC's decision on the structure for Hong Kong's political change
2)the quick resumption of the political change discussion. The Leung Chun-ying administration has fizzled in the political change process. Requesting Leung to re-submits another political change report to the central government which completely reflects the Hong Kong people's goals for majority rules system. In the event that Leung declines to react, the protest activity will heighten.
Disappointment over obstacle created by Beijing on democratic reforms in the previous British settlement accumulated pace when student protestors stormed Honk Kong's financial district. The most recent advancements include:
.jpg "HONG KONG ( WHAT AND WHY ARE PEOPLE IN HONG KONG PROTESTING? )")
1.Encounters were portrayed by using pepper splash and tear gas by Hong Kong police.
2.Chinese authorities block Instagram in deliberations to stifle the protest.
3.Protesters have been seen cleaning up following previous evening's protests and confrontations.
4.Endeavor to arrange access for commuters through the protests.
5.Hong Kong Chief Executive, Leung Chun-ying, says Chinese troops will not be deployed to subdue the protests.
6.Banks close in main Hong Kong as a consequence of the activity.
7.Chun-ying calls on protesters to remain calm.
The student leaders issued a public statement to President Xi Jinping describing Chief Exec Leung's report to NPCSC failed to account faithfully the citizen's wishes and disregarded public opinion. It points out that while anti-corruption campaigns are underway in the mainland, CY Leung's $50 million remains unfettered. It additionally stress out that the occupy movement is not a colour revolution, but a movement of democracy. It urged to settle issues of HK government bearing responsibility, secure a popularity democratic system, Hong Kong issues be settled in Hong Kong and Politics be settled by Politics.
In response to the protest, Chief Exec Leung was interviewed on TVB show "On the Record" During the interview Leung said the occupy movement protest is not considered a revolution and that he would not resign. As to utilization of of tear gas, it was a call made by the police without any political contemplations . The Hong Kong Journalists Association was generally disappointed with how Leung sifted out or didn't answer a percentage of the questions specifically.
The Foreign Office called on Hong Kong to uphold citizen's rights to demonstrate, and expressed that the most ideal approach to ensure these rights is through transition to universal suffrage.
International awareness of the movement is spreading, sympathizers from other countries are increasing and the movement itself develops in a more organized way , even with its own particular logo for the protest. Rallies in support of the protests have been happening worldwide at present.
UPDATE Jake (Diary) |
Hong Kong Capitulates to the Communists, No Free Elections
You might have heard of the protests across Hong Kong over the last few months of last year. They came about because the Communist Party that completely controls mainland China’s political system wished to do the same for Hong Kong. In particular, at issue was the push by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (in other words, the Chinese Communist bigwigs) to reform the Hong Kong elections system to force candidates to gain mainland Communist approval prior to running for office.
Many of the protesters were brave and dedicated enough to hold their ground for over two months, but it looks like their efforts have come to naught. The Hong Kong government has decided to capitulate to the Communists’ demands and toss out free elections. From France24:
Hong Kong’s government Wednesday announced a roadmap for leadership elections that offered no concessions to the city’s democracy camp — prompting opposition lawmakers to walk out as the plan was unveiled.
Deputy leader Carrie Lam said the first-ever public vote for the post of chief executive in 2017 would be held in “strict compliance” with a ruling by China’s National People’s Congress last August.
That ruling stated that candidates for chief executive must first be approved by a loyalist committee — a decision that sparked more than two months of street protests that paralysed the city towards the end of last year.
Mrs. Lam also has evidently taken a page from the Washington Republican book on compromise. Here’s how she described the Hong Kong government’s approach to the problem:
“These proposals are in strict compliance with the Basic Law (Hong Kong’s constitution) and the relevant decisions of (China’s) Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress,” Lam said.
“At the same time they fully take into account the views expressed by various sectors of the community,” she added.
Lam described constitutional development as “complex and controversial”.
“It is neither practicable nor realistic to expect that one package of proposals can meet the ideals cherished by different people,” she said, adding that the plan had attempted to strike a balance between “numerous divergent requests and perspectives”.
So. Why does this matter to us? Keeping up the fight against Communism was for decades a central tenet of American foreign policy, and stopping an attempt by the largest Communist nation on Earth to extinguish one of the few beacons of (old style) liberalism permitted within its borders should be of great importance to our leaders in Washington, particularly our President.
nstead, if Barack Obama takes notice of it at all, it will be a token condemnation. Attached to that will probably be an acknowledgement that this is a local affair that is not of interest to the United States, but given just how important Hong Kong is to the global economy, this is absolutely a case where we should act in some way. Of course, I am not at all suggesting military action, but this is a prime example where a strong leader, like a Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush, would have stepped in and applied diplomatic pressure.
Hong Kong is about to become less free, just the way the Chinese Communist Party has always wanted, and it doesn’t look like America will be doing anything about it.
UPDATE Jake (Diary) |
Hong Kong Capitulates to the Communists, No Free Elections
You might have heard of the protests across Hong Kong over the last few months of last year. They came about because the Communist Party that completely controls mainland China’s political system wished to do the same for Hong Kong. In particular, at issue was the push by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (in other words, the Chinese Communist bigwigs) to reform the Hong Kong elections system to force candidates to gain mainland Communist approval prior to running for office.
Many of the protesters were brave and dedicated enough to hold their ground for over two months, but it looks like their efforts have come to naught. The Hong Kong government has decided to capitulate to the Communists’ demands and toss out free elections. From France24:
Hong Kong’s government Wednesday announced a roadmap for leadership elections that offered no concessions to the city’s democracy camp — prompting opposition lawmakers to walk out as the plan was unveiled.
Deputy leader Carrie Lam said the first-ever public vote for the post of chief executive in 2017 would be held in “strict compliance” with a ruling by China’s National People’s Congress last August.
That ruling stated that candidates for chief executive must first be approved by a loyalist committee — a decision that sparked more than two months of street protests that paralysed the city towards the end of last year.
Mrs. Lam also has evidently taken a page from the Washington Republican book on compromise. Here’s how she described the Hong Kong government’s approach to the problem:
“These proposals are in strict compliance with the Basic Law (Hong Kong’s constitution) and the relevant decisions of (China’s) Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress,” Lam said.
“At the same time they fully take into account the views expressed by various sectors of the community,” she added.
Lam described constitutional development as “complex and controversial”.
“It is neither practicable nor realistic to expect that one package of proposals can meet the ideals cherished by different people,” she said, adding that the plan had attempted to strike a balance between “numerous divergent requests and perspectives”.
So. Why does this matter to us? Keeping up the fight against Communism was for decades a central tenet of American foreign policy, and stopping an attempt by the largest Communist nation on Earth to extinguish one of the few beacons of (old style) liberalism permitted within its borders should be of great importance to our leaders in Washington, particularly our President.
nstead, if Barack Obama takes notice of it at all, it will be a token condemnation. Attached to that will probably be an acknowledgement that this is a local affair that is not of interest to the United States, but given just how important Hong Kong is to the global economy, this is absolutely a case where we should act in some way. Of course, I am not at all suggesting military action, but this is a prime example where a strong leader, like a Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush, would have stepped in and applied diplomatic pressure.
Hong Kong is about to become less free, just the way the Chinese Communist Party has always wanted, and it doesn’t look like America will be doing anything about it.
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