As many of you have noticed, Hong Kong is all over the news lately. Although, in passing, I had a general idea of what was going on, I asked my current events and history savvy son to give me a concise explanation. I’m sharing it with you. We can’t go to Hong Kong and help but we can pray for another scene of turmoil in a country overseas.
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When Hong Kong was handed over to China in 1997, part of the agreement was that in 15 years (2017) Beijing would allow Hong Kong to have free elections with no interference and that the government of Hong Kong would be fully independent except for military affairs and foreign policy. However, Beijing has not kept to this promise of “1 Country, 2 Systems” at all. They have eroded all the systems of law and anti-corruption measures enacted by the British and people of Hong Kong as well as gutting Hong Kong’s financial status in favor of Shanghai. Hong Kong has gone into a steep decline since 1997- and this is almost entirely due to Beijing’s interference, completely in violation of their agreement signed with the British in 1997. Of course, the British has no ability or will to enforce this agreement and the Hong Kongers are equally helpless.
This current situation is because Beijing has completely reneged on the promise of free elections in 2017- saying that all citizens of Hong Kong can vote but only for candidates vetted by Beijing. This is of course nothing less than a sham election and so the populace of Hong Kong has exploded in rage and frustration.
Right now, they are paralyzing the city in hopes of forcing Beijing to make concessions. Meanwhile, the rumor is that Beijing has told the city authorities that if the situation is not under control soon, they will order the People’s Liberation Army to move into the city and restore order.
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