Hong Kong Protests - Jack Budofsky

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Hong Kong has been in the news a lot lately becuase of their increasingly violent protests against an extradition bill. Maybe you've heard about the situation through news stories about Blizzard Entertainment banning a pro-Hong Kong Hearthstone player from a competition, or maybe through news stories involving a tweet made by an NBA GM. This issue has been seeping into American politics and yet a lot of us don't understand what its all about.
     To understand the current State of Hong Kong, their relationship with China must be understood. Hong Kong is part of China, but they function separately under their own democratic and free government. This is because of an agreement they made with China back in 1997 that allowed Hong Kong to function separately for 50 years. Now that date is 28 years away, and many Hong Kong citizens don't want that date to come as they don't want to become part of China's oppressive authoritarian society.
     The recent serge of protests were caused by a situation started in early 2018 when Hong Kong citizen Chan Tong-kaimurdered his girlfriend on a vacation in Taiwan. In order to allow him to be tried in Taiwan, Hong Kong's government proposed an extradition bill to allow Hong Kong citizens to be tried in Taiwan. The problem with the bill is that it would also allow for mainland China to try Hong Kong citizens, where courts are less fair and equal. Hong Kong's protests have been to stop this bill from giving more power to China over Hong Kong.
     China's government, who holds a lot of power in Hong Kong's government, wants the bill to pass, as China has been trying to gain more power in Hong Kong before 2047 when they will have complete control. Since China is a very econmomically powerful nation with many business deals all over the world, many companies and governments have been avoiding supporting the Hong Kong protests. China has already proven that they will cut ties with a business if that business disagrees with China's actions. Recently, Rocket's General Manager Daryl Morey made a pro-Hong Kong tweet, which China responded to by cancelling all planned NBA games that were to take place in China (as part of the NBA's recent attempts to bring a more international following to the league) and suggesting that Morey should be fired (which he wasn't). So long as no nation dares to stand up to China, Hong Kong might as well be on their own in their fight for their democracy

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Pro-democracy march on August 18, 2019

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Police have responded to protest with tear gas and rubber bullets
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2019/10/6/20901828/daryl-morey-hong-kong-china-houston-rockets-tweet-controversy
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-49949548
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/27/beijing-hong-kong-china-police-violence

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 29, 2019 at 2:31 PM

    I think that China wanting Morey to be fired is a little bit over the top but that's just me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 29, 2019 at 5:46 PM

    I think that the bill will most likely pass. I agree with the Hong Kong citizens, but I think that China just has too much power.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DanielleNovember 4, 2019 at 8:53 AM

    That picture of everyone jammed into the street to protest is wild.

    ReplyDelete

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