Hong Kong, one of South Asia’s most toured places, is a city of the future.
It is a city that contains some of the world’s most jaw-dropping engineering endeavors and attractive themed sites (such as the internationally famous Disney Land).
It is simply a progressive, tech-advanced city — and with its high-world promises, it is a place that many around the world hope to travel to one day.
But since June 2019, this so-called futuristic city, which is one of the most densely populated places in the world, has witnessed the rise of total upheaval and chaos.
Anti-government protests have rapidly emerged. Footage of violence is now plaguing the internet as daily demonstrations occur. Protests have ensued and brutality has become a common trademark — and China, the global superpower, is at the heart of this severe political and economic disruption.
It all started with a single bill.
Hong Kong’s Extradition Bill, proposed by the fourth Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, allowed the persecution of criminal suspects out of the country and in mainland China. This bill— a bill that allows territories to hand over a person accused or convicted of a crime in another jurisdiction— has put the city in utter turmoil.
Commentators feared that this could make Hong Kong civilians more prone to unfair trials and abuse by the Chinese government, while also giving China more influence over the highly autonomous nation. Carrie Lam agreed to suspend this proposal, which was eventually withdrawn in September 2019, but the political crisis has yet to end. Now, the quest for democracy is the primary concern for protesters.
Political reformers have accused China of interfering in elections, as well as targeting journalists and activists that travel to mainland China, and of influencing the obstruction of basic rights in Hong Kong. As a result of the protests, excessive force used by the police has become relatively prevalent within the semi-independent nation, unconditionally affecting both the regular civilians and the demonstrators.
Since the United States has the power to implement sanctions in other countries (such as asset freezes and visa bans), people from Hong Kong saw this as an opportunity to have those sanctions imposed on those found to be limiting their fundamental freedoms — on September 8, a group of pro-democracy protesters then marched to their American consulate.
This group of demonstrators petitioned President Trump to intervene in the political standoff, thus pressuring the White House to take actions that will contribute to liberating Hong Kong. Congress is currently in the process of trying to pass the “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act,” which will support the democratic aspirations of demonstrators who have been fighting for months.
Protesters have received this U.S. cooperation as a catalyst for hope. But for many Americans, it is apparent that the U.S. government is simply trying to take advantage of Hong Kongers’ political susceptibility.
For Hong Kong, hope still remains. Even so, many are anticipating whether their efforts will pay off or turn out fruitless — their protests, which were initially triggered by a proposed Extradition bill, have quickly morphed into a humanitarian and sociopolitical outcry for a representative government.
