This happenings of this past week have been a major landmark in connecting the country of China with its semi autonomous region Hong Kong. A bridge between the two regions was officially opened by Chinese president Xi Jinping in hopes to benefit trade and for China to regain more control of a nation seeking sovereignty from them. With this big addition to Chinese to Hong Kong infrastructure, along with the new high speed railway system opening last month, questions of how this new infrastructure will affect the ability of Hong Kong and its citizens to work towards sovereignty have been raised.
Hong Kong is located on the southern sea border of China, and serves as a large port city for the country. In addition, much of Hong Kong is made up of white collar workers, most of which are generally happier than the majority of the Chinese population as a whole. Many people living there are looking to turn Hong Kong into its own state due to a desire for freedom from a more authoritarian government in China. While China has been more lenient on the policies of the region, they don’t want to let go of the region because of its value to their economy. Due to its prime location and its booming industries, Hong Kong makes up a notable chunk of Chinese capital and labor. One of the underlying reasons for this bridge is probably to tighten governmental control on trade flowing in and out of the region, much of which will start travelling along the bridge.
However, some of the population of Hong Kong welcomes the bridge. They view it as a way to ease tensions between the two groups and that it will be convenient to the people of Hong Kong. Many of these people who support the bridge are also the people who don’t wish to seek sovereignty from China. Either way, the opening of the bridge is sure to open up conversation and lead the direction of the history of Hong Kong.