Now that we are post Chinese takeover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom, which occurred in 1997 and resulted in Hong Kong’s status as a “special administrative region” of China, Hong Kong still has a level of autonomy officially according to China, however it has fundamentally lost its democratic functions. In a recent report, both the United States and United Kingdom bashed the changes in government since it fell under China’s domain in their analysis of Hong Kong’s state of government affairs. The report found that many politicians advocating democracy were being imprisoned to silence alternative voices going against Chinese policy, and that those speaking out online and among the population were being suppressed by Chinese authorities. Most pro-democracy and independent newspapers and stations have also been shut down by now so that only Chinese-monitored news outlets are available to the public. Almost confirming these suspicions of a hushed opposition, the Hong Kong government vehemently rejected these findings, calling them “unfounded and ridiculous against the HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region)”.
Hong Kong as a metropolitan area with one of the highest population densities in the world and a massive center for trade, has great value to both China and the United States and Europe. While there are many parts of China such as Tibet that have separatist sentiments and want their own autonomy, Hong Kong has actually enjoyed democracy thanks to the British being their mother country for a good amount of time and is therefore so much closer to being a stable and independent state. China calls their method for governing Hong Kong the “one country, two systems”, meaning they call Hong Kong an annexed territory under the control of China that still functions separately from the main Chinese government, probably just as a way to put up a front that they haven’t done anything to warrant outrage from the international community. However, with these reports pointing out the fallacies in China’s coverup, there is more chance that a greater reaction will be sparked and China can be called out for its lies. At the very least, it is the hope that China will be forced to own up to its true actions.
From a comparative government perspective, Hong Kong’s government is becoming (or already has become depending on how you look at it) a puppet government, or essentially just another arm of the same body government. This is even more so as two of the British Supreme Court justices in Hong Kong have resigned from their posts, leaving vacancies that will surely be filled by individuals handpicked by the Chinese government. Unfortunately, this is a cycle that takes place in judicial systems around the world, including in the United States where justices are appointed by the president and approved by Congress and therefore someone able to be manipulated to follow the agenda of who happens to be president at the given time.