By Anna Hess
Emerging from the subway station in Shatin, Hong Kong, it is impossible to miss a passionate rally of neon green t-shirt-clad Hong Kongese. The apparent leader of the rally shouts into a megaphone in Cantonese while the other demonstrators smile and flank the leader, each proudly wearing the face of a young man on their shirts and carrying large photos of him on poster boards over their heads. The face belongs to Nathan Law, a young politician and a candidate for Hong Kong’s Legislative Council election on September 4. The signs are printed in Cantonese; however, one word stands out in bold English: INDEPENDENCE.
Law is a member of a party called Demosisto, which seeks democratic self-determination for Hong Kong in regards to its relationship to China. Hong Kong is ruled under a “One country, two systems” constitutional principle, operating as a Special Administrative Region of China. The principle allows Hong Kong to maintain its own capitalist economic and political systems, although Beijing still pressures the country on matters of internal and external affairs. The Legislative Council of Hong Kong, known as Legco, is a flawed semi-democratic representative body that skews pro-establishment due to a requirement for “functional” candidates. Of the 70 members, 35 are elected democratically by Hong Kongese while the other 30 are indirectly elected through functional constituencies such as trade, financial services, agriculture, and education. The functional constituencies lean strongly toward the Beijing establishment.
This rally was a small piece of the madness that 2016’s election cycle has caused in Hong Kong and in Beijing. To China’s horror, six of the 70 members elected favor greater independence for Hong Kong. Though they are only a small six, the emergence of these “localists” strikes fear into the hearts of Chinese leaders. Hong Kong has always sent unanswered calls for democracy to Beijing, but the legitimization of this faction now puts Hong Kong alongside Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang in China’s frontier against separatism. These new leaders readily embrace civil disobedience, and flirt with idea of complete independence from China.
To put this independence movement into a broader context, one needs to look no further than the origins of this Legco system itself. Hong Kong was a colony of the British empire for 156 years (except for four years ill-fatedly occupied by Japan during WWII), until it was transferred back to China in 1997. This final decolonization effort by Britain marked the end of its modern existence as an empire. Britain created the Legco body and, in particular, the pro-establishment functional representative system. The Chinese government continues to support the system as a measure of control over its newly-returned territory. Therefore, through an effort by Britain to decolonize its own empire, Hong Kong was handed from one master to the next, remaining within a system of influential power.
As 21st century Hong Kong thrives and develops its own cosmopolitan identity, this continued form of colonization, hampering the growth of one of the most powerful cities in the world, is a paradox. While Beijing may fear the localists, the bright city-state is increasingly accepting their values, thereby writing the newest chapter of the state’s modern revolution.
Anna Hess is a junior studying International Relations and Modern Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently abroad at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
