Hong Kong’s Fight for Democracy
by arwant
After looking at all of the student led protests taking place in the streets of Hong Kong, I feel that it is time that Hong Kong was granted democracy.
A picture of the “Umbrella Revolution”. http://blogs.ft.com/the-world/2014/09/umbrella-revolution-raises-questions-over-one-country-two-systems/
In 1997, Hong Kong was “returned” back to China after being under the rule and supervision of Britain for 150 years. For all this time, Beijing and China essentially “looked after” Hong Kong by governance under the “One Country, Two Systems” term. The concept of “One Country, Two Systems” is based on the notion that places like Hong Kong should be a part of China, however, these parts can be permitted to use their own capitalist system, while China sticks to socialism. Under this notion, Hong Kong was promised the opportunity to pick its own leader instead of having the slot filled by a committee from Beijing in the year 2017. However, China recently stated that it would rather select the candidates for the 2017 elections which is leading to outrage now. Students not happy with China’s broken promise, initiated a strike and slowly more and more people joined in streets of Hong Kong. Tiananmen Square is also being “occupied” by protestors and this whole revolution has presently become the “Umbrella Revolution”.
Though the protestors gave Leung Chung-ying, Hong Kong’s chief executive, an ultimatum to resign and allow people to freely pick their officials via elections, Leung denied. So as a result the pro-democracy protesters are continuing to occupy areas in Hong Kong and China to put pressure on the government.
As stated right in the start, China should allow Hong Kong to democratically elect their own government and officials. Being one of the big and important countries, I think China should be a role model by letting Hong Kong people have what they want. In the 21st century, I feel everyone has the right to ask for freedom.
Egyptian and the Libyan Revolutions. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20111014FCS29297/4/html/The-Arab-Spring-wins-Sakharov-Prize-2011
We have seen the outcome of when these kinds of movements are ignored and rejected by government officials in the cases of Egypt and Libya already. Eventually the people have gotten what they want by even taking the extremist measures. To prevent similar scenario’s and blood shed from taking place in this case, Leung should strongly pause and reflect and resign from his position to hand over the power to people.
Many scholars also debate that though Hong Kong produces “golden eggs” for China, letting Hong Kong go can also still benefit China and the rest of the world. According to the International Monetary Fund, Hong Kong people are richer than Canadians, in fact their wealth is higher than that of the United States. With a freedom and a “free” nation, these educated and rich businessmen can lead Hong Kong to possibly becoming a major key player in international politics. Some scholars have also suggested that, foreign capital and corporate headquarters look for new “less-brutal” Asian bases and with political freedom, Hong Kong maybe a bigger place for people to invest in. Therefore, International Relations amongst countries may change and there is a possibility that as a result, very broadly speaking, a lot of good can come out of this.
To conclude, I feel that Leung should step aside and respect this student led revolution. Educated youth are taking interest in politics and stepping up for their rights so being an elder, it’ll be great to see Leung “bow down” to the change new generations want. At the end of the day, everyone has the right to ask for what they truly want and from previous cases it’s been proven that united citizens are much stronger than governments and regimes. The strongest topple in front of revolutions as we saw in Egypt and Libya. Moreover, democracy in Hong Kong can bring forth new surprises in the international economy.
Students leading protests in streets of Hong Kong. http://mic.com/articles/100234/stunning-images-put-hong-kong-s-democracy-protests-in-perspective