The end of “one country, two systems”

The last time we heard about Hong Kong, in Oct. 2019, the world was a very different place. Concerns surrounding the spread of COVID-19 have inevitably shut down many protests in Hong Kong over public health concerns. 

However, the Hong Kong District Council Election in Nov. 2019 gave pro-democracy candidates the biggest win in history. A record-breaking 71.2% turnout marked the largest election ever held in Hong Kong, according to Foreign Policy Global Magazine.

Before the new protests in 2015, turnout was less than 50%, and pro-Beijing parties were elected to 70% of all council seats. Today, pro-democracy parties control 17 out of 18 of Hong Kong’s district councils after more than half of all seats flipped from pro-Beijing to pro-democracy. 

So, why is Hong Kong back in the news? Unfortunately for democratic activists, the district councils of Hong Kong have little power, especially now that the National People’s Congress has enacted a new national security law to reign in Hong Kong. 

Mainland China has now superseded Hong Kong to extend their power to stop protests in the name of national security. This new law gives police more power to crackdown on protesters. It changes the judicial system and seeks to suppress “subversion, secession, terrorism and any act that threatens national security,” according to the New York Times. 

While China has maintained that this new legislation does not violate the one country, two systems policy, it clearly does.

The bill abandons the core principles of Hong Kong’s 1997 Constitution. This intervention by the Communist Party is a blatant violation of the Basic Law signed between the United Kingdom and China before the 1997 transition. Not only will this legislation give mainland China more power to intervene in the supposedly autonomous region, but it paves the way for an even greater control of Hong Kong in future legislation. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, with support from U.S. President Donald Trump, notified Congress on May 27 that The White House no longer regards Hong Kong as autonomous from mainland China. 

Under an existing U.S. law designed to protect human rights in Hong Kong, the city will have its special economic status removed, potentially putting 100,000 jobs created by U.S. companies in Hong Kong at risk. From the U.S.’ perspective, Hong Kong has already lost. Amazingly, the U.S. and China relationship has managed to hit a new low thanks to China’s desire to permanently reign in Hong Kong. 

The sentence, “‘One country, two systems’ is the fundamental policy of the Chinese Government for bringing about the country’s reunification,” might be written in the Basic Law of the People’s Republic of China, but China has clearly abandoned any commitment to it. 

The United Kingdom agreed to return Hong Kong to China under this agreement, but now that authoritarian socialism is the new “system” of Hong Kong, it may be time to question if Hong Kong and China should be part of one country after all.