Seventeen years ago Hong Kong was passed from British rule over to China. China vowed in the Hong Kong Joint-Declaration to operate under the policy of “one country, two systems.” The agreement was recently broken when the Chinese government located in the capital, Beijing, ordered that they would weed out the candidates that could and could not run for the 2017 election in Hong Kong. This proclamation has sparked nonviolent protesting not only in Hong Kong but also globally. The people of Hong Kong are their own state and deserve to have their own elections without having them rigged by China.
To understand the conflict in Hong Kong it is essential to know some of their basic history. Long ago, in 1841, Hong …show more content…
Their real name is the “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” and they operate under the policy of “one country, two systems”(Hong Kong Stages Huge National Day Democracy Protests 1). Although they remained a vibrant trading city when they were given to China, Hong Kong is a limited democracy. Hong Kong is ruled by a head of government, Leung. Currently, most of the population is pro-democracy.(United States 1)
To know the conflict that is occurring in Hong Kong it is vital to know the background of the people. In fact, the population is over 93 percent Chinese. The majority of them speak Cantonese. Only a small percentage of them speak English and Mandarin(the most spoken language in the world). The unemployment rate is 3.1 percent, which is better than most countries. This is only made possible, however, because of their free market economy. A free market economy is based off supply and demand and has free competition and no fixed prices.(United States …show more content…
Many people living in the city are fearful that mass protesting could weaken the high financial standing of the Hong Kong District.(Bradsher 4) Because Hong Kong has few natural resources encompassed within their small borders it relies on banking and other countries to fuel its economy. During the 2008 economic slump China actually helped Hong Kong’s economy. In the past few years integration from the powerful Chinese economy has boosted the Hong Kong economy. So even if protests took a toll on the financial status of Hong Kong it is likely to be very slight or short lived since China relies on Hong