Elections for Hong Kong’s Legislative Council on Sunday marked the culmination of Beijing’s campaign to rein in the body that had once kept it from imposing its unrestrained will over the semi-autonomous territory.
Since the city was handed over from British to Chinese rule in 1997, with a promise by Beijing to keep Western-style freedoms for 50 years, demands for expanded democracy inspired protest movements in 2014 and 2019. But they were largely ignored and subsequently crushed by security forces.
In February 2019, the government introduced an extradition bill it said would plug holes in the territory’s regulations on handing over criminal suspects to jurisdictions where they were wanted, including mainland China.
Opponents said that put citizens at risk of being extradited on political charges to the mainland, where legal rights are considerably weaker and where they could face torture and abuse.
After street marches and limited clashes between protesters and police, Lam announced she was suspending the bill on 15 June, although it was not formally withdrawn until October. The movement snowballed into four demands, including an investigation into police tactics and the release of arrested demonstrators. Some also called for Lam to resign and said they want true universal suffrage. All demands were ignored. On 1 July, the anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover, hardcore demonstrators stormed the legislature.
Hundreds of young protesters broke windows, defaced official symbols and spray-painted slogans. The council was not in session and officers retreated further inside the building. As the year wore on, increasingly violent clashes erupted nightly, culminating in November in a lengthy dramatic showdown at Hong Kong Polytechnic University where students had stockpiled homemade incendiaries.
Police stormed the campus, arresting more than 1,000 mostly students, and cutting off support for large protest action. Police also arrested senior opposition figures, while the pro-democracy camp won big in elections for district councillors. Chinese officials declared conditions in Hong Kong are no longer conducive for the passage of national security legislation, and the ceremonial national parliament in Beijing will act on it instead.
The National People’s Congress on 30 June, 2020, passed the National Security Law targeting secessionist, subversive and terrorist activities, as well as collusion with foreign forces, with penalties of up to life imprisonment. Scuffles break out in the Hong Kong legislature, where four lawmakers were disqualified under the provisions of the new law and 15 others resigned in solidarity. Six other lawmakers were expelled earlier after altering their oaths of office.
The Chinese parliament on 11 March, 2021, passes a resolution to alter Hong Kong’s election law that many saw as effectively ending the one country, two systems framework under which Hong Kong was to retain its separate legal, political and financial institutions for 50 years. Candidate vetting rules included in the changes ensure that anyone even suspected of being less than overwhelming loyal to Beijing will be weeded out.
Hong Kong is moving toward the authoritarian Communist Party strictures in place in mainland China. The UK and US have condemned the electoral changes while Beijing and its supporters call them mere refinements to improve efficiency.