HONG KONG – Steps by the Chinese and Hong Kong
governments in recent years have raised unease among Hong Kong
residents about their future, a concern that burst out in a protest by hundreds
of thousands of people last weekend.
Many in the
semiautonomous Chinese territory worry the freedoms they enjoy under a
“one-country, two-systems” framework are eroding, as both governments use
carrots and sticks to draw Hong Kong into China’s orbit.
The former
British colony was returned to China in 1997 under the framework, which
guarantees it the right to retain its own social, legal and political systems
for 50 years. A look at major events:
___
July 2003:
In the largest protest since the handover, hundreds of thousands marched
against proposed national security legislation that would have criminalized
“subversion” against the Chinese government. Hong Kong residents saw the move
as an affront to the region’s autonomy, and the bill was subsequently
withdrawn.
September-December
2014: Protesters seeking direct elections for Hong Kong’s leader lay siege to
government headquarters for 79 days but fail to win any concessions. The
movement inspires a new generation of political activists but also builds
cynicism about the power of popular movements to effect political change.
October
2015: Four people connected with a Hong Kong publisher and bookshop that
published books banned in China go missing. A fifth person disappears in
December. Chinese authorities later say they were detained for investigations
into criminal activity. The case raises questions about freedom of expression
in Hong Kong.
July 2017:
Carrie Lam becomes Hong Kong’s chief executive.
January
2018: Gui Minhai, one of the booksellers who disappeared in 2015, is arrested
on a train in China while traveling with two Swedish diplomats. Gui, a Swedish
citizen, had been released in October 2017.
September
2018: A high-speed rail link opens between Hong Kong and mainland China.
Passengers clear Chinese immigration inside the station in Hong Kong, prompting
protests from some opposition lawmakers that Chinese law would apply in the
immigration area.
September
2018: Hong Kong bans the Hong Kong National Party, which advocates independence
for the territory, on national security grounds. The ban is seen as an
unprecedented step to quash separatist voices.
October
2018: Hong Kong-based Financial Times editor Victor Mallet has his application
to renew his work visa rejected. Authorities won’t say why, but it comes after
Mallet introduced the leader of the Hong Kong National Party at a Foreign
Correspondents’ Club event in August.
October
2018: China’s President Xi Jinping presides over ceremony opening a
55-kilometer (34-mile) -long bridge linking Hong Kong and Macau to the mainland.
February
2019: China announces plans to create a Greater Bay Area encompassing Hong
Kong, Macau and neighboring Guandong province in the mainland to foster
economic development. The move is seen as an effort to deepen ties among Hong
Kong, Macau and the mainland.
April 2019:
Lam’s government introduces amendments to Hong Kong’s extradition laws that
would allow criminal suspects to be extradited to China. Opponents say the
changes would damage the territory’s legal independence and suspects would not
be guaranteed fair trials.
April 2019:
A Hong Kong court convicts nine leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy
demonstrations known as the “Umbrella Movement.” Hong Kong judges were
reportedly under pressure from China to hand down heavy sentences to deter
future protests.
June 2019:
Hundreds of thousands march through central Hong Kong to protest the proposed
changes to the extradition laws.
..READ
FULL NEWS https://worldfoxnews.com/2019/06/12/timeline-unease-grows-hong-kong-eroding-freedoms/
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