“One country, two systems” has been and will be the principle of Hong Kong and China until 2047. Well that’s what the Chinese government promised anyway.

1st July 1997. The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China marked the end of British rule in Hong Kong. After the British left, China allowed the region to have a high degree of autonomy and to preserve its economic and social systems. Due to this, Hong Kong also has its own currency (which is not able to be used legally in China), its own legal system and citizens residing there have their own passports. However, China did not allow them to administer in military defence, foreign affairs or to have complete control over their own government. This was the beginning of the conflict between Hong Kong and Mainland China.

The people of Hong Kong have begun to isolate themselves from the rest of Mainland China due to their cultural, political and lingual differences. In reply, China has become much more controlling over Hong Kong since the ‘Handover’ despite their promise of not interfering too much. This caused the conflict to escalate and contributed to the 2014 Hong Kong protests.

There are two main groups of pro-democratic activists which have emerged from the situation. One of them being ‘Occupy Central’. This group is led by an student known as Benny Tai and in June 2014, they organised an unofficial referendum where one in five citizens attended. Shortly after the vote, thousands of protesters took part in one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democratic rallies on the 1st July; the same day the ‘Handover’ occurred. Since then the other group (‘Hong Kong Federation of Students’ and ‘Scholarism’) has also played a key part. For example, there were class boycotts in late September 2014 which eventually led to city-wide protests. This shows the intensity of the situation in Hong Kong and leads me to my main question. ‘Should Hong Kong separate itself from China?’.

If Hong Kong could become an independent country, they would not have the ability to sustain themselves due to the lack of resources on their island. They would have to import all their food and oil (without the help of China) with no space to develop an industry large enough to make profit. This would then leave Hong Kong in a position where they would only make money from tourism for a short period of time before leading to bankruptcy. However, if countries are willing to invest in Hong Kong’s economy, they could use their fishing industry to provide most income.

If Hong Kong were to stay as a state of China, the conflict could increase to a point where China would take complete control over Hong Kong despite the agreement.This has already been brought to light in the protests.

My verdict is that Hong Kong are right to be protesting against Mainland China’s intervention because of the agreement that both sides had with one another and by China violating the terms, the menioned agreement was not met with honour. I also believe that China is being far too dominant as they already have the most control over the government. Furthermore, the rules listed in the agreement only last for fifty years, so Hong Kong will have to be returned to China in 2047. However, I do not believe that Hong Kong should not separate from China as of now. This is because they rely far too much on them in terms of income and military support. This situation has already been embarrassing for both sides and stopping their rivalry would be the most ideal outcome.