Sep 03,2019 National Commentaries

A View from the United States

Since early June, Hong Kong has been experiencing one of the most serious political crises in its history, arguably the worst since the Maoist-inspired demonstrations against British colonial rule in 1967. The city has been wracked by near-continuous mass protests, some peaceful, some violent. Despite the Hong Kong government’s attempts to limit or suppress them […]

Harry Harding

Chinese National Day , Hong Kong demonstrations , Hong Kong Policy Act , Occupy Central Movement , One Country Two Systems

Sep 03,2019 National Commentaries

A View from Hong Kong

Both the Chief Executive (CE) of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, and Zhang Xiaoming, the head of the Hong Kong and Macao Office under the Chinese State Council in Beijing, recently denounced the protests currently underway by arguing that they threaten the “one country, two systems” policy. That concept was first raised by Deng Xiaoping as […]

David Zweig

Basic Law , Occupy Central Movement , One Country Two Systems , Tiananmen , Umbrella Movement

Dec 20,2018 Special Forum

Analyzing the Relationship between Identity and Democratization in Taiwan and Hong Kong in the Shadow of China

After 160 years of non-democratic colonial rule by the British, Hong Kong became part of China in 1997 under a mini-constitution, the Basic Law, that guaranteed a number of democratic civic values and pledged eventual universal suffrage for both the executive and the legislature. Since the handover, there have been protest movements demanding fulfillment of […]

Syaru Shirley Lin

"Belt and Road" Initiative , China Dream , One China policy , One Country Two Systems , United Front

Dec 10,2015 Open Forum

Sunflowers and Umbrellas: Government Responses to Student-led Protests in Taiwan and Hong Kong

With local identities increasingly consolidated, especially among young people, there have been unprecedented protests in both Taiwan and Hong Kong against their respective governments’ policies toward Beijing. Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement (SM) in March 2014 opposed further economic integration with China, specifically the ratification of a cross-Strait agreement on trade in services. Soon after, in September […]

Syaru Shirley Lin

Democracy , National identity , One Country Two Systems , Sunflower Movement , Umbrella Movement