Hong Kong and The Future

Hong Kong and The Future - Brian Lee (Buena Park High School, Eleventh Grade)

I am neither a citizen of Hong Kong nor any other Chinese nation nor am I ethnically Chinese. I’m a Korean-American born to parents who immigrated in the 90s and studied throughout the 2000s. It was thanks to my father’s love for history and places like the internet where I learned more about the world around me and particularly, the current situation in Hong Kong. 

Around four years ago in 2019, when Hong Kong was embroiled in protests regarding the extradition bill proposed by the Legislative Council, Netflix uploaded an anthology film titled Ten Years. It was a series of short stories that took place in Hong Kong in the year 2025 where due to the great presence of the Chinese government, human rights and basic liberties have eroded leaving Hong Kong in a near-dystopic state. All of the stories feature citizens trying to live in an alternate Hong Kong whose political state of affairs is now controlled by Beijing, an iron fist controlling the city with no remorse for any who were within its grasp. Ten Years was never created as a prediction for 2025, rather the Hong Kong Free Press argues that “...it is simply a portrayal of the Hong Kong public's worst fears.” But as we move closer to 2025, the film continues to be seen as more of a prophecy of what’s to come for Hong Kong. 

China has never had such a great relationship with democracy. The Xinhai Revolution of 1911 which created the short-lived Republic of China would have its democratic ideals spit on by leaders such as Yuan Shikai and Chiang Kai Shek. The Communists which took control of the mainland would also share the same distaste that their Nationalist brethren had at the time evident in the People’s Liberation Army’s actions during the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989. Their actions would only be vindicated from that point on with Document Number Nine, a communique released a decade ago, naming Western Democratic ideals as one of the greatest threats facing China today. 

It shouldn’t be surprising that the Beijing government is suppressing democratic movements but it is disgraceful the actions Beijing has taken in suppressing democracy in Hong Kong. Although the city may return to China in 2047, the Sino-British treaty which guaranteed its return also guaranteed Beijing’s respect towards the rights of the citizens in Hong Kong. There should never be another Tiananmen Square yet the encroachment and erosion of democracy that is taking place in Hong Kong will only lead to another violent set of riots, one that cannot be stopped with a National Security Act. 

The affairs in Hong Kong and China may not concern me directly but it shows the threat of authoritarianism on democratic countries such as South Korea and the United States. Censorship of information does not lead to control over citizens, it leads to violations of basic liberties which result in revolutions. Both nations must take greater measures to prevent such incidents from happening to remain as democratic bastions of the world. As the year 2025 approaches, let all nations learn from the situation in Hong Kong to create a more peaceful and greater world.