Hong Kong and China Conflict - Research Paper Example

Hong Kong and China conflict Introduction Hong Kong is fond of China, but the relationship between them have increasingly fluctuated since 1997. Hong Kong is recognized by many as an international financial hub, tourist destination, business center, and shopping paradise though most people do not understand its true identity. The question that always runs in the people mind when they talk of Hong Kong is that, is Hong Kong a de facto country or the country part of the mainland China. Hong Kong and China share various resources and some of their constitutions are much similar and also they are different in some areas which, therefore, raises so many questions about its identity (Chu, 2010 pg. 78). And if they are one, why do they have continuous conflicts? Hong Kong still maintains their police force, currency, passports though the mainland, the Chinese government, manages the military of Hong Kong and also the diplomacy with other foreign countries. At the same time, the principal lands have also gone so much interest in the politics of the Hong Kong (Goodstadt, 2005 pg. 61). China also is the country considered to have the highest population in the world, located in Eastern side of Asia. The country has over 22 provinces, two special administrative regions, four directly administered municipalities, and five autonomous regions, Hong Kong being one of the special administrative regions. Hong Kong was colonized by the British Empire during the opium war but at the time of Pacific war, Hong Kong became under the Japan’s rule (Metzger, 2004 pg. 118). Samuel P. Huntington in his book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order said that “In the emerging world of ethnic conflict and civilizational clash, Western belief in the universality of Western culture suffers three problems: it is false; it is immoral, and it is dangerous.” Hong Kong adopted most of the British culture forgetting their culture. Later, the city war recaptured by the British, who took control up to 1997 when they handed it to the mainland China (Chan et al., 1994, pg. 177). Even though being a special administrative region of China, for the next 50 years nothing will change because of the basic law adopted by the two countries. It, therefore, means that for this period of 50 years, everything will remain the same in Hong Kong as it was under the British Empire. Figure 1: The collaboration between the British and the Hong Kong Hong Kong History As a result of the Opium War in the mid-19th century, Hong Kong was once occupied by the British army and then later taken over by the England. Being considered as part of the Qing dynasty empire, Hong Kong was surrendered to the British in 1842. With some minor changes and periods of turmoil, Hong Kong city still remained the colony of the British until 1997 when it was handed to the People’s Republic of China and this is the time when the conflict escalated. Hong Kong being a British colony during the developmental years of the People’s Republic, it is much different from the mainland China (Metzger, 2004 pg. 158). The democratic system of the country is of local government with a free press, and a lifestyle completely influenced by the England culture. It made some of its people to flee to the western countries fearing the intentions of the People’s Republic of China after the takeover in 1997. It is despite the assurance by the People’s Republic of China that Hong Kong will be allowed to retain their government democratic system for 50 years. Since the region is not subjected to the laws and restrictions governing the rest of China, the governance is this region is considered a special administrative region. The relationship between Hong Kong and mainland China increasingly fluctuated in 1997 after the handing over of Hong Kongs sovereignty to the People’s Republic of China. The government of Hong Kong after the handing over of the city to China implemented some controversial policies that include the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and the Individual Visit Scheme (Chu, 2010 pg. 78). The main aim of the People’s Republic of China was to dissolve the boundaries of Hong Kong in the name of strengthening socio-economic ties and rejuvenation of the economy with the mainland China. Also, the relationship between the two countries changed drastically after the government of Hong Kong failed in the basic law implementation of Article 23. Also, due to the Hong Kong westernized culture from their past British colony, there are great differences between the two states. This difference in culture in terms of language and growth of the mainland visitors escalated conflicts between these two states. The conflict is also related in terms of the issues of the allocation of resources between mainland China and Hong Kong people in various as education and health (Metzger, 2004 pg. 118). Controversies Since the handing over of Hong Kong to the mainland China in 1997, there has been a sharp difference between the two countries which gave caused a lot of tension from the time of handing over. The mainland have been meddling in the affairs of the Hong Kong which has not gone well with its citizens, and they have become so resentful. Hong Kong being a country of free press, some of the major media outlets are still taken over by mainland China which have hastened the controversy between the countries since the mainlanders’ sensor and display negative stories about the central government (Goodstadt, 2005 pg. 61). Political The mainland China have been in recent and almost all the time meddling in the political affairs of the Hong Kong people. Most of the legislations passed by the Hong Kong like the free press have been much interfered with by the mainland who have increasingly put much of their voices in this freedom. The meddling have caused a lot of animosities within the two independent states The main political difference causing conflict between the two countries is The Basic Law of One Country Two Systems. The Hong Kongs de facto constitution of the Basic Law clearly explains and states that 50 years after the handing over of Hong Kong to the mainland China in 1997, Hong Kong to live together with China as a single country, two systems. The constitution of one country two system is to expire in 2047. Up to then, the agreement states that the City, Hong Kong, shall protect the freedom and rights of its citizens. The main doctrine contained within this basic law and one which was then affirmed by the then top China leader Lu Ping, is the right in developing their democracy without interference by the outside forces for the period of the agreement (Metzger, 2004 pg. 211). Lu Ping was quoted in 1993 in the State Media People’s Daily that the development of the Hong Kong future democracy is totally within the hands of the autonomy of Hong Kong and with no interference from the central government of the mainland China. The words of Lu Ping have not been put to use on the mainland and is the most fundamental cause of conflict between the two nation and city. The mainland China have repeatedly reinterpreted the document of the basic law and have even gone ahead to producing a White Paper that reaffirms its complete jurisdiction over Hong Kong a move that have not gone well with the Hong Kongers. Hong Kong city enjoys much freedom than their mainland China that includes the fundamental right of assembly that is considered an insult for the voices of pro-Beijing (Goodstadt, 2005 pg. 61). Most of the China and Beijing leaders consider the freedom of assembly an insult to their citizens of the mainland. Chinas director of National Association of International Studies was once quoted by CNN from Beijing saying that the stability of Hong Kong is very crucial and therefore there are better means by which the Hong Kongers can express their position instead of using the illegal and unacceptable means of creating instabilities and counterproductive means of stopping other people from moving on with their lives. Cultural Hong Kong and the mainland China culture are so different and cause a lot of conflicts between the two countries. Hong Kong being colonized for more than 100 years of the British Empire, a greater population have grown to appreciate the western culture. For this more than 100 years, Hong Kong has all along been a pro-British and appreciate their culture. The British used this strategy in clearing up any rebels and anti-west sentiments, the rebels within this long period had already been executed or marginalized (Chan et al., 1994, pg. 177). Compared to the mainland china culture, most of the Hong Kong people appreciates either consciously or subconsciously the effect of the British culture in terms of technology, politics, economy and culture. Before the colonization by the British Empire, Hong Kong was not much attached to the Chinese culture as the place was relatively remote and under-cultivated. The greatest sentiment around the Hong Kong people is that Britain is their father and China the mother and for this reason they have inherited flexible self-recognition about their Chinese ethnic identities (Chu, 2010 pg. 108). This western culture is admired by the mainland Beijing, and if the British could have also captured Beijing, then the story could not have been any different. The western culture conquered and according to Samuel Huntington in his book The Clash of Civilization and the Remarking the word Order, he said that “Every civilization sees itself as the center of the world and writes its history as the central drama of human history.” The western culture had written history in Hong Kong. The conflict between cultures is evident on how the mainland China views the western culture and westernization in general. They view this culture as a great humiliation, a culture that should not be accepted and discarded as fast as possible. The fact that the majority of the Hong Kong people can express themselves freely in English language at the same time in their native local language has also become a great issue within this culture. It is very evident that the living standards of the people of China people has drastically increased in the past years due to westernization, most of the Chinese still do not appreciate the culture and sees the Hong Kong as great enemy because of the culture. The western culture has got a lot of freedoms that are against the culture of the Chinese government. It therefore, makes a majority of the mainland China move to Hong Kong, a move that does not go well with the china authority making them into forcing their authority in Hong Kong (Goodstadt, 2005 pg. 80). The Chinese people believe and the prevailing logic that most people learn from the west in keeping the country competitive on the international stage. They at the same time believed that the western culture was forced on the Hong Kong by the British military and felt that the Hong Kong could have been safer if they could have been allowed to exploit their culture. The conflicting arguments between mainland Chinese and the Hong Kong have intensified more over the years. Chinese people view the Hong Kong with a lot of mixed envies in terms of their living standards and the freedoms they enjoy (Metzger, 2004 pg. 118). On the contrary, they view them with slight contempt as they feel the Hong Kong are paying the price for being colonized by the British and not feeling ashamed when the Chinese feel they should be ashamed. Hong Kong has the perception that the mainland China are less education with limited knowledge; are aggressive as they crave for resources and wealth due to poverty; and condescending as the Chinese feel that the Hong Kong were just rescued from the British and, therefore, should expect submission and gratitude. What is more interesting about this conflict and the blame game is that the Chinese themselves are no longer preserving their traditional Chinese culture since there are no longer role models in leading them towards appreciating their culture. And in this absence, the Hong Kong have the belief that their culture is much more superior as compared to the Chinese culture (Chan et al., 1994, pg. 77). The battle and attitude for supremacy has created subtle and sharp controversies amongst the people of China mainland who are much proud of their Chinese culture and feel that the culture adopted by Hong Kong is backward, orthodox bastard of the west and the east. It is true to echo the words of Samuel Huntington that “It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation-states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics (Goodstadt, 2005 pg. 92). The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.” The cultural difference between these two cities of Hong Kong and Beijing has spread to the tourists who refer to the mainlanders as locusts since they only come to Hong Kong to consume its resources, and leaving a mess behind when they leave. The behaviors considered uncouth by the Hong Kong people of spinning in the public and eating on the subways are socially acceptable in the mainland China. The moves and conflict in the word of mouth amongst these conflicting parties are constantly increasing the conflict between them and has made the government to intervene in favor of the mainlanders though they are still prevented from acting by the basic law signed between the two countries. Article 23 The Basic law signed between the two countries at the time of handing over of Hong Kong to the mainland China. The introduction of Article 23 of the basic law has brought a lot of conflicts between the countries. The introduction of Article 23 of the basic law was done after the demonstrations of millions in 1989 of Hong Kong people in support of the student democratic movement. The article was added to avoid any future demonstration by the people of Hong Kong against the Central Government of China (Metzger, 2004 pg. 118). The central government of China produced the final draft of the article in 1990 which states “The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, and subversion against the Central People’s Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies.” The law prohibits any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central Chinese government; prohibits foreign political organizations from undertaking any political related activities in the Region; prohibiting political organizations in the Region from having ties with foreign political organizations or bodies. T6he law was opposed by most of the Hong Kong people and thus beginning of the annual protest since 2003’s in Hong Kong handover ceremony. The main aim of PRC’s approach was to dissolve the Hong Kong city state boundary in the name of strengthening transforming socio-economic ties (Chan et al., 1994, pg. 177). The response towards the article 23 was very aggressive, and it brought a lot of criticism of the mainland China. Countries like US, Canada, UK and New Zealand expressed their concern on the legislation of the article. The people who were familiar with the article claimed that without clarity in the article, there will be so much room for the central government to prosecute and persecute any individual or group of people who are deemed threat by the national government of China. At the same time, the enactment of Article 23 would allow for the assimilation of Hong Kong y the mainland China and turn it into a police state. One of the New York-based journalist described the law as a serious threat to freedom in Hong Kong and its enactment will send a clear signal to the journalist of Hong Kong on the coverage of issues considered sensitive like the China politics whose coverage will not be tolerated or encouraged at all (Chu, 2010 pg. 201). The report by AFP, some of the banks in Hong Kong already had the plan of relocation since they feared that the passing of the article into law would hinder the free flow of information. By this time, Hong Kong had become the regions financial center, and no one was ready to witness the erosion of the legal system and institutions that have assisted in this tremendous growth. These institutions include the free flow of information, the rule of law, fundamental freedoms under the basic law, and the judiciary independence. The article played a fundamental role i9n the escalation and fueling the conflict. Language Language is a main factor in both Hong Kong and the mainland China. It is used to differentiate the region where one comes from, either from Hong Kong or mainland China, there is no need for an identification card in knowing where one comes from. Hong Kong have widely used Cantonese, Traditional Chinese Character plus they also have learnt English a language considered very important for their career and some aspects of their life, as compared to mainland China whose main language is Mandarin and Simplified Chinese (Chan et al., 1994, pg. 107). The difference in language has caused a lot of conflicts between these two regions as they are associated with symbolic capital and cultural capital raised by Bourdieu. The people of Hong Kong have formed their special "habitus" culture that is collectively accepted. According to Bourdieu, 1992, our social space is constructed from historical facts, forces within politics and subjective perceptions. Even though people can perceive the difference between subjective and objective practices, if our perceptions cannot be expressed using language then there will be conflicts still. Language conflict erupted when the proudest China’s Cantonese-speaking regions marched to the streets protesting a proposal by the government in switching the television broadcasts from their local language to Mandarin before the multi-sport Asian Games. The Mandarin language favored the China mainland while the Hong Kong were disadvantaged since the majority of them did not understand the language. Hong Kong people had also raised concern and complain of the erosion of their culture. The conflict clearly shows the fight between the Hong Kong and the mainland China and also the effort by the mainland government in bringing the country to one language while doing away with the Hong Kong native language (Goodstadt, 2005 pg. 91). In language, the writing system is also an issue as the Hong Kong uses Traditional Chinese Characters while the mainland China uses simplified characterized by the appearance of characters of more of much-simplified characters in Hong Kong which is not appreciated. Figure 2: The umbrella is the symbol of a movement rooted in a desire to preserving a distinct identity from China in areas of the rule of law, education, and freedom of speech and of the press, and anticorruption institutions. Public freedoms In China, everybody within and outside the country is aware that in the republic of china, public freedom is not a guarantee. The mainland China has a lot of limitations to their public freedom where the internet and all other Medias are controlled. In China, all the wordpress.com are blocked and impossible to access. Hong Kong, on the other hand, however, is a city of real democracy, and people enjoy a great level of freedom. Other than the economic freedom enjoyed in Hong Kong, other freedoms enjoyed in these regions includes the freedom of speech, strike, demonstration and press. The freedom enjoyed in Hong Kong has caused a lot of conflict in the mainland China since the Chinese themselves also are looking forward to such freedoms that are greatly limited in their land. It has prompted a majority of the mainlanders to migrate to Hong Kong a move that does not go well with the government. Social Welfare The development in Hong Kong makes most of the mainlander women to move there to deliver their babies. This is a trick used by these mothers since if the baby is born there, then they will have permanent residence in Hong Kong which will allow them to live and work in Hong Kong when they grow up. The salaries allocations within Hong Kong are considered so high compared to the ones offered in China. Possessing the Hong Kong passport is also advantageous in terms of movement and living abroad. All these have caused a lot of pressure on the China government to go west and try to give their citizens the much-needed freedom to earn them respect all over the world. Conflict, in this case, is caused in the mainland China where they protest in demand of the kind of lives led in the city in their country (Metzger, 2004 pg. 298). The conflict has great impact and has been felt even by the tourists visiting the country. The tourists from the mainlanders find it difficult to survive in Hong Kong since they come with more fixed mind about Hong Kong, which is not tolerated by the Hong Kong people. The rate of animosity escalated every single day that has affected the development in Hong Kong, which was once the leading economic and financial hub of the world. The food supply in the mainland China has become so low and the tourists visiting china are less likely to change their behavior any soon and as it evident, the Chinese government is less likely to stop their influence on the Hong Kong politics. It will increase tension between Hong Kong and mainland China that is less likely to stop any soon (Chan et al., 1994, pg. 177). Figure 3. Hong Kong youths harass a mother and daughter tourists. The difference in ruling of Hong Kong after and before the handing over to China in 1997 played a major role in increasing the conflict between the two states. Though there is no democracy under the colonial rule, the governor of Hong Kong implement policies that is in favorite to Hong Kong people. The colonial was taking Hong Kong’s interest bold enough to against Britain and Chinas wishes on matters of Hong Kong. The colonial was more liberal, accountable, credential, efficient, long term vision than the Hong Kong SAR government nowadays. When there is a big issue going to implement, there will be big consultations from the public (Goodstadt, 2005 pg. 215). In general, the conflict between Hong Kong and mainland China are largely because of the political power struggle which are well choreographed by the Communist who are in indirect control of Hong Kong by constantly assigning leaders who are pro-Peking in running Hong Kong. The chief executive is a puppet to the mainland China. Britain made, a fundamental role in transforming Hong Kong but the mainland china, are doing all it takes to destroy Hong Kong. The words of Samuel Huntington bare very relevantly when he say in his book that “People define themselves in terms of ancestry, religion, language, history, values, customs, and institutions. They identify with cultural groups: tribes, ethnic groups, religious communities, nations, and, at the broadest level, civilizations. People use politics not just to advance their interests but also to define their identity. We know who we are only when we know who we are not and often only when we know whom we are against.” Work cited Goodstadt, Leo F. Uneasy Partners: The Conflict between Public Interest and Private Profit in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Univ. Press, 2005. Print. Metzger, Thomas A. A Cloud Across the Pacific: Essays on the Clash between Chinese and Western Political Theories Today. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2004. Print. Law, Wing S. Collaborative Colonial Power: The Making of the Hong Kong Chinese. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009. Print. Zhang, Wei-Bin. Hong Kong: the Pearl Made of British Mastery and Chinese Docile-Diligence. Hauppauge, N.Y: Nova Science Publishers, 2004. Print. Kuah-Pearce, Khun E, and Gilles Guiheux. Social Movements in China and Hong Kong: The Expansion of Protest Space. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009. Print. Lin, Zhiling, and Thomas W. Robinson. The Chinese and Their Future: Beijing, Taipei, and Hong Kong. Washington, D.C: AEI Press, 1993. Print. Lee, Dominic TS, et al. "Ethnoepidemiology of postnatal depression Prospective multivariate study of sociocultural risk factors in a Chinese population in Hong Kong." The British journal of psychiatry 184.1 (2004): 34-40. Goodstadt, Leo F. Uneasy partners: The conflict between public interest and private profit in Hong Kong. Vol. 1. Hong Kong University Press, 2005. Watkins, David A., and John Burville Biggs, eds. Teaching the Chinese learner: Psychological and pedagogical perspectives. Hong Kong University Press, 2001. Chu, Cindy Y. Chinese Communists and Hong Kong Capitalists: 1937-1997. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Internet resource. Carroll, John M. A Concise History of Hong Kong. Lanham, Md. [u.a.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. Print. Chan, Ming K, and John D. Young. Precarious Balance: Hong Kong between China and Britain, 1842-1992. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1994. Print. Chen, Guo-Ming. Chinese Conflict Management and Resolution. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Ablex Publ, 2002. Print. Read More