Frontline – August 02, 2019

THE UNPRECEDENTED SCENES OF MASS
protests in HongKong,andtheirtiming, havenotgone
unnoticedin theinternationalcommunity.The“um-
brellaprotests” in HongKong, which,in many ways,
resembledthe“colour protests”in countriessuchas
GeorgiaandUkraine,occurredat a timewhenChinawas
facingoff withthe UnitedStatesovera hostof issues.The
“tradewar”between thetwowaspoisedat a delicate
stage.
Theprotestsalsocoincidedwith the G20meetingin
Osaka,Japan.Theprotestleaders hadpetitionedthe
G20leaders to bringup the issuein theirmeetingswith
Chinese President Xi Jinping.Amongthe G20countries,
onlyIndia andIndonesiarefusedto accept thepetition
fromthe HongKongprotesters. U.S.President Donald
TrumpandJapanese PrimeMinister ShinzoAbewere
amongthe leaders whobrought up the issueduringtheir
meetingswithPresident Xi on thesidelinesof theG20
summit.
Theso-calledUmbrellaMovement,whichhadits
originsin the streetprotests of 2014,claimsto champion
thecauseof democracy in theHongKongSpecialAd-
ministrative Region(SAR)of China.Themovementis
mostlystudent-led, althoughthe recentprotests sawthe
participation of a crosssectionof society.Thesheer

numbersthistimetoldits own story.ManyHong

Kongersactually seemedto be swayedby the propaganda

thatthe freedomsguaranteed to themunderthe “Basic

Law” afterthe Britishleft in 1997wereunderthreat.

Otherprotesters couldhavebeenmotivatedby the

growingdisparityanddividebetween the rich and the

poorin HongKong.In the past,the mainlandwaspoor

andHongKongwasrich.Thisis no longer thecase.

GuangzhouandShenzhenhaverecently surpassed Hong

Kongin gross domesticproduct.Butthepeoplein the

former Britishcolonystill seemto havea superiority

complexvis-a-visthepeoplefromthemainland. They

forget thatHongKonghadprosperedmainly becauseit

wasa gatewayto Chinauntilthe countrywasopened up

by DengXiaoping.

Therecentprotestsbeganafterthe HongKonggov-

ernment’s decisionto tablea “fugitiveoffenders’extradi-

tion”Billin the legislaturethatwouldhaveallowedthe

extradition of peopleinvolved in serious economic and

criminaloffencesfromHongKong.ManyChinesena-

tionalsandforeignersseekrefugein HongKongafter

committing serious economic andothercrimeson the

mainlandandelsewhere.Theprotesters claimedthatthe

proposed“fugitiveBill”would putpeopleresidingin

HongKong,localsas wellas foreigners,at risk,besides

HONGKONGCHIEFEXECUTIVECARRIELAM(left)withChinesePresidentXi Jinping. Afile photograph.

BOBBY

YIP/REUTERS

Massivestreetprotestsagainstan“extraditionBill”rockHong

Kong,forcingthegovernmentofChina’sSpecialAdministrative

RegiontosuspenditstablingintheLegislativeCouncil.

BYJOHN CHERIAN