Supporting the protest in Hong Kong and stating “Hong Kong is not China,” BYU–Hawaii students from Hong Kong said the Chinese government has lied to Hong Kong citizens and does not keep its promise of not changing Hong Kong’s laws for 50 years. However, students from China said their government is acting in the best interest of unifying the whole country and maintaining peace.
“We, as Hong Kong people, will stand for what is right to protect the rights and privileges which belong to us,” stated Ronnie Au, a junior from Hong Kong studying biology.
“If the extradition bill goes through, then Hong Kong will have basically no difference with a normal city in China, as it will be run under basically the same law with China,” Au continued.
Currently, Hong Kong has extradition agreements with more than 20 countries including the U.S.A., Canada, and Korea, but not with China. The Hong Kong government is now taking the new extradition agreement with China to the legislative council of Hong Kong. It will be enforced if more than half of the council votes to approve the law, according to the Department of Justice in Hong Kong.
The citizens in Hong Kong are afraid of how the Chinese government would use the extradition law to threaten the fundamental freedom of Hong Kong citizens and “kidnap” any anti-China activist in Hong Kong by framing them for crimes such as drug dealing or burglary and then extradite them to mainland China, according to Channel News Asia.
According to I-Cable News, a saying in Cantonese, “sending to China” shares the same pronunciation with “burying someone” or “attending someone’s funeral.” Citizens of Hong Kong also said the unclear justice system in China doesn’t ensure human rights.
Johnson Yu, a senior from Hong Kong majoring in exercise and sports science education, commented, “There are many values we don’t share [with the Chinese government,] freedom of speech, integrity... etc. We have more freedom than China. If the new law goes through, the freedom in Hong Kong will be greatly suppressed.”
Hong Kong government officials explained the purpose of the new law is to better partner with China in fighting crime. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China held a press conference on June 11, stating the Chinese government has absolute support for the extradition agreement, and it condemned all foreign forces that tried to interfere with the situation in Hong Kong, which it said should be an internal affair of China, reported Sohu.com.
Statements such as “Activists in Hong Kong work with Western forces” and “Not winning the trade war, play dirty in Hong Kong instead” can be found in the online news and on social media in China, suggesting the extradition law is a means to prevent Hong Kong from being a “paradise for criminals.” They said activists and Western forces are creating chaos in Hong Kong with a goal to interrupt the development of China.
Originating from China, Ramona Zhang, a junior majoring in communications, said despite the imperfections of the Chinese government, it is still working to unify the whole country together, including Hong Kong.
“No matter what the Chinese government does, it’s directed to a single goal of benefiting the whole country, including Hong Kong, because Hong Kong is part of China. That’s why we can see China is developing so fast,” Zhang explained.
Zhang said Hong Kong people could build peace with China and thrive with China together instead of overreacting or launching violent protests. “Hong Kong people are doing harm only to Hong Kong people now. It’s way too crazy and they should stop that,” said Zhang.
The protest started on June 9, when protesters demonstrated in the areas near the government headquarters with banners saying “No extradition to China” and “Hong Kong is not China,” according to Now TV.
An activist group claimed more than 1.03 million citizens joined the protest while police claimed the number of protesters was about 240,000. It was determined by the public to be the biggest protest in the history of Hong Kong. Bigger than the Umbrella Movement, which happened five years ago, according to HK01.com
Ho Cheung, a protester in Hong Kong, said, “An old lady stood in the frontline yelling at the police and told them to wake up and stop working under this government, but the police just said, ‘Relax. If you move anymore, we might use force.’”
After the protest, the Hong Kong government announced the legislative process would proceed without delay. As a response, on June 12, thousands of students and workers went on strike and surrounded the legislative council building before 7 a.m., seeking to paralyze the traffic around the area so that the legislative council could not meet, according to I-Cable News.
The second protest turned into intense clashes between citizens and the police. Protesters moved fences, traffic signs and other big objects they found on the streets to block the traffic around the government headquarters, reported I-Cable News.
According to Now TV, while the protesters kept moving toward the legislative council building, riot police came out and used pepper spray against them. However, most protesters came prepared with goggles and umbrellas. They continued to charge toward the police’s line of defense and threw objects such as bricks, umbrellas and water bottles to the police. When the protesters reached the entrance of the legislative council building, the police fought back with tear gas and chased away the protesters.
During that day, the police used tear gas 150 times into the crowd. More than 70 people were injured, including both citizens and policemen. Additional protesters exposed to the tear gas were reported as severely sick. The legislative council was not able to meet. The government headquarters closed on June 13 and 14 for safety reasons, reported I-Cable News.
In response to the protest, Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, said the law would not be withdrawn. She stated, “No violent action could be an act of love for Hong Kong. Violence is not the right way to solve this problem,” according TVB News.
While protesters said Lam is “selling out” Hong Kong to China, Lam held her tears and whimpered when she was interviewed by TVB News, “How could I sell out Hong Kong? I was born here and grew up with all the other Hong Kongers.” Lam stated she would only do what is good for Hong Kong.
However, BYUH students from Hong Kong said the extradition law cannot be tolerated, as well as other policies the Chinese government uses to tighten its grip on Hong Kong.
“It was all a lie. The Chinese Government did not keep the promise that was agreed with Britain in 1997. There shouldn’t be any changes in 50 years after Hong Kong is returned. If China wants to change Hong Kong into the way they want, wait 30 more years, but now, it is not the time,” said Au.
Au said growing up in Hong Kong, he could see the changes through his own eyes like a time-lapse. “It’s that fast. Historical buildings have been taken down. The education has been changing. Cantonese is no longer an official language. Policies have been changing.”
After being colonized by the British for more than 150 years, Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was formed. The Chinese government agreed that for the next 50 years, Hong Kong would have its own law and government and China would not interfere with the internal affairs in Hong Kong, according to the Basic Law of Hong Kong.
Sherry Li, a junior from China majoring in TESOL, said she agreed that the extradition agreement would provide a way for the Chinese government to take down anti-China activists. Li said she understood why Hong Kong people were upset about their freedom being decreased, but she also understood the Chinese government would like to have more means to control the activists.
“Activists can’t do anything against [the Chinese government] in China. They may come to Hong Kong to do that. With the extradition law, the Chinese government can scare the activists more and limit their ways to create riots. The society could more stabilized.”
Jason Chang, an alumnus from Taiwan, said the Chinese government runs the country by a dictatorship, limits freedom of speech and supports this new law because it may not have other options at this moment.
Chang explained, “There are 1.4 billion people in China. One concern is that if the Chinese government just suddenly allows democracy in Hong Kong, Tibet may fight for democracy too. So may all other parts of China. China would be in a complete mess.”
Writer: Tomson Cheang