Supported by
What Is Hong Kong’s Extradition Bill?
HONG KONG — For the second Sunday in a row, hundreds of thousands of people in Hong Kong demonstrated against a proposed law that would allow extraditions to mainland China, despite the local government’s announcement a day earlier that it was indefinitely suspending the bill.
The mass protests have been among the largest in Hong Kong’s history, and another sign of rising fear and anger over the erosion of the civil liberties that have long set the semiautonomous territory apart from the Chinese mainland.
The relationship between Hong Kong and the central government in Beijing is complicated and evolving. Here’s the key background.
Is Hong Kong part of China?
Yes, but it’s not that simple.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to China in 1997 under a policy known as “one country, two systems,” which promised the territory a high degree of autonomy. The policy has helped preserve Hong Kong’s civil service, independent courts, freewheeling press, open internet and other features that distinguish it from the Chinese mainland.
transcript
Scenes From the Protest in Hong Kong
Demonstrators marched on Sunday against a government proposal to allow extraditions to mainland China. Critics fear it could be used to send dissidents to face trial in mainland courts, which are controlled by the Communist Party.
Mainland China uses all sorts of ways to exercise a so-called dictatorship in Hong Kong, to kidnap the people they treat as the enemy.
But that autonomy, guaranteed under a mini-constitution known as the Basic Law, expires in 2047. Well before Hong Kong is set to lose its unique status, however, the Basic Law has been weakened as China’s ruling Communist Party and its security apparatus increasingly encroach on Hong Kong — for example, by abducting booksellers and a Chinese-born billionaire.
Advertisement