July 1, 2015

July 1, 2015 is an important day of Canada and Hong Kong. It is Canada Day. It also marks the 18th anniversary of British handover of Hong Kong back to China. Canadians celebrate Canada Day today, but not all HongKongers celebrate the return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule.

A Keith Durant in Youtube gave his comments on the political situation in Hong Kong. He told the truth. Here are his comments: The funny thing is they have more democracy under China than they ever had as a British protectorate. Under Britain the governor was appointed in Britain with no input from the people of Hong Kong. Under China they are at least offered choices of those the government is willing to accept.

My thoughts:

There is no way that the Chinese Government will allow separatists or independence-leaning politicians to run for the chief executive office in Hong Kong. Candidates must be pre-screened and approved by a pro-Beijing Hong Kong committee made of 1200 members, which represents almost 40 different sectors or groups of people in Hong Kong society. The approved candidates or finalists will then run for the office, and every adult HongKonger will be given a vote to select their leader.

This is the situation: since the handover on July1, 1997, Hong Kong has become a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. It has a high level of autonomy, but it is not a separate country. To become the chief executive of Hong Kong, you must be pro-China, not anti-China.

Hong Kong already has much democracy and freedom. In terms of economic freedom, it is on the very top in the whole world. The rejection of this new election and voting system appears to be a small victory of the pro-American and pro-Western styled democracy politicians and people. It is a setback of Chinese styled democratic reform in Hong Kong.

It is rather stupid and irrational that some anti-China HongKongers still wave the British flag, complaining that there is no free election in Hong Kong. Was there any free election when Hong Kong was under British rule? No, None. Would these anti-China HongKongers be happy to re-become British 'subjects' or 'second class citizens' under British colonial rule?