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> British were in Hong Kong for 150 years and only granted enough freedom to Hong Kong to align with their own interest I don't want to speculate why the Briti
by khc 7y ago
> British were in Hong Kong for 150 years and only granted enough freedom to Hong Kong to align with their own interest
I don't want to speculate why the British did what they did, and that's not the point
> Hong Kong never had democracy including during British time. If you have any written evidence in law or regulation on the contrary let me know. So far I couldn't find any evidence except the "Basic Law" which guarantees certain freedom.
There's a difference between freedom and democracy and I will answer separately. On democracy, HK had long had some sort of election for the legislature (sure not the entire 150 years). I was there and my parents voted. It's dishonest to say you can't find any evidence of it.
On freedom. Basic Law may well (I am not sure) be the first local constitution, but the HK court system followed British precedence and people in HK generally enjoyed the same freedom guarantees that British living in UK do. Also, in practice there's increasing levels of self-censorship so having the Basic Law doesn't mean much.
> If China broke any provisions of Basic Law a case can be filed in courts of Hong Kong. Indeed Hong Kong asked China to re-interpret Basic Law... No one protested at that time
Actually plenty of people protested, but I see you cherrypicked examples. More recently China re-interpreted Basic Law to disqualified democratically elected legislature members. China also sent agents to HK and kidnapped an HK resident into China for political crime. You said British only granted freedom to HK base on self-interest, and you are very eager to be very generous towards China's motivations and skipped over examples that are very easy to find. Either you are not able to find them because they are blocked by the GFW, or that's something are more intentional on your part.
- dragonsh 7y ago> I don't want to speculate why the British did what they did, and that's not the point There is no need to speculate, history offers a clear answer. I can understand that it's hard to swallow bitter truth. > Democracy and freedom I have voted myself and know how the system worked before Chris Patten and afterwards. It was a from caged zoo turned to open zoo not really democracy. Regarding freedom Britain offered BNO and UK passport to selected few(not the same rights or freedom as a UK citizen) also please show me any document from UK government which offered Hong Kong same rights and freedoms as UK citizens. Chinese offered full Chinese nationality along with additional freedoms defined in Basic Law. > Cherrypick I picked the first instance when Hong Kong asked for reinterpretation of article 22, in spite of legal repurcussions in the long run. Society at large liked it because it was beneficial economically. In history there are enough examples to prove my point that Britain always worked for their own economic interest and I picked the excerpts from the example you posted.
- roboys 7y ago> I don't want to speculate why the British did what they did, and that's not the point The historical record is very clear and malice is at the top of the menu.