Hong Kong Protests: A Post-Colonial Era Conundrum - Essay Sample

Introduction

Since 15th of March, 2019 to the later part of the year, Hong Kong has been in the middle of protest day in day out. The anti-government demonstrations that have been rocking the significant parts of Hong Kong have been as a result of the move by the government to go ahead with the extradition of mainland China. The protest experienced in Hong Kong has its roots back in the post-colonial era when both Hong Kong and China agreed to have one country with two different administration systems. The bill proposed seeks to disrupt the state of balance that has existed between Hong Kong and China since 1997. Initially, the demonstrations started as peaceful protests with activists seeking platforms to air their views on the dangers of the bill as well as enlightening the masses on why they should reject the proposal with all their energy. However, the withdrawal of the bill in September had little effect on calming down the situation as protestant continued with a demonstration demanding total democracy as well as probe into police actions of brutality. Hong Kong's protest calls for critical analysis and rethinking of the situation in terms of its effect on the social, economic, and political endeavors of both China and Hong Kong.

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At the start of the protest, when Hong Kong's administration mooted the proposed controversial bill, the demonstrations were justified. At that time, the mass actions were a sign of peoples' power in excising their democratic rights by boycotting the social injustices introduced by the bill. The controversial parts of the bill were its stance on the transfer of the fugitives and prisoners to other jurisdictions for trial (Shek, 2020). Therefore, the bill sort to oppress Hong Kong and deprive the city of its sovereign rule of law. The bill intended to suppress Hong Kong under the legal systems of mainland China. Additionally, it would guarantee Beijing's absolute control over Hong Kong. There were a lot of unclear intents in the bill. Thus, the masses had to reject the bill. The start of the demonstrations was peaceful, with citizens and activists airing their views in a civilized manner. However, things slowly escalated with the citizens continually engaging with the police and administration in physical combats. The use of excessive power to demand changes or oppose the bill experienced in Hong Kong were significant barbaric acts that the world is running from. Despite the shortcomings of the bill, there were several other ways of approaching the situation. Some of these ways to handle the case without the dangerous and destructive protests are either through collaborative actions with the political leaders or engaging the authorities in talks to resolve the issue amicably. With all these in mind, the Hong Kong demonstrations were barbaric and uncalled for.

Economic wise, the Hong Kong protests were highly undesirable. The protest came when China was in a trade war with the United States. There were so many economic uncertainties in China and the City of Hong Kong following the restriction and trade bans imposed on goods from the country into the United States. Anti-government protests when the country was already facing so many economic uncertainties contributed to the economic recession that the city has been experiencing for several months now (Shek, 2020). The nine-month-long demonstrations had immense impacts on the retail businesses, the real estate industry, as well as Hong Kong's stock market that accounts for over $4.9 trillion (Heo, 2020). The most affected by the demonstrations are the private sectors, including the tourism industry that the city's economy relies on heavily. The tourism industry in Hong Kong registered the lowest revenues in over three months of active demonstrations. Group tours and bookings had dropped significantly, affecting employment opportunities in the city. In addition to that, the retail sector remained almost stagnant within the entire period, with most stores remaining closed during the protests. The effect of the civil unrest in Hong Kong on the catering and accommodation industry, retail services, and tourism industry makes the demonstrations harmful for the economy.

Hong Kong's unrests were as a result of the protection of human rights through the provision of opposition to the discriminative and controversial bill. However, the protests resulted in an unprecedented and overwhelming large form of social injustices. Activists present in the demonstrations stated that the police used excessive force in an attempt to control the situation. There were more than 10, 000 teargas canisters lobbied on both the peaceful and rowdy demonstrators (Hui, 2020). The much peaceful initial demonstrations turned chaotic as a result of the actions of the police. The police brutality infuriated the crowds paving ways for violent protests. As a result, more than 5,800 arrests of the demonstrators were made (Hui, 2020). Several other demonstrators got severe and minor injuries from the events unfolding in the demonstrations. The confrontations between the police and the demonstrators also resulted in the death of several other people. A critical examination of the results of these demonstrations reveals that they had far many adverse effects on social justice. Both the demonstrators and the police failed to take control of the situation and engage in peaceful demonstrations that would lead to the preservation of life and property rather than the destruction of it. The adverse effects of Hong Kong's protests on human rights make it uncalled for.

Vandalism, robbery and theft, and arson were at the center of Hong Kong's protest. Traders in the city reported a massive loss of properties either through mass destruction, robbery, and theft by the protestors who saw businesses operating during the protests as a form of betrayal. Some of the ventures affected by the vandalism actions of the demonstrators include the railway operator in Hong Kong, the MTR, which reported property destruction of over HK$100 million. The company recently filed for insurance claims following the damage of its properties. Statistical analysts state that the vandalism and loss of property experienced in Hong Kong during the duration of the entire protest could have broken the record in the city's history by being Hong Kong's third-highest mass destruction of properties. According to the reports by the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers, Hong Kong's anti-government demonstrations led to the loss of wealth resulting in the property owners filing insurance claims of over US$ 76.5 million (Heo, 2020). It is ironic and terrifying that the protests that aimed at correcting the evils and social injustices in the legal system could result in the massive destruction of properties surpassing the adverse effect of the 2003's Sars pandemic, which amounted to approximately HK$325 million (Liu, 2020). The impact of the Typhoon Mankhut further aggravates the problems facing Hong Kong as a result of the protests. The Hong Kong Federation of Insurers stated that Typhoon Mankhut had the most significant contribution to the destruction of properties amounting to HK$ 3.1 billion during the active mass action period (Lo et al., 2020). The demonstrations and the Typhoon Mankhut had immense effects on the rebuilding and restructuring of the business ahead of the hit of coronavirus (Liu, 2020). Besides the MTR railway, other areas targeted by the demonstrators during the protests include the Bank of China, the ICBC, Best Mark 360 as well as business ventures connected to China and that levy support to the Beijing administration (Lee, 2020). Best Mark 360, a snack retailing venture, reported vandalism in approximately 59 shops that it operates in Hong Kong and mainland China (Ting, 2020). The demolition and destructions of properties resulting from the protests are overwhelmingly high. The list of the damages and resulting losses are endless. With the view of all these, a sober mind will clearly perceive the Hong Kong's protests as evil in the socio-economic development of both mainland China and Hong Kong.

Despite all the challenging environment that Hong Kong's protest imposed on economic and social life, there is a group that strongly support the demonstrations. Their main ground for the support of the mass action in Hong Kong is that the fight for the democratic rights of the people is inevitable. They see the demonstrations as an unnecessary evil that could not be avoided. The human rights activists, for example, have come out to support the protest claiming that the people have a right to fight any forms of social injustices that the controversial bill sort of introducing (Gershman, 2020). Additionally, the actions of the human rights concerning police brutality aggravated the situation leading to increased demonstrations long after the suspension of the bill. While the legislatures proposing the law might be wrong and could have had malicious intent in endorsing the bill, the protest way has never been the right course of action when dealing with such emotional matters. The leaders and politicians should have tried other better ways to deal with the situation that would not have resulted in the deaths of people, temporally and permanent injuries, as well as the destruction of properties (Gershman, 2020). It is worth noting that the protests happened close in terms of the timeframe with the outbreak of coronavirus. Protests, where large groups of people assemble, could have resulted in unprecedented deaths, which could have had far-reaching effects on the economic and political stability of Hong Kong (Heo, 2020). Therefore, better ways to deal with the issue of legal changes such as consensus, mutual agreements and involving the judicial or international organs are more effective than protests.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the Hong Kong protests had far-reaching effects than benefits. The demonstrations that aimed at a peaceful solution to the social injustices introduced through the proposed controversial bill led to the severe impacts on economic, social, and political life. The demonstration period that lasted for over three months, coupled with the trade bans between the US and China, led to the free-fall of Hong Kong's economy. Some of the worst-hit sectors include the stock market, hotel, and accommodation, tourism industry, transport and communication as well as the private sector. Additionally, several people got injured in the constant conflicts between the administration police and the protestants. Looting, vandalism, arson and robbery and theft were at the center of the protests. Private ventures reported a massive loss of properties and productive time following the demonstrations.

References

Gershman, C. (2020). The Instinct for Freedom. Journal of Democracy, 31(1), 103-113.

Heo, U. (2020). Asia in 2019: RCEP, the US-China Trade War, Protests in Hong Kong, and the North Korean NuclearaCrisis. Asian Survey, 60(1), 1-7.

Hui, V. T. B. (2020). Beijing's Hard and Soft Repression in Hong Kong. Orbis.

Lee, Y. (2020). Five charts show how protests in Hong Kong have affected the city's economy and the stock market.

Liu, K. (2020). Hong Kong: Inevitably irrelevant to China?. Economic Affairs, 40(1), 2-23.

Lo, H. S., Lee, Y. K., Po, B. H. K., Wong, L. C., Xu, X., Wong, C. F., ... & Cheung, S. G. (2020). Impacts of Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018 on the deposition of marine debris and microplastics on beaches in Hong Kong. Science of The Total Environment, 716, 137172.

Shek, D. T. (2020). Protests in Hong Kong (2019-2020): a Perspective Based on Quality of Life and Well-Being. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 1-17.

Ting, T. Y. (2020). From 'be water' to 'be a fire': nascent smart mob and networked protests in Hon...