And from the perspective of Hong Kong people, they felt like the Communist Party was trying to strip them of their identity, which is so different than Mainland Chinese. Last year, they tried to put in an extradition law where people were very afraid that people from Hong Kong would be taken over and tried in Chinese courts. There were a lot of problems in China, and he moved to take control and bring Hong Kong to heel. And I think people were relatively optimistic.īut what happened really is, you go back to - I think 2012 is a real turning point when Xi Jinping got - came into charge in China. But in the first six years, actually, nothing changed. People were very concerned when the Chinese military came in across the border that there would be a lot of changes.
LANGFITT: What's interesting - you know, back then, we actually wrote with a pretty, you know, pretty ominous tone. KELLY: I mean, as someone who was there from the beginning in '97, did you see this? Do other people who covered the handover see it coming? Now what the National People's Congress up in Beijing is effectively saying is if Hong Kong can't pass it, we will.
WHEN DID CHINA SUBSUME HONG KONG FREE
There were a lot of protests about this in opposition because they were afraid that the Beijing government, an authoritarian government, would try to use it to really crush free speech in Hong Kong. What's happened, though, is that Hong Kong was supposed to enact a national security law. There's also the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini constitution, which guaranteed a high degree of autonomy, protecting free speech and assembly, things along those lines. This was an international treaty between the U.K. LANGFITT: Yeah, this was not a handshake deal. KELLY: So to China's promise that Hong Kong could enjoy its way of life, what guarantees were supposed to be in place to ensure that they would keep their word for 50 years? And he tried to strike an optimistic note.ĬHRIS PATTEN: Now Hong Kong people are to run Hong Kong. And back then, Chris Patten, he was the last governor - British governor of Hong Kong. And it was interesting because China had promised Hong Kong, just as you were saying, that Hong Kong could enjoy the same way of life and freedoms for 50 years.
And rain clouds came over the mountains and just dumped tons and tons of rain, so much that you couldn't actually hear people speaking. I remember being in - just along the edge of the harbor when they were lowering the British flag. LANGFITT: Yeah, it was a remarkable night. What did it look like? What did it feel like?
KELLY: Take me back to that day more than two decades ago. He is now our London correspondent, but Frank was there to cover the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, and he's reported on the city for many years since. Well, to understand how China and Hong Kong arrived at this moment and what it means, we turn to NPR's Frank Langfitt. Many fear it will mark the beginning of the end for the free speech and political freedoms the territory was guaranteed when the United Kingdom turned Hong Kong over to China. Let's turn our attention to China now and the Chinese Parliament's plans to enact national security legislation for Hong Kong.
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