Hong Kong independence

Hong Kong independence
Traditional Chinese香港獨立
Simplified Chinese香港独立
JyutpingHoeng1gong2 duk6laap6
Abbreviation
Traditional Chinese港獨
Simplified Chinese港独
JyutpingGong2 duk6
A flag reading "Hong Kong independence" in Chinese and English at a protest in 2020.
The colonial flag of Hong Kong (1959–1997) is often flown by supporters of Hong Kong independence.[1]

Hong Kong independence is the notion of Hong Kong as a sovereign state, independent from the People's Republic of China (PRC). Hong Kong is a special administrative region (SAR) of China and is thus granted a high degree of de jure autonomy, as stipulated by Article 2 of the Hong Kong Basic Law ratified under the Sino-British Joint Declaration.[2] Since the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the PRC in 1997, a growing number of Hongkongers have become concerned about what they see as Beijing's encroachment on the territory's freedoms and the failure of the Hong Kong government to deliver "genuine democracy".[3] Advocating for Hong Kong independence became illegal after the Hong Kong national security law in 2020.[4]

The current independence movement gained significant support after the 2014–15 Hong Kong electoral reform which deeply divided the territory, as it would have allowed Hongkongers to have universal suffrage conditional upon Beijing having the authority to screen prospective candidates for the Chief Executive of Hong Kong (CE), the head of the government of the territory. It sparked the 79-day massive occupation protests dubbed as the "Umbrella Revolution". After the protests, many new political groups advocating independence or self-determination were established, as they deemed the "One Country, Two Systems" principle to have failed.[3]

According to a number of opinion polls conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (HKPORI), and Reuters, a majority of Hongkongers do not support Hong Kong independence. However, support for independence is higher amongst young Hongkongers. In a CUHK survey of 1,010 Cantonese speaking Hong Kong residents in July 2016, nearly 40 per cent of respondents aged 15 to 24 supported the territory becoming an independent country, whereas 17.4 per cent of the respondents overall supported independence, despite only 3.6 per cent stating that they thought it was "possible". A majority of respondents, 69.6 per cent, supported maintaining "One Country, Two Systems", while slightly over 13 per cent of respondents supported direct governance by China.[5]

  1. ^ Sheridan, Michael (2 July 2019). "Why have Hong Kong demonstrators adopted an old British colonial flag?". The Spectator. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  2. ^ "Basic Law Full Text – chapter (1)". www.basiclaw.gov.hk. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  3. ^ a b Fitzpatrick, Liam (5 August 2016). "Hong Kong Makes History with First Pro-Independence Rally". TIME.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbc-52765838 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Lin, Gene (25 July 2016). "CUHK survey finds nearly 40% of young Hongkongers want independence after 2047". Hong Kong Free Press.

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