Hong Kong Proposal Essay Example for Free

Hong Kong Proposal Essay INTRODUCTION and BRIEF BACKGROUND Hong Kong was a Crown Colony of the United Kingdom from 1842 to 1997, when it was returned to the People’s Republic of China.  Ã‚   This handover of Hong Kong back to China is supported by two governing laws: the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Hong Kong. Both laws uphold the policy of â€Å"one country, two systems,† which requires that Hong Kong will operate on its own until 2047, which is fifty years after its reversion back to China.    This means that the Central People’s Government will be responsible for the strategic defense and foreign affairs of Hong Kong while Hong Kong will retain control over its legal system, police force, monetary system, and policies on customs, immigration and delegates to various international organizations and events. The return of Hong Kong to China was received with different reactions both from its own citizens and from the international scene.   As to any situation, there are always two sides to a coin: the advantages and disadvantages of the Hong Kong handover.   This paper will present the positive and negative effects of the handover on the political, social, cultural and economic spheres of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2002.   The conclusion will deal with POLITICAL SCENE There were growing concerns with regard to the integration of a democratic system of government into the political culture of Hong Kong.   The international sphere remained skeptic about the effectiveness of democracy in Hong Kong and the number of local supporters have then declined as well. These concerns are mainly caused by the failure to solve domestic problems through democratic means and the inability of various democratic factions to come up with enticing operations to attract more supporters.   It is submitted that if the foundations of democracy cannot be held strongly by its political advocates, then democracy in Hong Kong may be even more difficult as expected, if not impossible at all. Tied with the difficulty of evolving into a democratic system is the challenge to have an independent judicial system.   There has been a loss of faith in the judicial system of Hong Kong with the rampant overruling of the decisions of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong by the courts of Mainland China.   Such loss of faith leads to the loss of credibility of the Hong Kong judicial system, which worries the locals and some international organizations. HUMAN RIGHTS The term â€Å"human rights† is not limited to rights against self-incrimination, warrantless arrests, searches and seizures.   The term â€Å"human rights† includes freedom of speech and of the press.   Although human rights is highly regarded by Hong Kong, its local policies and practices cause   its own decline. The government of Hong Kong is so high strung on preventing factors that may cause social instability that it already contributes to the unprotection of human rights within its territory.   There had been reports of arrests of overstaying citizens of Mainland China, and the arrests of people who are campaigning for various social, economic and political issues by using the Public Order Ordinance to clothe such arrests with a faint tint of legality. There has also been the censorship of the media, whether by the government or by themselves, often called â€Å"self-censorship.†Ã‚   Media practitioners are so wary about overstepping the boundaries of local news that they, themselves, censor their own news on political affairs so as not to offend or stir any commotion with the leaders of the Mainland. ECONOMIC The handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997 was actually twinned with the great Asian Financial Crisis.   And the handover did not improve the economic situation of Hong Kong during the said crisis.   Despite the recovery of EU-US relations, improvement of the Mainland economy, and high-valued activities, there is still an increasing unemployment rate.   And this unemployment rate has been present even prior to the handover of Hong Kong to China.   It seems that there is little change in the economic life of Hong Kong. SOCIAL It cannot be discounted that for over a century, Hong Kong was influenced more by the British than by their Mainland people.   This is due to the obvious fact that Hong Kong was run by the British and not by the Chinese.   But since the handover, official visits of Mainland officials to Hong Kong paved way for a greater integration for both societies. Even the adoption of Mainland of development plans, which, in great part, includes Hong Kong has caused an opening of good relationships between the two.   Moreover, the loosening of travel restrictions allowed Mainland citizens to explore Hong Kong, and vice versa, so as to realize that there is no more British barrier and that they are all just from one culture.   It must be noted that apart from Mainland China, Hong Kong is building ties with Taiwan as well. CONCLUSION It’s been almost ten years since the reversion of Hong Kong back to China and with the fifty-year program of â€Å"one country, two systems,† it is quite early to tell whether or not the reversion is purely advantageous or disadvantageous to Hong Kong, and to China as well.