The unprecedented wave of anti-government protests in Hong Kong has sparked a rapidly escalating diplomatic feud between China and the city’s former colonial ruler Britain.
Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 under a handover agreement that guaranteed the territory certain levels of autonomy and freedoms unseen on the mainland — and that “one country, two systems” deal is at the centre of the row between London and Beijing.Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in perpetuity by China in the mid-1800s. But following lengthy negotiations more than a century later, London and Beijing agreed a deal to that would see it handed back to China.
Pre-1997 laws would “remain basically unchanged”, and locals would make up the city’s leadership structure. It would also have an independent trade, finance and customs status, and there would be “free flow of capital” — unlike the mainland.The declaration stated explicitly that the “social and economic systems in Hong Kong will remain unchanged” and rights would be guaranteed.
This meant Hong Kong, while a part of China, would have a degree of freedom unseen by citizens of the mainland.Hong Kong continues to enjoy its special status more than two decades after its return to China, but criticism of Beijing’s policies in the city has grown.
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