China's relations toward Hong Kong By: Maria Krakovski, Elizabeth Krakovski, and Sydney Lee

China’s Historic relations and policies toward Hong Kong 1842 → China cedes Hong Kong island to Britain after the First Opium War. 1960s - 1970s → Hong Kong was a peaceful haven from the Cultural Revolution. 1960s - 1970s → Hong Kong was China’s window to the world economically 1984 → Britain and China sign Joint Declaration on the conditions under which Hong Kong will revert to Chinese rule in 1997 as a Special Administrative Region under "one country, two systems" July 1997 → Chinese control under Tung Chee-hwa. Executives appointed by China. LegCo appointed by China. May 1998 → First LegCo election (⅓ directly elected)

Historic relations & policies Continued June 2002 → Trial of 16 members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Falun Gong remains legal. April 2004 → China rules that it must give approval to any changes in Hong Kong’s election laws and gives Beijing veto power over democracy. December 2004 → Chinese president Hu Jintao publicly tells Tung Chee-hwa to improve his administration.

Current Policies and relations in Hong Kong Oct. 2015: LNG (liquified natural gas) China’s Ship and Port Pollution Prevention Special Action Plan is pushing Hong Kong to use LNG as marine fuel. Oct. 2015: Population Policy In three years' time, Hong Kong's working population will peak and start to fall. Oct. 2015: Stock Market Boost While the Chinese Stock Market is closed for the holidays, Hong Kong’s stock market is improving.

Current Policies and relations continued Oct. 2015: Strengthening currency While the value of the yuan decreasing, China had a large trade surplus that is predicted to influence Hong Kong’s increase of offshore yuan trading that would put more value on the yuan. June 2015: Rejected Election Plan Beijing made a bill that would allow Hong Kong’s people to elect leaders but the proposal was rejected. Oct. 2015: Academic Freedom Beijing is now implementing policies on academic freedom in Hong Kong. As a result, many protests have formed.

the Umbrella Movement A loose pro-democracy political movement created in the fall of 2014 The umbrella was used as a symbol of defiance and resistance against the Hong Kong government United objection to the decision of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC) of 31 August. Students led a strike against the NPCSC's decision beginning on 22 September 2014 demonstrations outside Hong Kong government headquarters protesters occupied intersections attacks on protesters (by the police using tear gas) caused more protesters to join the Umbrella Movement Protest hype from late September - December

Impact of the Umbrella Movement The media believes that the West played an instigating role in protests Electoral reform process underway Hong Kong Government delayed a second round of public consultations These consultations are meant to allow the public to provide input into how the nominating committee Movement was damaging to Hong Kong’s economy Hong Kong Tramway Company hurt the most traffic jams Caused strong differences in opinions among society different opinions on where the movement should go

Fun!