Hong Kong Leader Carrie Lam to Withdraw Extradition Bill
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-49575381
Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, announced on Wednesday that she will withdraw the highly controversial extradition bill which has triggered months of protests in Hong Kong. Last June, Lam said that she would “indefinitely suspend” the bill, but she stopped short of scrapping it, angering protesters, who wanted full withdrawal as one of their five key demands. In Wednesday’s televised address, Lam also said that she would do community outreach to talk to people to better understand their problems, and initiate a study on the causes of Hong Kong’s social injustices. But even as Lam said she hoped these moves would jump-start a dialogue, she remained critical of the protests, which she said had turned Hong Kong into an “unfamiliar place.”
Pro-democracy advocates have dismissed Lam's compromises as "fake,” suspecting she is simply trying to buy time. They have also pointed out that the two people running the police complaints council that Lam set up were both connected to her election campaign. As for her plans to go to the streets and speak with citizens, many believe it to be nothing more than a publicity stunt.
After months of protests, more than 1000 protesters arrested, many more beaten by thugs, and extensive police brutality, the people of Hong Kong have finally achieved a small victory against the Chinese government. The announcement of this concession does point towards the Chinese government being at least somewhat willing to meet the demands of protesters, which is a good sign for the future of this situation. However, the protesters still have 4 more demands, several of which are far more ambitious than striking down the extradition bill, but given that they have held out this long, its seems like they will not stop until all of their demands are met. While the Chinese government may be willing to forfeit some control over Hong Kong, they will definitely not meet Hong Kong’s demand for free elections. With both sides refusing to back down, there’s no end in sight for this political struggle.
Questions
1. Do you believe that Ms. Lam is sincere in trying to help the cause of the Hong Kong protesters?
2. Given the recent escalation of violence, should this still be treated as a domestic issue or should other countries intervene?
I believe Carrie Lam is indeed trying to help the protesters. The people protesting in the streets are all her citizens and it is her duty to protect them. However, I do not believe Lam is working to help the protester's goals. Lam just wants the protesters out of harm's way. It truly is unfortunate because the protesters are fighting very methodically and organized for a good cause. Lam, on the other hand, is too rational and will not fight what she thinks is inevitable. The protests will continue, and China will continue to assert themselves over Hong Kong. The most unfortunate fact is that despite a lot of international attention and recognition by the international community, foreign countries are not acting and this issue will most likely be treated as a domestic one.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there is undoubtedly a recent escalation of violence, the intervention of other countries would worsen the situation in my opinion. With intervention comes the responsibility of choosing a side to support, and that could potentially lead to more trouble by dragging more countries into this issue. Since this is a conflict between the Chinese government and the people of Hong Kong, they should be the ones to resolve it. Personally, I believe that Ms. Lam is not the most sincere in trying to alleviate the problem but rather acting out of necessity; the protests have been going on for so long that she is forced to take action to try to prevent any more escalation of tensions. If she was truly sincere in her actions, she would not have waited so long.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Carrie Lam is not out to help the protesters, but to protect her own political position. If she cannot calm down the Hong Kong people, her own political position will be put into jeopardy, which she will not want. Lam was already elected from arguably skewed elections, and her track record of dealing with issues of Hong Kong's self governance do not put her in a favorable light for me in dealing with this issue. With the escalation of violence and police brutality, I feel like the UN needs to step up to an extent, maybe not armed intervention but possibly forcing China to dial back on the violence on civilians and protesters to just protecting the public and making sure the protests do not get out of hand. While China may be saying they are protecting their land and rights as the overarching government, Hong Kong was guaranteed 50 years of self governance after return from governance by the United Kingdoms, and China's recent actions have shown a trend of not living up to that promise. Although my stance may be biased, since I identify myself with the people from Hong Kong, I believe what they are doing is right and they are protesting for rights that should be given to them. China has not been able to touch their governance since the 1800s and Hong Kong has been running decently without the reach of the Chinese government. Many people do not see Hong Kong as a province of China, but more as a territory that is owned by China with its own government.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Michael in that Ms. Lam is most likely acting with an ulterior motive, which would make sense why she chose to comply to one of the easier of the five key demands. I too think it is absurd that China is trying to take control of Hong Kong, when clearly the population doesn't wish for the same thing. It would probably be impractical to go against a superpower like China to protect a population of merely 7 million people, but I can't help but wish for some intervention for the country where my extended family resides. I do like the fact that Hong Kong is getting considerable attention and has over a quarter of the population participating in its protests to stand up against China, and hopefully that help draw aid in their direction.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with Justin and Michael in that Lam's chief goal is to consolidate and maintain her position of power. However, I do think that it would be far too cynical to say that Lam does not care for Hong Kong at all, as she likely would simply have her own differing view of hong kong. generally, being that China and Hong Kong are a single country, This would be a domestic issue if it weren't for the fact that Britain made a deal with china to leave hong kong unchanged for 50 years, this outreach by china would be a violation of this treaty and Britain should definitely respond to this issue.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Ms. Lam is sincere in trying to help the cause of the Hong Kong protesters because if she was/is truly attempting to help them, she would put more effort into the issue. Considering her history on not following through with tasks (ex: withdrawing the extradition bill), the people have a right to be angered by her and her actions. Although she portrays what seems to be a "helpful" attitude, this could be a facade for her true opinions on issues and how she wishes to handle them. Additionally, as far as the recent escalation of violence, I don't think other countries should get involved as it could make matters worse. This issue does not come close to consening other countrie and their well being which displays why they should have no say. The extradition bill is affecting the people of Hong Kong, not people of other countries. The people of Hong Kong/China know best what they need... other countries simply see what is occuring from a public lens - not experiening it themselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Justin, Charlotte, Michael, and Jung Haye: This move isn't being done out of sincerity. She believes that this token gesture will quell the protests and prevent anything from getting out of hand, at least more so than it already has; unfortunately for her, this plan isn't working. It's in her best interest to have a "stable" Hong Kong if she wants to maintain her position, and the reason why I put stable in quotes is because that most likely means a subjugated populace content with gradually tightening controls and re-absorption into China. Gestures like this are meant to be the opiate of the masses (to quote Marx): hollow and ultimately meaningless. Soma, if you prefer the literature connection. To answer the second question, I think it is somewhat in our best interest to pursue a stable Hong Kong, ideally not one embroiled in protests, just because we gain more economically from having a strong trading partner in that region. And if not us, many other nations surely do. We cannot guarantee that a Hong Kong subsidiary to Beijing will be as strong financially as a Hong Kong independent. For that reason alone, should we interfere? Do we have some sacred duty to uphold democracy elsewhere? Are the benefits of an isolationist policy in principle greater than potentially losing a trading partner in the region? These are all good questions that I'll let other people answer (I already have through my other responses on the blog to some degree, but I'd love to hear other perspectives).
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ReplyDeleteI do not believe Carrie Lam is sincere in trying to help the cause of the Hong Kong protestors, at this point it just seems like damage control and her trying to buy time. I’m glad that the protesters finally got the Extradition Bill to be withdrawn, but I don’t think they can make much more of a difference. I highly doubt that Xi Jinping and The Communist Party of China are going to allow free elections in Hong Kong. That being said, in my opinion it would not be a good idea for another country to intervene and support the protesters, considering that China is a global superpower. I also doubt that would happen. The international community will most likely continue to consider the protests as a domestic issue. My only hope is that China does not use the military to kill the protesters of Hong Kong (like they did to 10,000 protesters in Tienanmen Square in 1989) and then attempt to censor it from history.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Carrie Lam is not sincerely helping Hong Kong protesters. She could have done many things to prevent this from growing into such an uncontrollable event. At this point, she really could not do anything. I think all she wants to do right now is to save her political position and her reputation. I believe that this would still be considered a domestic issue given that Hong Kong wants to get independence from China, which doesn't really have much to do with the rest of the world. So long as this does not have much military involvement, it should be up to t=China and Hong Kong to agree upon something.
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