Hong Kong: Beijing Tightens Its Grip
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 6 May 2021
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hong Kong has long been at the centre of a tussle between mainland China and the outside world - certainly since the British took it as a colony in 1842.
That heralded more than a century of "shame" for the Chinese - but in 1997 the British handed Hong Kong back to China with internationally agreed conditions. The so-called "one country, two systems" principle was meant to last until 2047, but in recent years Beijing has tightened its control over Hong Kong.
Major pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019 were quashed and, in 2020, the authorities introduced a controversial and wide-ranging National Security Law to Hong Kong.
Over recent weeks pro-democracy campaigners have been locked up, troublesome journalists have been censured or fired from their jobs, teachers have been told they will have to explain the benefits of the National Security Law to their pupils. Some argue that this is the end of Hong Kong.
So why is Beijing and its supporters in the Hong Kong legislature taking this action now, and where might it end?
Joining David Aaronovitch on this week's programme:
Hugh Davies, a former diplomat who negotiated the return of Hong Kong
Mary Hui, journalist for Quartz
Yuen Chan, Senior Lecturer, City University of London
Charles Parton, Senior Associate Fellow at Royal United Services Institute
Producers: John Murphy, Sally Abrahams, Kirsteen Knight Sound Engineer: James Beard Editor: Jasper Corbett
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:06.4 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Aronovich. |
| 0:09.6 | We're in a room where you, me and the top experts come together to understand the great issues of the day, inside 28 minutes. |
| 0:17.8 | In this edition, the Chinese are cracking down in Hong Kong. Is the one country |
| 0:22.9 | two systems dream over? |
| 0:33.5 | Since the beginning of the year, most Hong Kong residents have been able to apply for a new visa, |
| 0:39.2 | allowing them to come to Britain and eventually to settle. |
| 0:42.6 | The move was made in the face of growing evidence that China was intent on major changes in the freedoms enjoyed by the city. |
| 0:51.0 | Since then, that grip has tightened, and last week a new immigration bill was passed, |
| 0:56.3 | which some fear will allow the authorities to bar people from entering or leaving the city. |
| 1:01.7 | Are we witnessing as many fear the end of Hong Kong as we've known it? |
| 1:06.2 | And is there anything anyone can do? |
| 1:08.7 | Step into the briefing room, and together we'll find out. |
| 1:15.6 | First, a little bit of necessary history from the briefing room's John Murphy. |
| 1:22.0 | Let's begin back in 1842 and the Treaty of Nanking, which ended the first opium war between China's Qing dynasty |
| 1:30.3 | and Imperial Britain. Hugh Davis is a former British diplomat who served as ambassador |
| 1:38.3 | negotiating the 1997 return of Hong Kong to China. He now advises businesses wanting to invest in China. |
| 1:47.0 | Part of the deal was that a treaty was signed between Britain and China, |
| 1:52.0 | under which the island of Hong Kong and a little bit of the peninsula |
| 1:57.0 | opposite became British territory in perpetuity. The difficulty later was |
| 2:03.2 | this was too small and therefore more land was acquired a bit later but the Chinese would not agree |
| 2:09.3 | to letting us have it in perpetuity. So in 1898 the rest of the land, the territories, were simply leased to Britain for 99 years. |
... |
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