The Dynamics of Beijing-Hong Kong Relations

The Dynamics of Beijing-Hong Kong Relations
Author: Sonny Shiu-hing Lo
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2008-04-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9789622099081

This book critically assesses the implementation of the "one country, two systems" in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) from the political, judicial, legal, economic and societal dimensions. The author contends that there has been a gradual process of mainlandization of the HKSAR, meaning that Hong Kong is increasingly economically dependent on the People's Republic of China (PRC), politically deferent to the central government on the scope and pace of democratic reforms, socially more patriotic toward the motherland and more prone to media self-censorship, and judicially more vulnerable to the interpretation of the Basic Law by the National People's Congress. This book aims to achieve a breakthrough in relating the development of Hong Kong politics to the future of mainland China and Taiwan. By broadening the focus of the "one country, two systems" from governance to the process of Sino-British negotiations and their thrust-building efforts, this book argues that the diplomats from mainland China and Taiwan can learn from the ways in which Hong Kong's political future was settled in 1982–1984. This is a book for students, researchers, scholars, diplomats and lay people.

The Politics of China–Hong Kong Relations

The Politics of China–Hong Kong Relations
Author: Peter W Preston
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2016-04-29
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1784711292

In 1997 the British state relinquished control of Hong Kong. From that point an established prosperous community was faced with reordering its sense of itself and its links with the wider world around the authority of Beijing. This book traces the political relationship between Hong Kong and China, and sketches a number of possible future scenarios ranging from successful mutual understanding, through to breakdown and the imposition of rule from Beijing. Having lived and worked in East Asia, Peter Preston brings a sympathetic outsider’s eye to the problems of Hong Kong and Beijing relations. He pursues four main issues: the manner of embedding a new political settlement, the business of governing the territory, the issue of democracy, and the likely future of the extant form of life. Students and scholars specialising in comparative politics, and international relations of East Asia will find this book to be of interest. It will also be of use to those addressing political conflict in that part of the world.

Dynamics Vs. Tradition in Chinese Foreign Policy Motivation

Dynamics Vs. Tradition in Chinese Foreign Policy Motivation
Author: Yin Qian
Publisher: Nova Biomedical Books
Total Pages: 294
Release: 1999
Genre: History
ISBN:

This book presents original evidence of a previously undisclosed dark side to China's Hong Kong policy after 1982. It documents a covert program of immigration from the mainland to Hong Kong which was designed to put in place a classic fifth column of Communist loyalists to be used if all other institution-based arrangements for the power transfer of the British colony to Chinese rule failed. This finding is revealing and important in its own right as a contribution to study of the Hong Kong transition. But the book focuses more on the broader significance of the motivation of such a fifth column policy for both the study of Chinese foreign policy and international relations theory. Studies of international affairs regularly impute motives to states or their leaders. Yet, when it comes to analysis of the imputed motives, most scholars see that as nearly impossible given the difficulty of penetrating the minds of the individual leaders concerned. However, a small number of scholars have taken up the challenge. They believe that foreign policy motivation can be studied despite its apparent complexity and elusiveness. They see the study of motivation of a given foreign policy as the only way of grasping its essence and, therefore, of ascertaining clues about its future development. This book argues that motivation study advances our understanding of Chinese foreign policy. Drawing on an investigation of existing theoretical studies of motivation, it identifies and synthesises three approaches to the study of motivation that seem particularly relevant to the Chinese case: perception; personality; and structural/situational constraining factors. It also analyses the historical, political culture, ideological and structural sources of Chinese policymaking to illustrate how these three elements can elucidate Chinese foreign policy motivation. Its conclusion is then tested against the case of China's fifth column policy in Hong Kong. The findings from the Hong Kong case study reflect two parallel but contradictory lines of motivation in the reform era of Deng Xiaoping: a dynamic adjusting and learning process on the one hand, and a strenuous effort to retain its traditional practice on the other. The book concludes that, despite increasing pressures for adaptation from constant and tremendous changes in global and national settings, Chinese foreign policy motivation could not in the final analysis overcome the constraints imposed by its underlying doctrines and practices, which had been so firmly embedded in the minds of the Communist leaders that it became a traditional mode of responding to the unknown and uncertain culture of Chinese foreign policy.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong
Author: Michael Yahuda
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2018-10-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317761626

The return of Hong Kong to China in July 1997 has the potential to benefit China's rapidly expanding economy. China's handling of the transition will have enormous implications for her international standing. This is the first study to analyse the serious problems and real opportunities that the return of the colony poses to China's international status. Examining the relationships between Greater China, Hong Kong and the West, Hong Kong: China's Challenge explores the challenges that Chinese policy makers face up to 1997 and beyond: the clash of political cultures; handling problematic negotiations; dealing with conflicting economic interests. The book concludes by suggesting that a laissez faire approach to the lucrative Hong Kong markets will ensure that China harnesses the full political and economic benefits of sovereignty over the colony.

Hong Kong and the Cold War

Hong Kong and the Cold War
Author: Chi-kwan Mark
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2004-08-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191515205

After 1949, the British Empire in Hong Kong was more vulnerable than the lack of Chinese demand for return and the success of Hong Kong's economic transformations might have suggested. Its vulnerability stemmed as much from Britain's imperial decline and America's Cold War requirements as from a Chinese threat. It culminated in the little known '1957 Question', a year when the British position in Hong Kong appeared more uncertain than any time since 1949. This is the first scholarly study that places Hong Kong at the heart of the Anglo-American relationship in the wider context of the Cold War in Asia. Unlike existing works, which tend to treat British and US policies in isolation, this book explores their dynamic interactions - how the two allies perceived, responded to, and attempted to influence each other's policies and actions. It also provides a major reinterpretation of Hong Kong's involvement in the containment of China. Dr Mark argues that, concerned about possible Chinese retaliation, the British insisted and the Americans accepted that Hong Kong's role should be as discreet and non-confrontational in nature as possible. Above all, top decision-makers in Washington evaluated Hong Kong's significance not in its own right, but in the context of the Anglo-American relationship: Hong Kong was seen primarily as a bargaining chip to obtain British support for US policy elsewhere in Asia. By using a variety of British and US archival material as well as Chinese sources, Dr Mark examines how the British and US government discussed, debated, and disagreed over Hong Kong's role in the Cold War, and reveals the dynamics of the Anglo-American alliance and the dilemmas of small allies in a global conflict.

Dynamics and Dilemma

Dynamics and Dilemma
Author: Bin Yu
Publisher: Nova Publishers
Total Pages: 286
Release: 1996
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781560723035

The authors treat the interactive process between the mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong as a convenient organising framework to describe the economic, social, and communicative intercourse between the "core" Chinese entities -- mainly the mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong -- as well as the Chinese communities in other countries. The interactions between various Chinese entities are defined here as an informal, spontaneous, and interactive process incorporating a deeper cultural cohesion and a complex relationship across formal political boundaries, and sometimes well beyond official anticipation and regulation.

Hong Kong's Reunion with China: The Global Dimensions

Hong Kong's Reunion with China: The Global Dimensions
Author: Gerard A. Postiglione
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2016-07-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1315503042

The issues surrounding Hong Kong's global position and international links grow increasingly complex by the day as the process of Hong Kong's transformation from a British colony to a Chinese Special Administration Region unfolds. This volume addresses a number of questions relating to this process. How international is Hong Kong? What are its global and international dimensions? How important are these dimensions to its continued success? How will these dimensions change, especially beyond the sphere of economics? Is Hong Kong's internationalization, defined in terms of its willingness to embrace international values and its capacity to maintain its international presence, at risk? These questions are presented as they pertain to the changing situation; relations between mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong; the positions of Australia, Canada and the United States on Hong Kong; internalization of international legal values; Americanization vs. Asianization; linkages to the world through Guangdong; strategies to emigrate overseas, cultural internationalization; media internationalization and universities within the global economy.

The New Politics of Beijing–Hong Kong Relations

The New Politics of Beijing–Hong Kong Relations
Author: Sonny Shiu-Hing Lo
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2024-05-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 988880572X

In The New Politics of Beijing–Hong Kong Relations, Sonny Shiu-Hing Lo looks at the diverging changes to the ideologies from both Beijing and Hong Kong, and the ideological conflicts as taken in the form of factional political struggles between 2012 and the present. This book examines the paternalistic authoritarianism that can be seen in Beijing’s policy toward Hong Kong since the promulgation of the national security law in late June 2020. Lo analyzes the ideological shift from liberal nationalism to conservative nationalism in mainland China, which has taken place since late 2012. The increasingly radical localism in Hong Kong after 2014 transformed Beijing–Hong Kong relations into a conflict-ridden situation characterized by factional struggles. While the imposition of the national security law into Hong Kong since late June 2020 has stabilized the city politically, Beijing’s policy toward Hong Kong is now guided by the principles of protecting its national security and maintaining economic pragmatism, with implications for Beijing’s relations with Taipei in the coming years. “Professor Lo’s detailed and granular account of the clash between rising conservative nationalism in China and growing localist sentiment in Hong Kong offers an indispensable guide to the events and forces that culminate in the imposition of the national security law in 2020. This is an important contribution by a leading scholar and deserves a wide readership.” —Victor Falkenheim, University of Toronto “Detailed, intricate, and informed, an original and forceful analysis of the ideologies and factional politics that have shaped the recent interactions of Beijing and Hong Kong in the lead up to the 2020 national security law and beyond.” —Paul Evans, University of British Columbia “Professor Lo strikes an excellently researched, balanced but critical perspective, sharing blame for the transformation of ‘one country, two systems,’ on a naïve, radical, localist populism in the HKSAR, whose actions fed the fears of the Chinese government about threats to China’s sovereignty over Hong Kong. The resulting national security law replaced Hong Kong’s pluralist system with a paternalistic one.” —David Zweig, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

The Political Future of Hong Kong

The Political Future of Hong Kong
Author: Kit Poon
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2007-12-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134078293

On July 1st, 2007, Hong Kong celebrated the 10th anniversary of its return to the People’s Republic of China, but the past decade has been a bumpy ride for both the Hong Kong people and the central leaders in China. In fact, in 2003 Beijing had already succumbed to public pressure within the fairly short period of its rule by abruptly replacing its handpicked first Chief Executive with a British-groomed civil servant. This book examines the origin and evolution of Hong Kong’s political system, analyses the current contradictions in the system, and discusses how the system might develop in future. It focuses in particular on the office of Chief Executive in the context of Hong Kong’s transformation from a British colony to a Special Administrative Region in China. The dualistic structure of the Chief Executive’s office embodies a dilemma between two competing imperatives – Communist China’s imperative to retain a colonial political system where executive power is concentrated at the top; alongside the need to accommodate new, increasing demands for democratic representation within the territory. The Political Future of Hong Kong demonstrates how the British legacy left its imprint on Hong Kong’s political system. It analyses the strategies adopted by the Sovereign state as it attempted to cope with demands for representative government in the post-handover years, and the strains placed on Hong Kong’s political institutions by the uneasy relationship between central government and local forces of liberal autonomy. Kit Poon examines the possibility of the introduction of universal suffrage for the selection of the Chief Executive, and considers how Hong Kong can secure a democratic future in the context of broader Beijing-Hong Kong relations.

Hong Kong Under Chinese Rule

Hong Kong Under Chinese Rule
Author: Yongnian Zheng
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2013
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9814447676

This edited volume is a compilation of the analyses written by East Asian Institute experts on Hong Kong since the handover. It covers most, if not all the important events that have taken place in Hong Kong since 1997, including its economic integration and relations with China, its governance conundrums, the Hong Kong identity and nation-building, the implementation of the minimum wage, and the elections from 2011OCo2012. The book''s panoramic view of Hong Kong makes it a useful resource for readers who seek a broad understanding of the city and how it has evolved after its return to China. It also offers some glimpses into the direction Hong Kong is heading in its socio-economic relations with China at both the state and society levels, as well as its domestic political developments and the prospects for democratization.