96-492: The Progressive Lawyers Group (Chinese: 法政匯思 ), formed on 27 January 2015, is a pro-democracy civil group formed by local barristers, solicitors, law students and citizens holding law degrees. It aims to uphold and promote core values in Hong Kong including rule of law , judicial independence , democracy, human rights and freedom. The group was disbanded in July 2021. The group
192-449: A delegation of five Executive Councillors to London, including Chung Sze-yuen , Lydia Dunn , and Roger Lobo . Chung presented their position on the sovereignty of Hong Kong to Thatcher, encouraging her to take into consideration the interests of the native Hong Kong population in her upcoming visit to China. In light of the increasing openness of the PRC government and economic reforms on
288-613: A special administrative region (SAR) of China . The central government in Beijing maintains control over Hong Kong's foreign affairs as well as the legal interpretation of the Basic Law. The latter has led democracy advocates and some Hong Kong residents to argue, after the fact, that the territory has yet to achieve universal suffrage as promised by the Basic Law , leading to mass demonstrations in 2014 . In 2019, demonstrations that started as
384-596: A special administrative region of China (SAR) for 27 years, maintaining its own economic and governing systems from those of mainland China during this time, although influence from the central government in Beijing increased after the passing of the Hong Kong national security law in 2020. Hong Kong had been a colony of the British Empire since 1841, except for four years of Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945. After
480-405: A "Chinese territory under Portuguese administration", this was only temporary. In fact, during informal exchanges between 1979 and 1981, the PRC had proposed a "Macau solution" in Hong Kong, under which it would remain under British administration at China's discretion. However, this had previously been rejected following the 1967 Leftist riots , with the then Governor, David Trench , claiming
576-622: A continued British presence in the form of an administration post-handover. Two rounds of negotiations were held in October and November. On the sixth round of talks in November, Britain formally conceded its intentions of either maintaining a British administration in Hong Kong or seeking some form of co-administration with the PRC, and showed its sincerity in discussing PRC's proposal on the 1997 issue. Simon Keswick , chairman of Jardine Matheson & Co., said they were not pulling out of Hong Kong, but
672-591: A defeat in the by-election for four of the six vacancies on 11 March 2018, losing the Kowloon West geographical constituency and Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape functional constituency to the pro-Beijing candidates. Yiu Ching-yim who contested in Kowloon West was defeated by Vincent Cheng of the DAB with a thin margin, making it the first time a pro-democrat lost in a single-member district election since
768-648: A handover ceremony attended by Charles, Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) and broadcast around the world, is often considered to mark the definitive end of the British Empire . Following the end of the Second World War , both the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) proposed "(China) to recover Hong Kong" ( Chinese : 中國收回香港 , Yue Chinese : 中國收返香港 ), which had since been
864-606: A highly restrictive nominating committee and was seen as betrayal of the democratic value, some democrats have raised the question of the right to self-determination . However, the mainstream pro-democrats retained their support for a highly autonomous Hong Kong under the " One Country, Two Systems " framework, as promised by the Basic Law. The pro-democrats generally embrace liberal values such as rule of law, human rights, civil liberties, and social justice, though their economic positions vary. Some pro-democrats position themselves as more pro-labour while most pro-democrats believe in
960-402: A historical landslide victory in the 1991 election, took 17 out of the 18 geographical constituency seats. The pro-democrats were often considered strategic allies of Chris Patten , the last colonial governor who proposed a much progressive democratic reform in the last years before the handover of Hong Kong , despite Beijing's strong opposition. The Democrats supported Patten's proposal for
1056-535: A more meritocratic or egalitarian society. The pro-democracy camp generally supports the Chinese democracy movement , which can be traced back to their support for the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 . Many of the pro-democrats have been calling for the end of one party rule of the Chinese Communist Party and therefore are seen as a threat by the Beijing authorities. The camp's support for more liberal democracy
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#17328415402801152-615: A new holding company would be established in Bermuda instead. The PRC took this as yet another plot by the British. The Hong Kong government explained that it had been informed about the move only a few days before the announcement. The government would not and could not stop the company from making a business decision. Just as the atmosphere of the talks was becoming cordial, members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong felt impatient at
1248-399: A principle of " one country, two systems " for a period of 50 years. Hong Kong became China's first special administrative region; it was followed by Macau after its transfer from Portugal in 1999 under similar arrangements. With a 1997 population of about 6.5 million, Hong Kong constituted 97 percent of the total population of all British Dependent Territories at the time and was one of
1344-483: A protest against an extradition law also led to massive demonstrations (1.7 million on 11 and 18 August 2019), again demanding universal suffrage, but also the resignation of Carrie Lam (the then-Chief Executive). In December 2021, Beijing released a document titled "Hong Kong Democratic Progress Under the Framework of One Country, Two Systems", the second such white paper on Hong Kong affairs since 2014. It stated that
1440-526: Is also often used by Hong Kong and Chinese officials. Nevertheless, "Handover of Hong Kong" is still mainly used in the English-speaking world. "Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong" ( Chinese : 香港主權移交 ) is another description frequently used by Hong Kong officials and the media, as well as non-locals and academics, which is not recognized by the Chinese Government. Beijing claims neither
1536-556: Is seen as unacceptable by the Beijing government. In some cases, pan-democracy activists have been labeled traitors to China. The pro-democrats are also divided by their approach for achieving democracy: the moderate democrats, represented by the Democratic Party and the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL), believe in dialogue with Beijing and Hong Kong governments over struggle, while radical democrats such as
1632-818: The 1995 Legislative Council election . However, Emily Lau 's full-scale direct election amendment was not passed as a result of Meeting Point's abstaining from voting for Emily Lau, which caused harsh criticism from the radical democrats and the United Ants . In 1994, the United Democrats and the Meeting Point merged into the Democratic Party , which won another landslide victory in the 1995 election, taking 19 seats in total, far ahead of other parties. Together with other democratic parties and individuals including Emily Lau, Lee Cheuk-yan and Leung Yiu-chung who later formed The Frontier in 1996 and Christine Loh who formed
1728-488: The 2004 Legislative Council election , the term "pan-democracy camp" (abbreviated "pan-dems") became more commonly used as more allied parties and politicians of varying political ideologies emerged. In the 2016 Legislative Council election , the camp faced a challenge from the new localists who emerged after the Umbrella Revolution and ran under the banner of self-determination or Hong Kong independence . After
1824-535: The 2007 Chief Executive election , Civic Party's Alan Leong successfully gained enough nominations to challenge the incumbent Chief Executive Donald Tsang , but he was not elected as expected due to the control of the Election Committee by the pro-Beijing camp. After the 2008 Legislative Council election , The Frontier merged into the Democratic Party and the convenor Emily Lau was elected vice chair of
1920-542: The Citizens Party in 1997, the pro-democrats gained a thin majority in the legislature for the last two years before 1997. The Beijing government argued that the electoral reform introduced by Patten had violated the Joint Declaration and thus they no longer felt obliged to honour the promise of a "through train", a plan to keep the 1995 elected legislature into post-handover SAR era. A parallel Legislative Council,
2016-791: The Demosisto , Yiu Chung-yim and Lau Siu-lai were unseated from the Legislative Council over their manners at the oath-taking ceremony at the inaugural meeting as a result of the legal action from the Leung Chun-ying government and the interpretation of the Hong Kong Basic Law by the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), following the disqualification of two pro-independence legislators, Youngspiration 's Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching . The pro-democrats suffered
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#17328415402802112-576: The First Opium War , its territory was expanded in 1860 with the addition of Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island , and in 1898, when Britain obtained a 99-year lease for the New Territories . The date of the handover in 1997 marked the end of this lease. The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration had set the conditions under which Hong Kong was to be transferred, with China agreeing to maintain existing structures of government and economy under
2208-605: The Legislative Council and earlier universal suffrage for the Chief Executive and Legislative Council after 1997, as presented in the proposal of the Group of 190 . Their arch rival at the time was the Group of 89 , a group of conservative business and professional elites in the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee (HKBLDC) and Hong Kong Basic Law Consultative Committee (HKBLCC). They generally opposed
2304-1351: The National Anthem Bill and the 709 crackdown . The group currently engages in different local activities, which includes commenting on Hong Kong affairs in legal standpoint, conducting research for policies in Hong Kong in a legal standpoint, organise street stalls to educate and communicate with the public, and to give talks to local schools and universities. The group also raises money for social movements and projects and write articles in both Chinese and English through different media outlets in Hong Kong . Pro-democracy camp High Court District Court Magistrates' Court Special courts and tribunals: Chief Executive Elections Legislative elections District council elections Consular missions in Hong Kong Hong Kong–China relations Hong Kong–Taiwan relations Hong Kong (pro-democracy) Hong Kong (centrist) Hong Kong (pro-ROC) Hong Kong (localist) Macau Republic of China (Taiwan) (groups of pro-Chinese identity) Hong Kong (pro-democracy) Hong Kong (pro-ROC) Hong Kong (localist) Republic of China (Taiwan) (groups of pro-Chinese identity) Current Former The pro-democracy camp , also known as
2400-751: The One country, two systems principle agreed between the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China, the socialist system of the People's Republic of China would not be practised in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and Hong Kong's previous capitalist system and its way of life would remain unchanged for a period of 50 years. The Hong Kong Basic Law ensured, among other things, that Hong Kong will retain its legislative system , and people's rights and freedom for fifty years, as
2496-524: The Opium Wars . Consequently, the PRC recognised only the British administration in Hong Kong, but not British sovereignty. In the wake of Governor MacLehose's visit, Britain and the PRC established initial diplomatic contact for further discussions of the Hong Kong question, paving the way for Thatcher's first visit to the PRC in September 1982. Margaret Thatcher, in discussion with Deng Xiaoping, reiterated
2592-504: The Opium Wars : Despite the finite nature of the New Territories lease, this portion of the colony was developed just as rapidly as, and became highly integrated with, the rest of Hong Kong. As the end of the lease approached, and by the time of serious negotiations over the future status of Hong Kong in the 1980s, it was thought impractical to separate the ceded territories and return only the New Territories to China. In addition, with
2688-612: The Provisional Legislative Council , was formed in 1996 under the control of the Pro-Beijing camp, this became the Legislative Council upon the founding of the new SAR government in 1997, in which the pro-democrats except for the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood boycotted it, deeming it as unconstitutional. All of its members, except the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood , declined to join
2784-515: The Qing dynasty exercised sovereignty over Hong Kong after ceding it, nor the British therefore did, and hence the transfer of sovereignty to China from Britain is not logically possible. As no consensus was reached on the sovereignty transfer, the Chinese stated "to recover the Hong Kong area" ( Chinese : 收回香港地區 ) and "to resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong" ( Chinese : 對香港恢復行使主權 ) in
2880-453: The Republic of China on the mainland , would recover the entirety of the New Territories, Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. China considered treaties about Hong Kong as unequal and ultimately refused to accept any outcome that would indicate permanent loss of sovereignty over Hong Kong's area, whatever wording the former treaties had. During talks with Thatcher, China planned to seize Hong Kong if
2976-561: The Sino-British Joint Declaration , while the British declared "(to) restore Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China" ( Chinese : 將香港交還給中華人民共和國 ). By the 1820s and 1830s, the British had conquered parts of India and had intentions of growing cotton in these lands to offset the amount of cotton they were buying from America. When this endeavour failed, the British realised they could grow poppies at an incredible rate. These poppies could then be turned into opium, which
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3072-538: The United Nations General Assembly passed the resolution on removing Hong Kong and Macau from the official list of colonies. In March 1979 the Governor of Hong Kong , Murray MacLehose , paid his first official visit to the People's Republic of China (PRC), taking the initiative to raise the question of Hong Kong's sovereignty with CCP vice chairman Deng Xiaoping . Without clarifying and establishing
3168-459: The pan-democracy camp , is a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy, namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic Law under the " One Country, Two Systems " framework. The pro-democrats generally embrace liberal values such as rule of law, human rights, civil liberties and social justice, though their economic positions vary. They are often referred to as
3264-408: The "opposition camp" as they have consistently been the minority camp within the Legislative Council, and because of their non-cooperative and sometimes confrontational stance towards the Hong Kong and Chinese central governments . Opposite to the pro-democracy camp is the pro-Beijing camp , whose members are perceived as being supportive of the Beijing and SAR authorities. Since the 1997 handover ,
3360-405: The 18 District Councils and more than tripling their seats from 124 to 388 in the 2019 District Council election . In reaction to the political upheaval, the Beijing government further curbed the opposition and the disqualification of four sitting pro-democracy legislators triggered the resignations of 15 remaining pro-democrats from the legislature, leaving pro-democrats with no representation for
3456-462: The 5th session of the 5th National People's Congress , the constitution was amended to include a new Article 31 which stated that the country might establish Special Administrative Regions (SARs) when necessary. The additional Article would hold tremendous significance in settling the question of Hong Kong and later Macau , putting into social consciousness the concept of " One country, two systems ". A few months after Thatcher's visit to Beijing,
3552-423: The 70 seats, in which pan-democrats took 23 seats. After the election, the 27-member pro-democrats' caucus rebranded themselves into "pro-democracy camp" or "G27", as three backers of the "self-determination" of Hong Kong, namely Nathan Law , Lau Siu-lai and Eddie Chu joined the caucus. The "G27" soon became "G26" after Chu left the caucus shortly afterwards. In the 2016 Election Committee subsector election ,
3648-434: The British colonial administration and its perceived " kowtowing " to the Beijing government over the issues such as constitutional reform, direct elections, civic rights and Daya Bay Nuclear Plant . The pro-democrats maintained a relatively warm relationship with the Beijing government during the 1980s, as many of the pro-democrats supported the Chinese sovereignty in Hong Kong and the "high degree of autonomy" as ensured in
3744-482: The British government must modify or give up its position or the PRC will announce its resolution of the issue of Hong Kong sovereignty unilaterally. In 1983, Typhoon Ellen ravaged Hong Kong, causing great amounts of damage to both life and property. The Hong Kong dollar plummeted on Black Saturday , and the Financial Secretary John Bremridge publicly associated the economic uncertainty with
3840-562: The Chinese UN representative, Huang Hua , wrote to the United Nations Decolonization Committee to state the position of the Chinese government: The questions of Hong Kong and Macau belong to the category of questions resulting from the series of unequal treaties which the imperialists imposed on China. Hong Kong and Macau are part of Chinese territory occupied by the British and Portuguese authorities. The settlement of
3936-573: The Chinese highly desired, but their laws prohibited. So the British plan was to grow poppies in India, convert it into opium, smuggle the opium into China and trade it for tea, and sell the tea back in Britain. The illegal opium trade was highly successful, and the drug was very profitably smuggled into China in extremely large volumes. The United Kingdom obtained control over portions of Hong Kong's territory through three treaties concluded with Qing China after
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4032-621: The Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee in 1985 by Beijing. The pro-democrats also participated in electoral politics as direct elections were introduced in local levels in the 1980s, namely the District Boards , Urban Council and Regional Council . Among them, the Meeting Point formed in 1983, the Hong Kong Affairs Society in 1985 and Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood in 1986 became
4128-527: The League of Social Democrats and the People Power believe in street actions and mass movements. There have been severe conflicts and distrust between the two factions and a great split after the constitutional reform voting in 2010, where the Democratic Party negotiated with the Beijing representatives and supported the modified reform proposal and was thus seen as a betrayal by the radical democrats. Members of
4224-801: The Mainland China since. Since 1989, the Alliance organise annual candlelight vigil for the June 4 crackdown at the Victoria Park, Hong Kong , which draw thousands of people every year. Ahead of the first direct election to the Legislative Council in 1991 , around 600 democracy activists co-founded the first major pro-democracy party, the United Democrats of Hong Kong . The electoral alliance of United Democrats of Hong Kong and Meeting Point, together with other smaller political parties, groups and independents, won
4320-434: The PRC government had yet to open negotiations with the British government regarding the sovereignty of Hong Kong. Shortly before the initiation of sovereignty talks, Governor Youde declared his intention to represent the population of Hong Kong at the negotiations. This statement sparked a strong response from the PRC, prompting Deng Xiaoping to denounce talk of "the so-called 'three-legged stool", which implied that Hong Kong
4416-447: The PRC raised the curtain on the issue of Hong Kong's sovereignty: Britain was made aware of the PRC's intent to resume sovereignty over Hong Kong, and began to make arrangements accordingly to ensure the sustenance of her interests within the territory, as well as initiating the creation of a withdrawal plan in case of emergency. Three years later, Deng received the former British Prime Minister Edward Heath , who had been dispatched as
4512-512: The People Power managed to win three seats in the 2012 Legislative Council election and the radical democrats of the (People Power and the League of Social Democrats) topped 264,000 votes, compared to the Civic Party's 255,000 and Democratic Party's 247,000 respectively. Despite the pan-democrats securing three of the five newly created, District Council (second) constituency seats the ratio of
4608-592: The People's Republic of China Government stated that it had decided to resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong (including Hong Kong Island , Kowloon, and the New Territories) with effect from 1 July 1997 and the United Kingdom Government declared that it would restore Hong Kong to the PRC with effect from 1 July 1997. In the document, the People's Republic of China Government also declared its basic policies regarding Hong Kong. In accordance with
4704-639: The Sino-British Joint Declaration. They also saw the ideal of Hong Kong helping in China's Four Modernisations . The Beijing authorities also viewed the pro-democrats as the targets of the united front . Barrister Martin Lee and educator Szeto Wah , president of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union , who were also the two most visible pro-democracy leaders, were appointed members of
4800-499: The United Kingdom's last significant colonial territories. Its handover marked the end of British colonial prestige in the Asia-Pacific region where it had never recovered from the Second World War , which included events such as the sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse and the Fall of Singapore , as well as the subsequent Suez Crisis after the war. The transfer, which was marked by
4896-483: The camp include social workers and social activists emerged from the 1970s youth movements. Many of them grouped themselves as the "social action faction", competing against the pro-Communist Maoists in whom they disagreed with their ultra-nationalist and radical Maoist stances. Although claiming to be patriotic and launching the defend the Diaoyu Islands movement , the "social action faction" dedicated themselves into
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#17328415402804992-515: The central government will work with "all social groups, sectors and stakeholders towards the ultimate goal of election by universal suffrage of the chief executive" and the LegCo while also noting that the Chinese constitution and the Basic Law together "empower the HKSAR to exercise a high degree of autonomy and confirm the central authorities' right to supervise the exercise of this autonomy". The Basic Law
5088-425: The common descriptive statement in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan until the mid-1990s. " Reunification of Hong Kong " ( Chinese : 香港回歸 ) was used by a minority of pro-Beijing politicians, lawyers and newspapers during Sino-British negotiations in 1983 and 1984, and gradually became mainstream in Hong Kong by early 1997 at the latest. A similar phrase "return of Hong Kong to the motherland" ( Chinese : 香港回歸祖國 )
5184-484: The election, some localists joined the pro-democrats' caucus, which rebranded itself as the "pro-democracy camp". The disunity within the camp and the failure of the Umbrella Revolution cost the pro-democrats in the 2018 by-elections . The 2019 anti-extradition movement , however, saw a rebound in popularity for the camp, which contributed to its biggest victory in the history of Hong Kong, gaining control of 17 of
5280-519: The electors. In March 2013, all 27 democratic legislators formed the Alliance for True Democracy (ATD), replacing the Alliance for Universal Suffrage, to show solidarity of the camp to fight for genuine democracy. The ATD put forward a three-channel proposal for the 2017 Chief Executive election during the constitutional reform consultation in 2014. However, the decision of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on 31 August ruled out
5376-528: The extralegal Provisional Legislative Council installed by the government of the People's Republic of China , and were ousted from the territory's legislature for a year until the 1998 election. Starting from the 1998 election, since the plurality electoral system was changed to proportional representation , compounded with the restoration of corporate votes in the functional constituencies, and replacement of broad-based functional constituencies with traditional ones,
5472-401: The first British Prime Minister to set foot on the territory whilst in office. At a press conference, Thatcher re-emphasised the validity of the three treaties, asserting the need for countries to respect treaties on universal terms: "There are three treaties in existence; we stick by our treaties unless we decide on something else. At the moment, we stick by our treaties." At the same time, at
5568-554: The first political group to publicly support the Chinese sovereignty of Hong Kong. After the Sino-British Joint Declaration , the pro-democrats began to join hands to demand further democracy before and after 1997. In 1986, a number of political groups, activists, professionals and politicians joined hand under the banner of the Joint Committee on the Promotion of Democratic Government (JCPDG) demanding for 1988 direct elections for
5664-533: The first time since 1998. One of the main goals of the pro-democracy camp is to achieve universal suffrage of the Chief Executive (CE) and the Legislative Council (LegCo) as guaranteed in Article 45 and Article 68 of the Basic Law respectively. Since the National People's Congress Standing Committee 's (NPCSC) 31 August 2014 decision , which determined that the Chief Executive candidate would be selected by
5760-405: The government's constitutional reform bill while the pro-Beijing legislators launched a failed walk-out. The bill was defeated by 28 against 8 for, barely meeting the quorum of 35. Many new political groups emerged from the Umbrella Revolution often distanced themselves from the pan-democrats. Many of whom, being labelled as " localists ", criticised pan-democrats' failing in achieving democracy in
5856-453: The group formed the middle class and professional oriented Civic Party . On the other hand, the left-wing radical group League of Social Democrats was formed in the same year by Trotskyist legislator Leung Kwok-hung and radical radio host Wong Yuk-man . As a result of the diversification of the pro-democracy elements, the use of "pan-democrats" gained in popularity, as it is typically meant to be non-denominational and all-inclusive. In
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#17328415402805952-464: The handover. The vote share of the pro-democrats also dropped from the traditional 55 per cent to only 47 per cent. Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony , which began in 1841. Hong Kong was established as
6048-515: The instability of the political climate. In response, the PRC government condemned Britain through the press for "playing the economic card" in order to achieve their ends: to intimidate the PRC into conceding to British demands. At one point Deng made it clear that he had no intention of continuing any British administration in any part of Hong Kong. In regards to the treaties establishing British control over Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, Robert Cottrell of The Independent wrote "In practical terms,
6144-436: The last 30 years. Many of them called for more "militant" tactics over pan-democrats' "non-violent" principles and "China–Hong Kong separation" over the some mainstream pan-democrats' mild "Chinese nationalist sentiment". Some of them also criticised pan-democrats' demand of the vindication of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, as pursued by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (HKASPDMC). There
6240-406: The leftists' aim was to leave the UK without effective control, or "to Macau us". The conflict that arose at that point of the negotiations ended the possibility of further negotiation. During the reception of former British Prime Minister Edward Heath during his sixth visit to the PRC, Deng Xiaoping commented on the impossibility of exchanging sovereignty for administration, declaring an ultimatum:
6336-421: The legislation, the largest demonstration since the handover. The pro-democrats received victories in the subsequent 2003 District Councils and 2004 Legislative Council elections. The barrister-formed Article 23 Concern Group formed by the pro-democracy lawyers, which transformed into Article 45 Concern Group , saw its member Audrey Eu , Alan Leong and Ronny Tong were elected in the 2004 election. In 2006,
6432-411: The local social issues in Hong Kong. They fought for the social inequality and livelihood issues, including the anti-corruption movement and Chinese Language movement and so forth. In the early 1980s when the question of Hong Kong sovereignty emerged, many of them supported a democratic autonomous Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty, notably the Meeting Point which was founded in January 1983 which became
6528-401: The long-running secrecy over the progress of Sino-British talks on the Hong Kong issue. A motion, tabled by legislator Roger Lobo , declared "This Council deems it essential that any proposals for the future of Hong Kong should be debated in this Council before agreement is reached", was passed unanimously. The PRC attacked the motion furiously, referring to it as "somebody's attempt to play
6624-450: The mainland, the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sought the PRC's agreement to a continued British presence in the territory. However, the PRC took a contrary position: not only did the PRC wish for the New Territories, on lease until 1997, to be placed under the PRC's jurisdiction, it also refused to recognise the onerous unequal treaties under which Hong Kong Island and Kowloon had been ceded to Britain in perpetuity after
6720-441: The mid 1980s. The pro-democrats joined hands in pushing for greater democracy both in the transition period and after handover of Hong Kong in 1997. Many also supported greater democracy in China and the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests . The relationship between the pro-democrats and the Beijing government turned hostile after Beijing's bloody crackdown on the protest, after which the pro-democrats were labelled as "treasonous". After
6816-463: The moderate democrats in the 2011 District Council elections , the League of Social Democrats was suffered in the factional fighting and the two of the three LSD legislators left the party in disarray and formed the People Power . The People Power's campaign targeted pan-democracy parties in the 2011 District Council elections that had supported the reform package filled candidates to run against them but only won one seat of 62 contested. Nevertheless,
6912-421: The negotiations set off unrest in the colony. Thatcher later said that Deng told her bluntly that China could easily take Hong Kong by force, stating that "I could walk in and take the whole lot this afternoon", to which she replied that "there is nothing I could do to stop you, but the eyes of the world would now know what China is like". After her visit with Deng in Beijing, Thatcher was received in Hong Kong as
7008-553: The number of seats of the camp dipped, albeit having similar share of vote. Within the camp, share of smaller parties and independents increased relatively, with the share of the Democratic Party falling from around two-thirds in 1995 to less than a half by 2004. The pro-democracy camp was the strong opposition to the national security and anti-subversion legislation of the Basic Law Article 23 and they successfully called for over 500,000 people to protest on 1 July 2003 against
7104-408: The official position of the PRC government, the arranging of real estate leases and loans agreements in Hong Kong within the next 18 years would become difficult. In response to concerns over land leases in the New Territories, MacLehose proposed that British administration of the whole of Hong Kong, as opposed to sovereignty, be allowed to continue after 1997. He also proposed that contracts include
7200-426: The party. Donald Tsang , the Chief Executive, promised to resolve the question of universal suffrage in his office during the election. He carried out the 2012 constitutional package in 2009 which was criticised by the pro-democracy as lack of genuine progress. The League of Social Democrats called for a de facto referendum , by way of the 2010 by-elections in five geographical constituencies. Civic Party ,
7296-485: The phrase "for so long as the Crown administers the territory". In fact, as early as the mid-1970s, Hong Kong had faced additional risks raising loans for large-scale infrastructure projects such as its Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system and a new airport. Caught unprepared, Deng asserted the necessity of Hong Kong's return to China, upon which Hong Kong would be given special status by the PRC government. MacLehose's visit to
7392-512: The possibility for any candidate not endorsed by Beijing to be nominated for the election, which the pan-democrats accused as a betrayal of the principle of "one person, one vote," The pan-democrats had supported legal scholar Benny Tai 's Occupy Central plan of civil disobedience against Beijing's decision, which later turned into a 79-day occupy protest which often dubbed as "Umbrella Revolution". On 18 June 2015, all 27 pan-democrat legislators and Medical legislator Leung Ka-lau voted against
7488-420: The pro-democracy camp has usually received 55 to 60 percent of the votes in each election, but has always received less than half of the seats in the Legislative Council due to the indirectly elected elements of the legislature. The pro-democracy activists emerged from the youth movements in the 1970s and began to take part in electoral politics as the colonial government introduced representative democracy in
7584-461: The pro-democrat coalition "Democrats 300+" scored a record victory in the Election Committee which was responsible for electing the 2017 Chief Executive . The democrats decided not to field their candidate in order to boost the chance of an alternative establishment candidate against incumbent Leung Chun-ying . After Leung announced he would not seek for re-election, the pro-democrats turned against Chief Secretary for Administration Carrie Lam who
7680-517: The protests and formed the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (ADSPDMC or Alliance), were seen as "treason" and threat to the Beijing government. The two pro-democracy Basic Law Drafting Committee members, Martin Lee and Szeto Wah, were stripped from the office after they resigned in protest of the bloody crackdown, many of other pro-democrats were denied entry to
7776-534: The questions of Hong Kong and Macau is entirely within China's sovereign right and do not at all fall under the ordinary category of colonial territories. Consequently, they should not be included in the list of colonial territories covered by the declaration on the granting of independence to colonial territories and people. With regard to the questions of Hong Kong and Macau, the Chinese government has consistently held that they should be settled in an appropriate way when conditions are ripe. The same year, on 8 November,
7872-537: The ruination of the Sino-British talks. The session concluded with Thatcher's writing of a letter addressed to the PRC Premier Zhao Ziyang . In the letter, she expressed Britain's willingness to explore arrangements optimising the future prospects of Hong Kong while utilising the PRC's proposals as a foundation. Furthermore, and perhaps most significantly, she expressed Britain's concession on its position of
7968-648: The scarcity of land and natural resources in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, large-scale infrastructure investments had been made in the New Territories, with break-evens lying well past 30 June 1997. When the People's Republic of China obtained its seat in the United Nations as a result of the UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 in 1971, it began to act diplomatically on its previously lost sovereignty over both Hong Kong and Macau . In March 1972,
8064-404: The second largest pro-democratic party joined, however the Democratic Party, the largest party, was reluctant to participate. The Democratic Party and other moderate democrats and pro-democracy scholars launched the Alliance for Universal Suffrage and started to engage with the mainland officials. The Democratic Party brought out a revised proposal of the package to Beijing and the revised proposal
8160-412: The special envoy of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to establish an understanding of the PRC's plans with regards to the retrocession of Hong Kong; during their meeting, Deng outlined his plans to make the territory a special economic zone, which would retain its capitalist system under Chinese sovereignty. In the same year, Edward Youde , who succeeded MacLehose as the 26th Governor of Hong Kong, led
8256-426: The three major pro-democratic groups and formed a strategic alliance in the 1988 District Board elections , which laid the foundation of the pro-democracy grassroots supports. The consolidation of its public support has its roots in opposition to the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown which aroused widespread horror, sympathy and support of the protesters by Hong Kong citizens. The pro-democrats, who were heavily involved in
8352-406: The three-legged stool trick again". At length, the PRC and Britain initiated the Joint Declaration on the question of Hong Kong's future in Beijing. Zhou Nan , the then PRC Deputy Foreign Minister and leader of the negotiation team, and Sir Richard Evans , British Ambassador to Beijing and leader of the team, signed respectively on behalf of the two governments. The Sino-British Joint Declaration
8448-471: The treaties were worthless, sovereignty would be China's in due course, and any row about it would certainly damage Hong Kong in the short term whatever the eventual outcome." Governor Youde with nine members of the Hong Kong Executive Council travelled to London to discuss with Thatcher the crisis of confidence – the problem with morale among the people of Hong Kong arising from
8544-629: The validity of an extension of the lease of Hong Kong territory, particularly in light of binding treaties, including the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, the Convention of Peking in 1856, and the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory signed in 1890. In response, Deng Xiaoping cited the lack of room for compromise on the question of sovereignty over Hong Kong; the PRC, as the successor of Qing dynasty and
8640-473: The vote share between the pan-democrats and the pro-Beijing camp narrowed significantly from the traditional 60% to 40%, to 55% to 45%. The chairman of the Democratic Party Albert Ho represented the pan-democracy camp to run in the 2012 Chief Executive election . On election day the pan-democrats declined to vote for neither Henry Tang nor Leung Chun-ying and called for a blank vote from
8736-400: Was a party to talks on its future, alongside Beijing and London. At the preliminary stage of the talks, the British government proposed an exchange of sovereignty for administration and the implementation of a British administration post-handover. The PRC government refused, contending that the notions of sovereignty and administration were inseparable, and although it recognised Macau as
8832-447: Was also growing voice for Hong Kong independence from the Chinese rule, as many of whom deemed the "One Country, Two Systems" had failed. In the 2016 Legislative Council election , localist camp with different banners together took away 19 per cent of the vote share from the pan-democrats, in which the traditional pan-democrats secured only 36 per cent, 21 less than the previous election. The non-establishment forces secured 30 out of
8928-582: Was founded by solicitors Kevin Yam (任建峰), Jonathan Man (文浩正) and barrister Wilson Leung (梁允信), in 2015, after the Occupy Central Movement. It aims to project the voice of local law practitioners, and to uphold pro-democratic values in Hong Kong. The group have since then commented on major Hong Kong political events, such as the Causeway Bay Books disappearances , Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2014 ,
9024-583: Was passed in the Legislative Council in the support of the government and Pro-Beijing camp. However, it triggered a major split within the camp and also in the Democratic Party. The Young Turks including the LegCo member Andrew Cheng quit the party and formed the Neo Democrats . The Democratic Party was accused by the LSD and the radicals of betraying democracy and its supporters. On the matter of whether to coordinate with
9120-525: Was seen as "C.Y. 2.0". The pro-democrats nominated former Financial Secretary John Tsang and retired judge Woo Kwok-hing amid the Liaison Office actively lobbied for Lam. Ahead of the election, some 98 per cent of the "Democrats 300+" coalition decided on voting for Tsang as he was the most popular candidate in the polls. On 14 July 2017, Leung Kwok-hung of the League of Social Democrats , Nathan Law of
9216-491: Was signed by Premier of the People's Republic of China Zhao Ziyang and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher on 19 December 1984 in Beijing. The Declaration entered into force with the exchange of instruments of ratification on 27 May 1985 and was registered by the People's Republic of China and United Kingdom governments at the United Nations on 12 June 1985. In the Joint Declaration,
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