Hongkongese and Pro-Hong Kong Legislators Declare the Approval of the NE New Territories Development Illegal 非法議會 非法表決 全城震怒！

Amid thousands of furious Hongkongese surrounding the council, the NE New Territories Development was approved illegally with the support of the pro-China legislators who controlled the Hong Kong Legislative Council! Meeting procedures were not followed and pro-Hong Kong legislators were barred from questioning. The consequence of the project would mean the dissolution of the Hong Kong-China border, allowing everyone from China entering Hong Kong without a visa, and violating the Sino-British Joint Declaration which grants Hong Kong full autonomy. It's invasion!

親中共議員護航，親香港議員被禁發問，主席違返議事規則，發展東北撥款非法通過，強行溶解中港邊界！

The Long-term Causes that led to the Protest (Commentary from entry posted on 17 June 2014)

Since the handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China in 1997, the People’s Republic of China has been increasingly interfering with Hong Kong’s internal affairs which violated the “One Country, Two Systems” principle enshrined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration ensuring Hong Kong full autonomy on all internal affairs except defense and diplomacy. For instance, even as of 17 years since the handover, Hongkongese were still unable to elect its “Chief Executive”, an equivalent to the president of a country, as the position is still appointed by a pro-China committee. The Legislative Council is still not fully elected by the Hong Kong general public but largely controlled by pro-China legislators. Every day, a quota of 150 is given to immigrants from the People’s Republic of China and, ironically, as an autonomous state, Hong Kong is deprived of the right to filter or refuse entry of these people. It is an attempt to change Hong Kong’s demography. And, in recent years, deprived of any mechanism to regulate the inflow of visitors from China, Hong Kong have seen a dramatic increase in number of visitors.  In 2013, the total number of visitors had exceeded 54 million people, six times the population of Hong Kong and, among them, 75% came from China. These visitors from China have been buying up daily necessities such as milk powder and smuggling them to China in huge quantities in broad daylight, overloading the public transport systems, driving up rent and effectively shut down local and traditional shops with great cultural significance all around the city in huge numbers. Worst still, the People’s Republic of China has just issued a “White Paper” in June, claiming that China has the right of total governance in Hong Kong, an act that violated the Sino-British Joint Declaration and essentially an attempt to abolish the constitution of Hong Kong.

Two Systems for Two Peoples

The growing identity of Hongkongese as a separate group of people different from that of the Chinese of the People’s Republic of China had never been stronger as China’s aggression escalates. As a matter of fact, Hong Kong had been separated from Mainland China since the British takeover in 1841, which since then developed into a community with its own distinct identity. It was not until 1997 that Hong Kong was handed over to the present People’s Republic of China, without first consulting the Hong Kong public.

Gary Yeung

Special thanks to Richard for editing the text!

Another entry about the NE New Territories Development is reposted on the International Urban Sketchers Website:
http://www.urbansketchers.org/2014/06/hong-kongese-protest-against.html