Chinese language President Xi Jinping
| Photograph Credit score: REUTERS
The story to this point:
Hong Kong has undergone vital modifications since Xi Jinping got here to energy in 2013. Underneath Mr. Xi, the Chinese language Communist Celebration (CCP) has more and more targeted on exerting its management over the town and integrating it extra intently with mainland China. This means of assimilation has been systematic, elevating questions on Beijing’s dedication to the “one nation, two programs” framework and Hong Kong’s Primary Regulation. Essentially the most decisive shift got here with the implementation of the Hong Kong Nationwide Safety Regulation (NSL) in June 2020. The legislation has essentially altered Hong Kong’s political, media, and judicial panorama.
When did the tussle between Hong Kong and Beijing intensify?
The key tussle between the CCP and Hong Kong started in 2014 when the town witnessed main protests generally known as the Umbrella Motion. They have been triggered by Beijing’s proposal that Hong Kong residents may vote for his or her Chief Government solely from an inventory of candidates vetted by the CCP, with elections deliberate for 2017. Nonetheless, after 79 days of demonstrations throughout the town, the protests have been cleared by police.
Hong Kong was once more rocked by violent protests in 2019 in opposition to a proposed extradition Invoice that might have allowed suspects to be despatched to mainland China for trial. As per critics, “individuals could be topic to arbitrary detention, unfair trial, and torture beneath China’s judicial system”. Though the invoice was finally withdrawn, protests continued over calls for for extra democracy. In response to the protests, Beijing described the unrest as “terrorism” and asserted that “restoring order was Hong Kong’s most pressing job.” The demonstrations have been in the end suppressed by legislation enforcement.
The clampdown on each protests clearly eradicated the political area promised to Hong Kong beneath the ‘one nation, two programs’ framework. As well as, the lockdowns imposed in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic additional helped the CCP to manage any type of dissent.
What does the NSL entail?
The NSL, handed by China in June 2020, “criminalises something thought of as secession, which is breaking away from China; subversion, which is undermining the ability or authority of the central authorities; terrorism, which is utilizing violence or intimidation in opposition to individuals; and collusion with overseas or exterior forces”. Information present that round 260 individuals have been arrested beneath the NSL, with 76 convicted.
How has media freedom been affected?
The kidnapping of 5 Hong Kong e-book sellers by Beijing in 2015 closely impacted its media freedom. In 2015, Lui Bo, Cheung Jiping, Gui Minhai, Lam Wing-kee, and Lee Bo, related to the writer Mighty Present and its bookstore Causeway Bay Books, disappeared. Authorities cited the sale of banned books in mainland China as grounds for authorized motion. This incident confirmed the push for ending crucial media area in Hong Kong.
Jimmy Lai, the founding father of the newspaper Apple Day by day, was prosecuted beneath the NSL in 2026. The clampdown on newspapers began instantly after the implementation of NSL, and Lai was discovered responsible of protesting in 2021, and his newspaper was shut down. One other newspaper, Stand Information, was shut down in 2021, and its journalists have been arrested on costs of “conspiracy to publish seditious supplies”.
What does this imply for Hong Kong’s identification?
Hong Kong’s identification has lengthy been rooted within the ‘one nation, two programs’ framework and the Primary Regulation, which promised to “protect their distinctive political and financial programs”. Nonetheless, since Mr. Xi assumed energy, there was a constant effort to dismantle this uniqueness and subsume it beneath China’s identification. With no area left for crucial voices with the implementation of the NSL, Mr. Xi has managed to utterly subsume Hong Kong identification inside the thought of Chinese language identification, one permitted by the get together.
Gunjan Singh is Affiliate Professor at OP Jindal World College
Revealed – February 27, 2026 08:30 am IST