Social Conflict in Hong Kong Essay

It’s such a pity that political conflict is dividing the Hong Kong residents. Some of the cause for this political conflict include the difference in the popular interpretation of the principle of Hong Kong’s constitution that states, “One country, two systems,” against the official interpretation of the Chinese government (Postiglione & Ming, 2017). According to the constitutional interpretation, the central governments and Hong Kong have policies that encourage mainland Chinese to visit Hong Kong, while the Chinese government interprets the principle as the changing environment of the economy in the mainland and Hong Kong. This paper analyzes how the social conflict affects Hong Kong and whether or not it is good for the society. The tension in Hong Kong has increasingly resulted in a rise in the feeling of hostility to the mainland as well as a perceived trend of bitterness to the assimilation and intrusion caused by the central government and China.

The central government has embraced very critical rhetoric believed to violate the legal and political systems of Hong Kong. For instance, a report was released in 2014 emphasizing that the judicial system of Hong Kong ought not to be independent but act as a subsidiary of the government. Both the Basic Law and the Sino-British Joint Declaration assure to develop the electoral system of Hong Kong to general suffrage (Postiglione & Ming, 2017). However, Hong Kong’s electoral system passed down by the central government between 2014 and 2015 was believed to have fallen short of genuine democracy. Hong Kong was colonized by the British, hence more cultural values internationally that she derived from her past. The parallel trading resulted in the shortage of household commodities, high rate of inflation and worsened the conflict between Hong Kong and the mainland.

The local shopkeepers, as well as the citizens, also had conflicts as well due to the daily increase in prices of local goods resulting from the parallel increase in sales. Many of those people who traveled between Shenzhen and Hong Kong in 2012 were mainly parallel traders from the mainland. In mainland China, consumers can benefit from smuggling due to the favorable rates of exchange of untaxed commodities from Hong Kong, including the mainland’s laid-back customs. The multiple entry policies provides visa holders with a chance to cross the border of Hong Kong and the mainland in several occasions on a daily basis, hence allowing the parallel traders in the mainland to frequently export commodities from Hong Kong to China’s mainland.

The protest started by activists of native Hong Kong and a relative page in Facebook known as “Reclaim Hong Kong, Defend the Local” (Lam, 2015). According to Lam, it intended to express anger to the parallel traders and dispositions of the shopping mall to the tourists in the mainland. Analysis Following the results from the continuous conflicts in Hong Kong, I would say that these conflicts have no good intentions for the society. For instance, protests against parallel trading were irrational and tainted the image Hong Kong. As a result, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions intensely condemned the action (Lam, 2015). , Belk, R. W. , Wang, J. J. , & Sherry Jr, J.