Hong Kong’s Fragile Autonomy

Hong Kong’s Fragile Autonomy

Jeffrey Wasserstrom, UCI Chancellor’s Professor of history writes, “Will this year mark a major turning point in the history of Hong Kong? The way that the territory’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam handled the first stages of the coronavirus crisis and the recent moves by Beijing to expel American journalists from both the mainland and Hong Kong suggest it could be. Taken together, these developments have delivered a powerful blow to the already badly battered “one country, two systems” framework that was supposed to protect Hong Kong’s special characteristics after the 1997 Handover made it part of the People’s Republic of China.”