November 2014 – Democracy in China’s Shadow

As we bring you this issue of Periscope, protesters are still on the streets of the occupied areas of Admiralty, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay. They are demanding free and open elections to choose the first Chief Executive to be elected by one-person-one-vote in 2017. Hong Kong’s democratic journey did not begin with the Occupy Movement and it almost certainly will not end when the last of the occupiers have left their tents.

Varsity asks a question that is foremost in many people’s minds – what will happen after Occupy ends and how will Hong Kong seek a democratic path as a Special Administrative Region of China?

Apart from Hong Kong, we are also looking at two other Chinese societies, whose democratic development are affected to varying degrees by their relationship with mainland China. We look at how the democratic movements in Macau and Taiwan differ from Hong Kong as well at common features they share.

Hong Kong’s near neighbour Macau has never been much of a hotbed for democratic activism, so when thousands of protesters took to the streets to protest against a controversial retirement package for top officials, many pointed to an awakening for Macau civil society 

When the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping proposed the One Country Two Systems framework as the basis for Hong Kong’s reunification with the Mainland, the policy was supposed to serve as a model for Taiwan’s eventual reunification. But instead of an enticement, many in Taiwan see what is happening in Hong Kong as a warning.