Europe, China and the Future of Hong Kong

Abstract

Although, geographically and historically speaking, Hong Kong has always been part of China, and the PRC has never recognized the status of Hong Kong as a colony, from the perspective of international relations, however, in the 155 years of British rule, Hong Kong has always been considered as part of the West — it always serves first of all Western interests. Westerners prefer to have a ‘base’ in Asia where freedom is safeguarded by the rule of law. This base can serve as a bridgehead from which the Western countries can develop their political and economic exchanges with China and other Asian nations. The tacit consent to British rule by the PRC was due to the fact that Hong Kong as an international city enjoys multiple relations with the West and such relations serve Chinese interests as well, no matter whether China was in a state of isolation as from the 1950s to the 1970s, or in an era of openness and reform starting from the 1980s. Since the 1950s, the tacit acceptance of British rule over Hong Kong by China depends on one condition: Hong Kong must not become a base for subversion against China. This explains why from the 1950s until the 1980s, Taiwan’s activities in Hong Kong were under severe control.