Transnational Issues : Hong Kong And China

Taiwan, otherwise known as the Republic of China (ROC), has a complicated political status on the world stage. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) lays territorial claims to Taiwan and most countries recognize China as the mainland as Taiwan as an autonomous region within it. However, Taiwan sees itself independent as the true government of China, but only a couple dozen countries recognize it as sovereign government and by technical definition of what constitutes as a sovereign state under the Montevideo Convention of 1933, Taiwan fits the criteria.1 Though before 1971, both countries laid

Since the conclusion of the Chinese civil war in 1949, China and Taiwan have functioned as separate nations. There has always been the promise by Taiwan to reunify with the mainland, but no real, concerted effort has ever been made. This and the actions of the United States on behalf of Taiwan have caused China to become threatened by the situation in recent months. The Chinese government released a statement last week that will bring the situation to a head in the near future. In light of China's statement and the response of Taiwan and the U.S., we have to ask what the situation means for China/U.S. relations.

many goods and services targeted to the mainland Chinese market was traded via Hong Kong

1858 denoted the beginning of progressing Chinese movement to the districts of British North America that would later shape the present-day Canada. In the east were the settlements of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, and additionally the "United Province of Canada," including Quebec and Ontario (The Early Chinese Canadians, 2015). On the Pacific coast was the settlement of Vancouver Island. At the time, none of these provinces had migration confinements. An immense region under the control of the Hudson's Bay Company lay between these eastern and western settlements (The Early Chinese Canadians, 2015). First Nations individuals were the fundamental inhabitants around this region, and also in British Columbia (The Early Chinese Canadians, 2015).

Hong Kong and Taiwan have claimed independence from mainland China, but political concerns are arising. Since the ruling class controls the state power, China sought its own interest and define its interest as the interest of the nation-state. Liberals would argue that Tibet, Hong Kong, and Taiwan should be respected and allow them to self-govern. Even though, China wants to gain all forms of power with trying to get ahold of these countries, it will be more of a benefit to let them self-govern and try to work together. Chinese scholars began to engage the more orthodox intellectuals in the debate over china’s interest in the 1990s. Yet, according to Qin, he would argue that China was trying to establish somewhat of a liberalism concept. Qin could have this approach since China’s most important national interest was economic development and the most cost efficient way to realize that was from China to take under their power Tibet, Hong Kong, and

September 26, 1984 – the United Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China release the Joint Declaration, a document detailing the then future handover of the island of Hong Kong and its surrounding territories from British colonial rule, to rule by the PRC. Exactly thirty years later, hundreds of students rush over the security barricades of the central government building in Hong Kong with anger, tenacity, and fear in their eyes. Many are still youths, students from local secondary schools exercising their disappointment of modern Hong Kong in the only way they believe they can: protest, beginning a series of events now known as “The Umbrella Movement.” Four days earlier, however, hundreds had begun gathering around that building, unhappy with the current political system in place in Hong Kong, furious at the way the Beijing government of the PRC seemed to be closing in and suppressing their social and political freedoms. Though the protests were meant to be relatively peaceful demonstrations, the large collections of people disrupted traffic and business throughout Hong Kong. Soon Hong Kong police forces were called in to disperse the crowds, and when protesters refused to leave, the police resorted to the use of pepper spray and tear gas, causing an uproar among witnesses. In response, to protect themselves from the tear gas, protesters began carrying umbrellas to use as shields, thus the movement was dubbed “The Umbrella Movement.” In the following months, the series

Although Hong Kong has officially been transferred over from Chinese rule to British rule and back again, there still resides many western influences on this former colony after decolonization.

This paper is a brief reaction to a scholarly article in Airriess Text entitled ‘Chinese American Transnational Migration and Connections.’ This article is located in chapter 11 of Airriess’ text Contemporary Ethnic Geographies in America, on pages 263 through 283. The text begins by explaining that transnationalism is a reinterpretation of immigration, and natural to Chinese Americans from birth. The first mechanism of transnationalism is called an “astronaut” family, and it means that family members reside in different countries across the world. Another common mechanism of transnationalism is called “parachute kids.” This title is used to describe the situation where both parents live in Asia, and the teenage (or older) child lives in the United States generally for educational purposes. After higher education, many Chinese

Britain's entire purpose for their acquisition of Hong Kong was trade (Chiu 25). While China had many important ports as a part of their country, few would ever reach the heights that Hong Kong did under the British. In the mid-1840’s, a few short years after Hong Kong was first ceded to the British, it was already responsible for handling 21% of all of China’s exports, and then in the next 30 years, that number would rise to 37% (Chiu 24). The British created docks across the island, allowing companies from all over the world, and especially neighboring countries, to trade there, and by having free trade and little taxes, allowed for large amounts of trading to occur. While the Chinese were resentful for having given up Hong Kong, they had never truly given it the ability to rise to its true potential as the British did.

The Canadians at the Battle of Hong Kong failed due to the insufficient training of the soldiers, which impaired their fighting effectiveness. When selecting troops to deploy to Hong Kong, Major General H. D. G. Crerar chose two infantry battalions, the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada, from a list of units deemed unsuited for deployment. “Instead, Crerar chose the Royal Rifles of Canada and the Winnipeg Grenadiers from category C, defined by Lawson as “those units which, due to either recent employment or insufficient training, are not recommended” to be deployed at the present time.”[ Pages 13-14, The Damned] Due to the recent deployment of these troops to Jamaica and Newfoundland, and their need for refresher training,

Hong Kong, one of the Four Asian Tigers, is a prime example of how a place under communist ruling could adapt to the free market, by implementing export oriented policies along with strong developmental policies. This was unique in that it allowed for rapid growth while keeping an equal income distribution. Unlike Russia the people of Hong Kong were urged through incentives to invest in the market allowing the economy to grow. This was a flaw within the USSR, it lacked the ability to incentive its people to invest within the market. The personal incentives for workers to go above and beyond in their jobs was too weak. Workers knew that they would be paid regardless of the work that they put forth. This created an immense amount of stagnation, and did not allow them to grow. Hong Kong’s rapid industrialization allowed them to develop into a more sophisticated society, able to keep up with the free

China has “One country, Two system” policy, which means that there is only one china, but special administrative regions such as Hong Kong and Macau can retain their own capitalist economics and political systems. There is no denying that “one country, two system” policy is correct, and has strong vitality, and promote the economy. However, it leads to the alienation of people. Back to the 19 century, Hong Kong was ceded to the United Kingdom, and was occupied for almost one hundred and fifty years. As the result of the Hong Kong was occupied by the United Kingdom for a long time, the Hong Kong people and the Chinese mainlander has different thoughts and views and it leads conflicts.

The recognition of colonialism within Asian history, has lead to cultural diversity- labour law, styles of government and educational concepts have been shaped by the contrasting experiences of the French, British, Dutch or American colonial systems. In china, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia there is, in addition, the influence of communism. These contrasts and clashes of religious and political traditions are complicated further by the economic

Often when we talk about culture and belonging, cultural identity is a large component which follows up the traditions, values and customs practised by a group. The most prominent concern there is with Hong Kong’s political and social situation is the issue of independence, nationalism and identity. Hong Kong’s political identity and struggle, although has extensive history, prevails today. The identity crisis began in the year 1997. On July 1st, Hong Kong was handed over back to the People’s Republic of China (PRC); acquiring the title of being a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC. This is only a temporary title, however, as on July 1, 2046, Hong Kong will lose its SAR status, and become a regular state of the PRC. Hence,

From an international relations perspective, the Taiwan Strait, one of the most likely conflict zones in the Asia-Pacific region, has been dubbed the “Balkan Peninsula of the East.” The status of Taiwan has been one of the most intricate issues in international relations arena for the past decades. The Taiwan question is essentially an extension of the “two Chinas” problem, which creates a dilemma for accommodating