Behind the times leaving Hong Kong

Hong Kong's current extradition law crisis is the not the first that the territory has faced

Hong Kong's summer has been marked by widespread political unrest. The trigger was a proposed bill that would allow the territory's government to extradite Hong Kong residents to countries with which Hong Kong did not have an extradition treaty. Prominently, these included mainland China. The Hong Kong government argued that the bill would close a 'loophole' that made the territory a potential haven for criminal fugitives. To Hongkongers, the bill looked like the latest example of a creeping 'mainlandisation'.

When the United Kingdom negotiated the terms of Hong Kong's 'handover' to the People's Republic of China in 1997, the people of the city did not have representation in the discussions. Under the terms of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hong Kong would enjoy the status of a Special Administrative Region until 2047, with 'considerable autonomy' and would be governed by the people of Hong Kong. Under the terms of the 1986 Basic Law, the territory would preserve its capitalist system as well as independent courts, currency and immigration system.