Hong Kong Legislator: 'We're Not Asking for the Moon'

The proximate cause of the months-long protests in Hong Kong was a proposed extradition bill, put forward by Chief Executive Carrie Lam, that could have made Hong Kong residents vulnerable to mainland China’s legal system. But according to two members of the territory’s Legislative Council, the demonstrations ultimately concern a more fundamental issue: the struggle of Hong Kongers to maintain their unique identity in the face of sustained Chinese pressure.

"All Hong Kong’s people want is democracy, as promised under the Basic Law," said Dennis Kwok, one of the two LegCo lawmakers who spoke at Asia Society New York on Thursday. "That promise has failed."

Kwok and his colleague Alvin Yeung described the situation in Hong Kong as part of a larger ideological struggle between Western democracy and authoritarianism. But U.S. President Donald Trump has largely kept his distance, refraining from speaking out about the protests lest he jeopardizes ongoing U.S.-China trade talks. And Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross even referred to the Hong Kong protests as an “internal matter” for China. Kwok does not agree with this assessment. “The U.S. and all Western countries have a stake in Hong Kong,” he said.

Yeung also discussed the viability of “One Country, Two Systems,” the legal framework underpinning Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese rule, while Kwok speculated whether the Chinese Communist Party would move to quash the protests.

Read Asia Blog’s full coverage of Kwok and Yeung’s talk, and click here to watch the complete event.

PODCAST

India's Middle East Tilt

In the latest episode of the Asia Inside Out podcast, C. Raja Mohan, director of the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, discusses India’s westward tilt toward the Middle East with Anubhav Gupta of the Asia Society Policy Institute. During the conversation, Mohan described the substantive elements of India’s Middle East push, how Prime Minister Narendra Modi has changed India’s diplomatic approach to the region, and whether India is ready to be a more substantive player there. He also talked about how the Trump administration’s Iran policy and China’s growing influence in the region are impacting India’s decisions.

This episode was released in conjunction with the launch of the Asia Society Policy Institute’s new initiative, Asia’s New Pivot, which is aimed at examining the strategic implications of evolving ties between Asia and the Middle East. Explore Asia’s New Pivot here and check out the podcast here.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Asia Society Australia has two new executive briefings coming up in Sydney: On August 21, Professor Zha Daojiong, a political economist at Peking University, will speak about China’s foreign policy and the strategic outlook for the U.S.-China relationship. Details here. And on August 22, Arthur Sinodinos, Australia’s ambassador-designate to the United States, will talk about the two countries’ relationship in the context of events in Asia. Details here.

Also on August 22, Asia Society Northern California will host Singapore’s minister for communication and information S. Iswaran at an event in San Francisco. More information here.

And on August 22, Asia Society Texas hosts financier Weijian Shan, whose journey from China’s Cultural Revolution to a career as a successful entrepreneur is documented in his new book Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America— read an excerpt in Asia Blog. Details of Shan’s appearance in Houston can be found here.

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