London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Hong Kong protests: City must realise its true value to China to weather the political storm

Hong Kong’s protests have been driven by deep domestic concerns, and exacerbated and exploited by international politics. While Beijing should try easing local fears over judicial transparency, Hongkongers should embrace Chinese identity

The protests against the now-defunct extradition bill that have gripped Hong Kong for the past six months have deep social and economic roots. This situation has been effectively exploited by powerful foreign actors in a wide geopolitical conflict to achieve different political goals.

These events have completely overwhelmed the Hong Kong government, which is mostly trained in peacetime administration, not to handle crises of this scale and intensity.

Behind its facade of peace and prosperity, Hong Kong has many social and economic fault lines. Even with huge budget surpluses and foreign currency reserve assets that currently amount to US$434.3 billion, for a population of almost 7.5 million people, income inequality has grown over the years.

In 2016, it hit its highest level since the city began keeping records 45 years ago. The median household income of the top 10 per cent of the population is 43 times that of the lowest 10 per cent. With a median individual monthly income of HK$16,000 (US$2,044), life is tough in this city.

Until Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor recently raised the mortgage ratio to 90 per cent for first-home buyers (who still have to pay a price of slightly more than US$1 million for a flat), it would take eight years of combined unspent household income to save for the deposit of a flat in the private sector. People who wish to move into a public rental flat would still have to wait an average of more than five years.

On the education front, the 22 degree-granting institutions annually produce more graduates than the market can absorb, forcing many to take low-skill jobs. This structural mismatch of skills and opportunity has generated discontent among the younger generation.

Over the past few decades, while Hong Kong focused on economic growth, government and the community at large have allowed the education system to be infiltrated with anti-China material, imbuing the present generation with bias.

Meanwhile, in the four decades since China adopted its open-door policy, Beijing has lifted more than 800 million people from poverty and created a middle class of 400 million people. The number is expected to double in the near future .

In 2019, China replaced the US as the country with the most companies on the Fortune Global 500. Four of the five biggest banks in the world now are Chinese-owned.

The burgeoning middle class in China understands that economic prosperity depends on social stability and seems willing to accept limited political freedom as a prize for ever-expanding social mobility and economic freedom. China’s high savings rate is also an important buffer against global economic volatility.

A robust middle class, besides being an important driver of growth, also provides implicit endorsement and legitimacy for Communist Party governance. The spectacular rise of China, especially in technology, presents a threat to US global supremacy.

The Trump administration’s stance against President Xi Jinping’s technological ambitions has bipartisan congressional support.

The US flag-waving protesters in Hong Kong chanting for freedom and democracy have provided a convenient platform for the US to intensify pressure on China in difficult trade negotiations.



The Taiwanese government is eager to use the chaos in Hong Kong to show that Beijing’s “one country, two systems” model of governance has failed in Hong Kong and should not be applied to the island. This toxic mix of external forces, coupled with deep social fissures, is the dry timber set alight by the mismanagement of the extradition bill.

The Hong Kong people’s attitude towards Chinese from the mainland is a mixture of superiority, frustration, inadequacy,
jealousy and fear. Stories of seizures of land by local governments, prolonged detention without trial and denial of legal representation are constant themes of the local and foreign media. Mainland visitors coming to Hong Kong in record numbers, monopolising baby powder and private hospital beds, driving up property prices and exhibiting antisocial behaviour in public all create additional sources of frustration.

Images of the unexplained disappearance of booksellers critical of Beijing leadership and the alleged abduction of a mainland businessman from a five-star hotel in Hong Kong still weigh heavily on the minds of the people.

However, it should be pointed out Hong Kong still ranks third in the Fraser Institute’s Human Freedom Index, measuring individual freedoms of speech, assembly, religion and so on. The US trails at No 17.

But economic achievement and opportunity in China are not sufficient to compensate for the lack of transparency in the Chinese legal system. Chinese judicial authorities should heed the English legal dictum that it is not enough that justice be done but be seen to be done. It is only when powerful state-owned enterprises are brought to account for wrongdoing that people’s trust in the Chinese legal system can be restored.

After more than 150 years of British colonial rule, reversion to communist rule is daunting for many. While fear of the unknown is normal, Hong Kong is and always will be a part of China. Hong Kong’s importance to China lies not in economics but in China’s realisation of territorial integrity and national sovereignty.



While China should work on legal transparency, Hongkongers should embrace their cultural heritage and identity. Senseless destruction by young people is not a winning strategy to convince Beijing to grant Hong Kong greater freedom.

The combination of negative encounters with mainland Chinese and a new sense of inadequacy in reaction to mainland Chinese overachievement in schools and the workplace has resulted in rejection and self-seclusion. National reunification takes understanding, patience and adjustment from all stakeholders to achieve lasting harmony.

With a better understanding of China’s recent history and the true value of Hong Kong to China, the people of Hong Kong will realise that the safest place in the storm is in the eye of the storm itself.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×