On July 1, China and the residents of Hong Kong will mark the 20th anniversary of the city's reversion to Chinese control. The occasion will be marked with celebrations and the first visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the city since he became head of the Chinese state. While Chinese are immensely proud of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, there is no missing the widespread disappointment among Chinese and native Hong Kong residents as they assess the evolution of the special administrative region.
Hong Kong was returned to China after nearly 150 years as a British colony. The event marked the end of a century of humiliation and Chinese insisted that there would be no stopping China's march toward the return of its status as a great power in Asia and the world. Chinese officials, Deng Xiaoping in particular, made clear that return was the only option and that the only question to be entertained in contentious talks with London would be the terms of transfer.
Beijing did promise, however, that Hong Kong's distinctive political and economic system would be preserved under the "one country, two systems" formula by which the government and citizens of the city would maintain practices (and freedoms) that they had inherited from the British, even as China assumed responsibility for core issues of state sovereignty, namely the exercise of hard power in foreign affairs, national defense and security. Some argued, however, that this was less of a concession than it seemed because the retention of Hong Kong's distinct identity would set an example for the "renegade province" of Taiwan and help persuade its citizens that reunification with the mainland would offer more benefits than costs. Moreover, the role that Hong Kong played for China as a window on the world would insulate it from pressure that would undermine its life and institutions. Some even asserted that Hong Kong would prove to be a "Trojan Horse" through which the Chinese mainland would come to experience and appreciate the joys of political liberalism.