In May, an estimated 100,000 Hong Kong residents gathered in Victoria Park to mark the 28th anniversary of China's violent repression of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. As the South China Morning Post noted, the event in Hong Kong was the only large-scale public commemoration of June 4, 1989, permitted on Chinese soil. And, to the attendees, the Hong Kong demonstration reflected growing frustration, not only with China's leaders, but also with their own.
On the surface, little has changed since the United Kingdom returned Hong Kong to China 20 years ago. But in reality, China now exercises near total control over Hong Kong's management.
China no longer believes that local leaders can competently govern the Hong Kong "special administrative region," no matter how sympathetic they are to the Chinese Communist Party.