- Title: Timeline of Hong Kong's politics, on six month mark of anti-government protests
- Date: 9th December 2019
- Summary: The year 2009 saw the largest turnout at Hong Kong's annual Tian'anmen candlelight vigil on June 4. An estimated 150,000 people showed up at a downtown park, which turned into a speckled sea of flickering lights in remembrance of the pro-democracy demonstrators and students crushed by tanks and troops near the square in Beijing in 1989. HONG KONG, CHINA (FILE - JUNE 4, 2009) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** CANDLELIGHT VIGIL IN PROGRESS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE HOLDING UP CANDLES ON STAGE PEOPLE HOLDING CANDLES
- Embargoed: 23rd December 2019 04:29
- Keywords: China Hong Kong Occupy Sino-British Joint Declaration Umbrella anniversary extradition handover one country protests two systems
- Location: HONG KONG / SHENZHEN, GUANGDONG PROVINCE / BEIJING, CHINA
- City: HONG KONG / SHENZHEN, GUANGDONG PROVINCE / BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: Hong Kong
- Topics: Government/Politics,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA008B99TOW7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: December 19th marks the 35th anniversary of the signing of an agreement by China and Britain over Hong Kong, which laid the blueprint over how the city would be ruled after its return to China in 1997.
The Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed on December 19, 1984 by then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang, laid out how Britain would end its century-and-a-half long rule over Hong Kong. It also guarantees the city's rights and freedoms under the "two systems" formula.
Under Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, Hong Kong was guaranteed its freedoms for "at least 50 years" after 1997.
This year, Hong Kong has been rocked by six months of sometimes violent unrest in the biggest challenge to Chinese stability since the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.
The protesters' demands include universal suffrage, an investigation into alleged police brutality and an end to Beijing's perceived efforts to undermine democratic freedoms promised when the former British colony was handed back to China in 1997.
China denies interfering in Hong Kong's affairs and says it is committed to the "one country, two systems" formula enshrined at the handover and guaranteeing the territory a high degree of autonomy. Beijing blames foreign countries including the United States for inciting unrest.
(Production: Phyllis Xu) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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