25 years after the handover of Hong Kong

On 1 July 1997, Hong Kong was handed back from British colonial rule to China. The People's Republic promised a "high degree of autonomy" under the "one country, two systems" principle until 2047. 25 years later, it has broken this promise.

In 2020, China imposed a National Security Law on Hong Kong ending a number of civil liberties that had been guaranteed under the Sino-British Joing Declaration, a bilateral treaty between the United Kingdom and the People's Republic. The breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration is thus a violation of international law.

Hong Kong, until recently a city of protest, is not what it used to be.

Read, listen and watch my take 25 years after the handover:

Postcast with Oxford Comment:

Podcast (in German) with Florian Schröder - radio1, rbb:

Watch the 30-minutes TV interview (in German) at tagesschau24.

• Publication: 2020: Hong Kong, the end of the city of protest?, in: Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal 6:3.

• Publication (in Swedish): Hong Kong – protesternas stad. Världspolitikens Dagsfragor. Stockholm: UI.

• Publication: Hong Kong and the quest for judicial independence, in: Utrikesmagasinet, June 2019. Stockholm: The Swedish Institute of International Affairs.

• Publication: “Expressing my attitude and doing something impossible to make it happen...” Listening to the Voices of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement Protesters, in: Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal 3:2, pp. 747-818

• Publication: “Do You Hear the People Sing” “Lift Your Umbrella”? Understanding Hong Kong's Pro-democratic Umbrella Movement Through YouTube Music Videos, in: China Perspectives 4/2016, pp. 59-68.

• Publication: (with Johan Lagerkvist): The Mobilization of Memory and Tradition: Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement and Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Movement, in: Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal 2:2, pp. 735-774.

• Publication: Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement in Search of Self-determination. UI Paper, No. 3, November 2015. Stockholm: Swedish Institute of International Relations.

• Media (in Swedish): ”Experten: ”Kina kränker internationell rätt””, 20 May 2020.

• Media (in Swedish): “”En otrolig natt” – stor seger för demonstranterna”, 25 November 2019.

• Media (in Swedish): “”Konstigt att Sverige inte talar i klartext om Kina”“, 25 August 2019.

• Media (in Swedish): “Kinaexpert: Kan sluta som Himmelska fridens torg”, 6 August 2019.

• Media (in Swedish): “Nytt kaos i Hongkong - alla flyg inställda”, 13 August 2019.

• Media (in Swedish): “Experten om protesterna: "Litar inte på Hongkongs styre"“, 6 August 2019.

• Media (in Swedish): “Därför bär demonstranterna i Hongkong paraplyer“, 1 July 2019.

• Media (in Swedish): “Svår balansgång för Xi Jinping i Hongkong”, 18 August 2019.