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  • Scenes like this play out in Hong Kong almost every weekend now.

  • It's been this way since June 2019.

  • Now the unrest is getting more and more violent.

  • So what's going on in Hong Kong?

  • In April of 2019, Hong Kong's government attempted to amend its extradition

  • laws. The proposed changes would allow criminal suspects from the city to

  • be tried in mainland China.

  • Critics said the bill would curtail the city's independence as well as

  • free speech.

  • The extradition measure was seen as a pro-Beijing policy and indicative of

  • the growing influence of mainland China over the city.

  • In May 2019, the U.S.

  • weighed in as a congressional commission warned that the bill could pose

  • risks for national security and economic interests.

  • Hong Kong's chief executive, Carrie Lam, who's kind of like a mayor and

  • governor rolled into one, pushed the bill forward anyway.

  • So in early June of 2019, hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in

  • downtown Hong Kong.

  • A few weeks later, protesters demonstrated near the city's government

  • offices. The demonstrations eventually grew violent when protesters began

  • throwing bricks and metal poles at police.

  • The police responded with batons, one hundred and fifty rounds of tear gas

  • and rubber bullets.

  • The government classified the event as a riot, which meant anyone arrested

  • there could spend up to 10 years in prison.

  • Four days later, nearly two million people took to the streets, according

  • to organizers.

  • Police, though, said that the number was closer to three hundred and

  • thirty eight thousand.

  • Those protesters gave the government five demands.

  • The first was a total withdrawal of the extradition legislation and a

  • resignation from Carrie Lam.

  • They also wanted a retraction so the protest would not be classified as a

  • riot. And they wanted an investigation into the actions of the police

  • during those violent protests.

  • Finally, they wanted to release of anyone who had been arrested in

  • connection with the protests.

  • Not long after, Lam said the bill was dead and apologized for how she

  • handled the situation.

  • I have furthermore undertaken that because this bill has caused so much

  • anxiety and worries and differences in opinion, I will

  • not, as an undertaking, I will not proceed again with this

  • legislative exercise.

  • But the chief executive felt short of meeting protesters demands to

  • withdraw the bill completely.

  • So on July 1st of 2019, on the 22nd anniversary of the handover of Hong

  • Kong from British to Chinese rule, more protests broke out.

  • And those demonstrations continued throughout the month.

  • Hong Kong has long been Asia's financial hub, but that reputation has been

  • shaken as the city has also become the center of Asian unrest.

  • Protests in the former British colony are starting to bite into Hong Kong's

  • economy. The number of tour groups coming from mainland China has dropped

  • from an average of seven thousand eight hundred per month to five thousand

  • six hundred forty one in June of twenty nineteen, right as the protests

  • approached their peak.

  • Also in June, occupancy rates of the city's hotels were down 20 percent

  • from last year.

  • They're expected to be down 40 percent in July.

  • But that's not all that's weighing on Hong Kong's economy.

  • The trade tensions between the U.S.

  • and China have slowed economic growth, according to the city's financial

  • secretary. In fact, during the first quarter of 2019, the city had its

  • slowest growth in a decade.

  • For Asia operations either you put your headquarters in Hong Kong or in

  • Singapore. So you know, from long-term perspective, you know, if Hong Kong

  • does not maintain relatively stable political conditions.

  • I'm thinking of for M and C's the have to hedge, you know, from their

  • perspective. So this definitely will have some negative impact into Hong

  • Kong's status as a financial center.

  • As the Asia operations center from a lot of companies' perspectives.

  • Hong Kong also remains one of the most expensive cities in the world.

  • And the unrest there has squeezed citizens even more.

  • Hong Kong's real estate market was rated the most expensive in the world

  • for the fifth consecutive year by real estate firm CBRE.

  • The average price of a modest one bedroom home in the city is one point

  • two million dollars.

  • A one hundred and twenty one square foot nano-apartment recently sold for a

  • quarter of a million dollars.

  • About two thousand forty one dollars per square foot.

  • Meanwhile, the average rent for a one bedroom apartment in the city is two

  • thousand one hundred eighteen dollars, and the average monthly salary for

  • a man is only about two thousand five hundred dollars, while the average

  • salary for a woman drops to one thousand nine hundred fifty dollars,

  • according to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department.

  • The housing crisis in the city has gotten so bad there's a plan to build

  • an 80 billion dollar artificial island to deal with the problem.

  • It's also why many experts believe protests are about more than just the

  • extradition bill.

  • One of the big things behind these protests, quite frankly, is the terrible

  • affordability of housing in Hong Kong, which really is upsetting a lot of

  • young people and middle income people.

  • So in a way, the housing affordability issue is part and parcel of the

  • protest movement.

  • Government officials, including executive Carrie Lam, have said that the

  • extradition bill is dead.

  • But activists want a formal withdrawal, so the protests are likely to

  • continue until that happens.

  • Fear for the city's future has caused many residents to consider leaving,

  • and that could lead to a brain drain in Asia's financial hub.

  • At least two migration consultancy firms have seen a jump in inquiries

  • since June, according to the South China Morning Post.

  • People looking to leave cite concerns ever increasing unrest, dwindling

  • freedoms and growing influence from mainland China.

  • And then there's cost of living.

  • As a result, many young people have been exploring options in Australia,

  • Canada and Taiwan.

  • And while the Chinese government may have had its feelings hurt by the

  • city's protesters, things could get a lot worse of young people start

  • leaving the city.

  • Major companies could leave, too.

  • After all, Singapore is another major financial hub, and it's not that far

  • away.

Scenes like this play out in Hong Kong almost every weekend now.

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    PENG 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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