What Happens to Hong Kong When ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Expires in 2047
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When China regained sovereignty over Hong Kong from the British in 1997, it was under an agreement to allow the city a “high degree of autonomy” for 50 years. That arrangement, known as “one country, two systems,” is almost halfway to its expiration date. Months of turmoil on Hong Kong’s streets, with hundreds of thousands demonstrating against the perceived erosion of the city’s freedoms, have sharpened the focus on one question: What will happen in 2047?
No. As it stands, the city of 7.5 million people will lose its status as a special autonomous region along with the freedoms it enjoys under its mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law. Beyond that, Hong Kong’s fate will be a decision for the Chinese Communist Party.