What’s Next in Hong Kong’s Protests After the Coronavirus Lull?

The coronavirus outbreak put a damper on months of protests in Hong Kong, but political tension over China’s tightening grip on the city looks set to intensify rather than dissipate ahead of local elections in September. The city’s leader withdrew an extradition bill that sparked last year’s turmoil, but is under new pressure from China’s point men to take up equally contentious national security legislation, while the pro-democracy camp has been hit with arrests and verbal barbs. Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has long warned that challenges to China’s rule won’t be tolerated, says “restoring order is Hong Kong’s most important task.”

Yes, but officially it’s a “special administrative region.” The city of 7.5 million people was an outpost of the British Empire for 156 years, during which time it developed into a global business hub. In a 1984 joint declaration, the British agreed to give it back in 1997 and China promised to allow a “high degree of autonomy” for 50 years -- until 2047 -- including guarantees of free speech and a free press, capitalist markets and English common law under a “one country, two systems” arrangement.