Xi Jinping’s Suppression of Hong Kong Democracy Pushes Taiwan Further From China

  • Support for unification slumps as Taiwan’s self-identity grows
  • China’s ‘one country, two systems’ lacks support in Taiwan
Jiang Zemin, second left, shakes hands with Prince Charles following Hong Kong’s transfer of sovereignty from British to Chinese rule, in Hong Kong, on July 1, 1997. Photographer: Paul Lakatos/AFP/Getty Images
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A year before Britain handed Hong Kong to China, then-President Jiang Zemin hailed the “one country, two systems” plan for the city as a model for the country to one day unify with Taiwan.

Taiwan would get “a high degree of autonomy” -- the same pledge China used for Hong Kong -- while keeping legislative and independent judicial power, and its own armed forces, according to Jiang’s speech, copies of which were distributed at Hong Kong’s handover center in 1997.