I propose to analyze Chinese incursion in Hong Kong in 2019, the subsequent crises of protests and violence, and the major fallout of Sino-British relations in the aftermath. I argue that we can only responsibly claim to understand tensions in Hong Kong—which have frequently taken the spotlight on the global stage—by examining the history of that territory, as a “border zone” of sorts between the great powers of Britain and China. Such a study could of course reach back to the original British occupation of the island in 1841; but given that the Hong Kong crisis of 2019-2020 concerns the People’s Republic of China, it will make the most sense to study the escalation of Sino-British tensions after the Chinese Communist Party’s formal takeover of power in China proper in 1949. I will look at three stages of political development around Hong Kong: first, this project will examine the ebb and flow of Sino-British tensions after 1949; this will then lead into a grounded understanding of Hong Kong’s dense and troubled politics since the 1997 “handover” from the United Kingdom to the PRC; and finally, the project will analyze the politics of the 2019-2020 events in Hong Kong, and the crumbling Sino-British relations therein, as a nodal expression of this history.
Events such as those in Hong Kong in 2019-2020, or the handover of 1997, never happen suddenly. As historian Jonathan Howlett argues in a case study of Shanghai, the CCP adopted a “long-game” approach early on in reasserting sovereignty over British holdings in China.[1] Howlett argues that the CCP’s power over territorial sovereignty always has limits, of which the party was cognizant but which they always aimed to expand. Howlett focuses on Shanghai in the 1950s; my project at Asia House will focus on the CCP’s steady expansion of its sovereign limits against British power, and the aftermath of that power, in Hong Kong. One could argue that, with the handover of 1997, the CCP had “won” that battle against the British. But the CCP’s intervention in Hong Kong law in 2019, and the protests and national security ruling that followed, show that the island is not nearly as assimilated into the People’s Republic as the party wants. PRC sovereignty and authority in Hong Kong, in opposition to the island’s own political will and the remaining influence of the old British system, remained after 1997, and will continue to do so. This project will ground the politics of the current Hong Kong story in the history that brought us here; in doing so, it aims to help policymakers understand how the crisis can be averted or resolved in the future.
I am excited to work to bring critical depth to this current political affair, which is both widely discussed and, from my experience, widely misunderstood. Current politics is a manifestation of history and competing historical agency; I believe my deep roots in political and diplomatic history of Euro-Asian relations and Chinese politics will shed invaluable light on the subject of the PRC’s interventions in Hong Kong.
Aidan Lilienfeld, application for the Fellowship Program at Asia House, January 2022
[1] Jonathan J. Howlett, Creating a new Shanghai: the end of the British presence in China (1949-57), (University of Bristol, 2012) https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/34507221/559270.pdf.
Haus Lilienfeld 