Joel Sandhu: What's Next for Hong Kong?

As Beijing marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China with an enormous military parade, protests have erupted again in Hong Kong where the national day was marked by bursts of violence as riot police deployed to major street corners, locked down the city, and clashed with protesters. Hong Kongers have been fighting to preserve the autonomy and freedoms they are granted by the “one country, two systems” policy – freedoms that do not apply to Chinese citizens on the mainland. Since Hong Kong was handed over to China by the United Kingdom in 1997, Hong Kongers have felt Beijing’s increasing encroachment on their civil liberties. Many of them, especially from the younger generation, now fear that the city will lose its unique character and feel the need to fight back to protect their identity and way of life. In this episode, Katharina Nachbar from the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) talks with Joel Sandhu about his recent visit to Hong Kong and the impressions he took away from speaking to academics, business leaders and locals in a city that has seen over three consecutive months of protests and riots. He also reflects on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and what it means for Hong Kong. Joel is a project manager at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin, where he heads the Global Governance Futures – Robert Bosch Foundation Multilateral Dialogues (GGF) program and leads GPPi’s work on global order. Katharina manages communications at GPPi.