What is China’s One Country Two Systems policy?

Subject: International relations

Context:

Protests in Hong Kong, now in its 13th consecutive week, have brought a decades-old policy of the People’s Republic of China back into focus — One Country Two Systems.
One Country Two Systems policy means that the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions, both former colonies, can have different economic and political systems from that of mainland China while being part of the People’s Republic of China.

Origin of the policy:

It was originally proposed by Deng Xiaoping during the 1970s.
Deng’s plan was to unify China and Taiwan under the One Country Two Systems policy.
Taiwan rejected the Communist Party’s offer of one country two systems and has since been running as a separate entity from mainland China, though Beijing never gave up its claim over Taiwan.

Resurfacing of the idea:

The idea of two systems in one country resurfaced when Beijing started talks with Britain and Portugal, who were running Hong Kong and Macau, respectively.
The British had taken control of Hong Kong in 1842 after the First Opium War.
In 1898, the British government and the Qing dynasty of China signed the Second Convention of Peking, which allowed the British to take control of the islands surrounding Hong Kong, known as New Territories, on lease for 99 years.
London promised Peking that the islands would be returned to China after the expiry of the lease, in 1997.
Macau, on the other side, had been ruled by the Portuguese since 1557.
They started withdrawing troops in the mid-1970s.
During the transfer of territories, Beijing promised to respect the region’s autonomy under the One Country Two Systems proposal.

Transfer of territories:

On December 19, 1984, China and the U.K. signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration in Beijing, which set the terms for the autonomy and the legal, economic and governmental systems for Hong Kong post-1997.
Similarly, on March 26, 1987, China and Portugal signed the Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau in which China made similar promises for the region of Macau after it was handed over to Beijing.
Hong Kong returned to Chinese control on July 1, 1997, and Macau’s sovereignty was transferred on December 20, 1999.
Both regions became Special Administrative Regions of China.
The regions would have their own currencies and economic and legal systems, but defence and diplomacy would be decided by Beijing.
Their mini-Constitutions would remain valid for 50 years — till 2047 for Hong Kong and 2049 for Macau. It is unclear what will happen after this term.

What triggered the current crisis:

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy civil society protests against China’s alleged attempts to erode the city’s autonomy.
This year, Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, proposed the extradition Bill, which sought to extradite Hong Kongers to places with which the city doesn’t have extradition agreements.
It would allow the city government to extradite Beijing critics to mainland China where the judicial system is subservient to the ruling Communist Party. This triggered the protests.

What is the Opium war?

The Opium Wars were two conflicts waged between China and Western powers during the mid-19th century.
The First Opium War was fought from 1839 to 1842 between China and the United Kingdom and was triggered by the Chinese government’s campaign to enforce its prohibition against opium trafficking by British merchants.
The Second Opium War was waged by Britain and France against China from 1856 to 1860.
In each war, the superior military advantages enjoyed by European forces led to several easy victories over the Chinese military, with the consequence that China was compelled to sign unequal treaties to grant favourable tariffs, trade concessions, reparations and territory to Western powers.
Consequences of the war:
- The two conflicts forced China to open specified treaty ports (including Shanghai) to Western merchants.
- In addition, China ceded sovereignty over Hong Kong to the British Empire, which maintained control over the region until 1997.