S18: Ethnic Politics

• What are the causes of ethnic tensions in China today?
• Xinjiang: What explains the repression against Uyghurs? What can we do?
• Revolution of Our Times: What revolution? Whose revolution?

• In 2010, there were 14 suicide jumps at Foxconn, a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer. All jumpers were workers from 18 to 25 years old.
• Their suicides were believed to be the strict management and high pressure at the company.
• Some believe compensation policies may have also been a factor.

• A Chinese factory worker named Wen set fire to a textile plant in Sichuan province due to unpaid wages of 800 RMB (~120 USD).
• Police disputed the claim that 800 yuan in wages were owed and blamed the arson on the worker’s suicidal thoughts.
• Netizens expressed sympathy for Wen and called for better legal protection of worker rights.

• What is the root cause of social malaise in contemporary China?
• What could be the solution(s)?

• Use of force
• Imprisonment, house arrest
• Potential for backfire: instead of intimating protesters, new public sympathy and support

How to reduce the costs of repression?

• “Invited for tea”: Gathering information and subtle deterrence
• Divide and conquer: Mutual suspicion and mistrust between skilled vs. unskilled workers, migrants vs. permanent residents
• Relational repression: Pressure on family and friends of protesters
• Digital surveillance: Restrictions on mobility, etc.

Concession:

• Monetary settlement: “stability maintenance funds”
• Shelving public projects
• Stronger state capacity more conciliatory
• Combined with repressive tactics

Pre-emptive repression:

• House arrest and/or increased surveillance
• Political anniversaries and holidays: June 4, National Day, etc.
• Major political, diplomacy, int’l events: party congress, national people’s congress, etc.

• Lack of fiscal resources from higher level gov
• Need to rely on land sales / local businesses for revenue
• Economic growth AND political stability as criteria for career advancement
• More responsive to central signals than to local concerns

• Protests: Drain resources, security spending exceeds social spending.
• Protest Value: Costly, but better than democratization as a release valve and feedback mechanism.
• Corruption: Vested interests block addressing root causes (party-state role).
• Liberalization Dilemma: Balancing public demands with party control is difficult.

Uyghur

• Settler colonialism
• Crimes against humanity
• Genocide

Chinese state: “Three forces”

• Religious radicalism
• Terrorism
• Separatism

Common features:

• Ethnic classification
• Territorial units based on titular minority groups
• Minority-specific public policies

Differences:

• Rejection of self-determination (and secessionism)
• Rejection of ethno-federalism: China as a composite multi-ethnic nation, rather than a land of heterogeneous nationalities in separate existence

• Creation of territorial units named after ethnic group of main inhabitants
• Written in Chinese constitution in 1954
• Materialize class universalism by enforcing equal rights
• Groups big or small recognized as equal through scientific classification

Intended goals

• Political integration by associating ethnic governance with titular group
• Diffusing the weight of large peripheral groups, especially Mongols, Uyghurs, and Tibetans

Unintended consequences

• Increased intra-ethnic competition within an ethno-territorial unit
• Strengthened claim to ethno-nationalism: Uyghur political imagining given formal, territorial shape

• Developmental equality: State subsidies and tax relief to peripheral regions
• Education equality:
  • Universal elementary and secondary schools in minority regions
  • Network of special colleges for minority students
• Language equality:
  • Standardization of writing systems: Latin letters for Uyghur and Kazakhs
  • Parallel tracks: Ethnic schools and state schools

• 1955: Creation of Xinjiang Uyghur Autuonomous Region
• Abolition of Islamic court system
• Land reform
• Cultural management:
  • Collection of Uyghur folk lore, music, and literature
  • Formalization of Uyghur language and introduction of Latin script
• Demographic change: Arrival of Han settlers and refugees

• Increasing Han population
  • 1953: 299K (6.1%)
  • 1964: 2.4 million (32.9%)
• Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC)
  • Made up of demobilized soldiers
  • A quarter of Xinjiang’s economic output during Mao era
  • Doubling of cultivated land between 1955 and 1960

• End of Latin script and re-introduction of Arabic script
• State sponsorship of religious revival

• How has China’s domestic security strategy in Xinjiang changed in recent years? Why?
• How do changing perceptions of external threats influence authoritarian repression?
• What are the implications of the CCP’s counterterrorism narrative on the future of Uyghur life / ethnic policy?

• Describe the life inside the camp, and how collective punishment works.
• What are the goals of the party based on its repressive strategies?
• How will such strategies contribute to long-term (in)stability in Xinjiang?

The extent of arbitrary detentions against Uyghur and others, in context of “restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights, enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”

Hu Jintao Era

• Protest bargaining
• Bureaucratic absorption: Development of administrative law, etc.
• grassroots patron-clientelism: Ris of NGOs, etc.

Xi Jinping Era

• Shift toward prevention and control: Comprehensive National Security Strategy
• China’s Foreign NGO Management Law (2016): Foreign NGOs in mainland China “must not endanger China’s national unity, security, or ethnic unity”

• Common view: “materialistic society focused on commerce rather than politics or ideology”
• The concept of a “minimally integrated social political system” explains Hong Kong’s political stability under British rule
• The bureaucratic polity and pragmatic, apolitical Chinese society as compartmentalized and depoliticized.

Long history of political activism:

• 1966–7 riots
• 1989 pro-Tiananmen rallies
• July 1, 2003 rally
• 2014 Umbrella Movement
• 2019 anti-extradition protests

• Rocky island with deep-water harbor, located at the mouth of Pearl River Delta in southern China
• Commerce, not Christianity or civilization, as main purpose of Hong Kong as a crown colony: Free port for European trade in China and Southeast Asia
• Despite political upheaval and wars, Hong Kong’s “middleman capitalism” remained consistent.

• Pragmatism, not ideology, drove the development of Hong Kong between British colonialism and Chinese communism after World War II
• Beijing desired for Hong Kong to remain a British colony, and Chinese Communist leaders did not forcefully recover it despite having the opportunity to do so
• The Chinese Communist Party adopted a policy of peaceful coexistence with Hong Kong, contradicting their anti-colonial rhetoric

• Cold War Hong Kong as a unique and crucial nexus among opposing great powers
• Hong Kong was the only treaty port for trade and currency transactions between China and the West
• Enclave for spies from both sides of the Cold War: Foreign journalists, CIA operatives, and American consulate staff interacted with their Chinese counterparts in Hong Kong.

• The Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong was signed on December 19, 1984, between the UK Government and the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
• On July 1, 1997, the UK transferred sovereignty over Hong Kong to the PRC.
• In recent years, Chinese officials have challenged the status of the Joint Declaration as a “historic document”.

• “One Country, Two Systems” is the policy that governs the relationship between Hong Kong and China.
• Under this policy, Hong Kong is considered part of China but retains its own systems and way of life.
• The Basic Law is Hong Kong’s constitutional document that gives legal effect to the “One Country, Two Systems” policy.
• The Basic Law came into effect on July 1, 1997, when the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (HKSAR) was established.

Strategies of governance:

• Economic statecraft
• Patron-clientelism
• Symbolic domination

• Hong Kong serves as a free financial and currency market
• It is an essential window for state-owned enterprises Chinese enterprises to raise capital through initial public offerings
• Hong Kong provides a safe haven for giant state-owned enterprises and officials to park their public and private wealth
• It allows them to increase operational autonomy, access world market information, and potentially benefit from tax advantages due to their “foreign” registration in Hong Kong.

• Originally started as Liow & Company in Hong Kong in 1938 to support the Chinese Civil War
• Renamed China Resources Corporation in 1948 and later incorporated as China Resources (Holdings) Company Limited in 1983
• Main business focus is exporting Chinese products to Hong Kong
• Ranked 70th on the 2022 Fortune Global 500 list
• Annual revenue: US$ 126.2 billion (2023); Annual net income: US$ 3.797 billion (2023)

• Hong Kong’s business elite was co-opted by China before 1997: influence in drafting the SAR’s mini-constitution.
• Business tycoons held positions in various bodies responsible for the transition of sovereignty, including the Basic Law Drafting Committee and the Hong Kong Affairs Advisers.
• Honorary titles granted to the Hong Kong elite provide privileged access to Mainland officials who have regulatory and approval powers in dealing with foreign capital.

• Patron-clientelism is used to gain political support from the business and professional sectors in Hong Kong.
• Functional constituency (FC) representation in the Legislative Council is reserved for members of major business and professional groups.
• FCs have largely become a system representing sectoral leaders and corporation bosses.
• FC sectors also have a significant influence in the election committee for choosing the chief executive, accounting for almost 80 percent of votes.

• The Liaison Office in Hong Kong has expanded in size, personnel, and budget.
• “Mass organizations” such as regional federations, hometown associations, and service-oriented NGOs have multiplied throughout the territory.
• New immigrants from the Mainland, numbering about 60,000 annually, have organizations like the New Home Association as nodes of co-optation.

• Beijing has the ultimate power to distribute political and economic rewards and punishments to facilitate its rule in Hong Kong.
• United front work has increased in scope, intensity, systematicity, and visibility in the past two decades.
• The Liaison Office, along with its network of affiliated elite and community associations, is considered a “quasi-ruling party.”

The Basic Law

• Imposed as the mini-constitution, allowed for Beijing’s intervention, contradicting the “One Country, Two Systems” blueprint.

The Chief Executive (CE)

• Elected by a Beijing-controlled Election Committee, preventing the development of a local political base and prohibiting the CE from having any party affiliation.

The Legislative Council

• Rverrepresentation of business and professional elites through functional constituencies
• Only partially returned by popular votes.

• Failure on the part of Beijing in terms of people’s self-identification as “Hong Kongers” or “Chinese.”
• Among individuals in the age group of 18 to 29, the percentage of those identifying as “Hong Kongers” has increased from 42 percent in 1997 to 80 percent in 2020.

• Birth tourism has thrived in Hong Kong, with Mainland pregnant women attracted to the city’s superior medical and educational facilities.
• In addition to birth tourism, the “one-way permit” scheme has contributed to population growth in Hong Kong since 1980, which allows a daily quota of 150 immigrants from the Mainland and accounts for over 90 percent of annual population growth in the past two decades.
• Mainland authorities have refused to share their exclusive power over the selection and approval of immigrant applications with Hong Kong.

• Anti-China localism emerged as young people in Hong Kong targeted Mainland Chinese as unwelcome invaders.
• Fueled by issues such as stagnant wages and high property prices, leading to a class war perceived as a Hong Kong-China confrontation.
• The influx of Mainland Chinese was seen as the crux and source of the problems, attributed to the deepening economic and social integration policies with the Mainland.

• 79-day occupation movement in Central, Hong Kong
• The immediate cause: Beijing’s decision to abandon the Basic Law blueprint for universal suffrage and its insistence on “patriotism” as a criterion for political and judicial appointments.
• Localism gained significant support among Umbrella Movement participants, with 80 percent identifying solely as “Hongkongers” rather than “Chinese” or “Hong Kong Chinese.”
• Democracy and localism were seen as intertwined by the protesters.

• More assertive strand of localism in Hong Kong: Calls for political autonomy and self-determination.
• Reaction against Mainland China’s assimilationist state-building nationalism.
• Departure from previous movements: The Umbrella Movement was primarily a democratic movement for Hong Kong, with the imagined community being Hong Kong itself, rather than seeking democracy for China or using Hong Kong’s democracy to promote democracy in China.

• After the Umbrella Movement, localists aimed to shift the popular support for localism from the streets to the legislature.
• New political parties: Demosisto (formerly Scholarism), Hong Kong Indigenous, Hong Kong National Party, and Youngspiration were quickly formed in 2015.
• They were collectively known as the “third force,” offering an alternative to the pro-establishment and pan-democratic political camps.

• Founder of Scholarism during the 2012 anti-national education movement.
• Inspired by the 2009 anti-Express Rail protest led by Eddie Chu as his political enlightenment.
• Part of the post-90s generation and is known for being digitally and socially media-savvy.
• Global media sensation as the face of the Umbrella Movement in 2014.
• He internationalized the Hong Kong issue by lobbying the US Congress.

• Edward Leung, a vocal advocate for Hong Kong independence, was able to secure 15 percent of the vote in a LegCo by-election in 2016.
• Leung’s campaign slogan, “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times,” called for fundamental change from below and resonated with freedom-loving people.
• This slogan would later become the signature rallying cry during the six-month-long battle in 2019.

• External events: The Arab Spring protests in Tunisia and Egypt in 2010
• Domestic instabilities: 2008 unrest in Tibet, 2009 riots in Xinjiang, and Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement in 2014.
• Movements seen as contagious and illegitimate political changes, instigated by Western powers.

February

Hong Kong’s Security Bureau proposes amendments to extradition laws that would allow extraditions to mainland China and other countries not covered by existing treaties.

March 31

Thousands take to the streets to protest against the proposed extradition bill.

April 3

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s government introduces amendments to the extradition laws that would allow criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial.

April 28 – Tens of thousands march on Hong Kong’s Legislative Council to demand the scrapping of the proposed amendments.

June 9 - More than half a million people take to the streets.

June 15 – Lam indefinitely delays extradition law.

July 1 - Protesters storm the Legislative Council on the 22nd anniversary of the handover from British to Chinese rule, destroying pictures and daubing walls with graffiti.

Sept. 4 - Lam announces the extradition bill will be withdrawn. Critics say it is too little, too late.

Nov. 4 - University student Chow Tsz-lok, 22, falls from the third to the second floor of a parking lot as police disperse protesters.

Nov. 6 - A knife-wielding man attacks pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho.

Nov. 17-29 - Protracted, at-times fiery siege at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University as police surround campus after students and activists barricaded themselves inside.

2020:

April 18 - Police arrest 15 activists, including Democratic Party founder Martin Lee, 81, and millionaire publishing tycoon Jimmy Lai, 71, in the biggest crackdown on the pro-democracy movement since protests escalated in June.

June 30 - National Security Law introduced

• New tactics included new unionism, the yellow economic circle, and international diplomacy.
• The yellow economic circle involved supporting pro-movement businesses and developing an independent economic supply chain separate from Mainland China.
• Crowdfunding initiatives raised funds to issue front-page advertisements in major international newspapers, appealing to leaders attending the G20 summit to address the crisis in Hong Kong.

• The political theater of 2019 was characterized by street theater, with constantly changing casts and improvisation.
• Protesters followed a historically established “repertoire” of collective action, working from familiar scripts that guided their behavior during protests.
• Both ritual and theater are performed for social effect, using language and symbols to challenge the authority of ruling elites.

• November 2019: the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act by the United States.
• In response, China imposed the National Security Law on Hong Kong seven months later, resulting mass arrests, criminalization of political opposition, removal of civil liberties, media censorship, and more.
• Economic rivalry between the West, particularly the United States, and China as a key factor behind this confrontation.

2020-05-28: China’s parliament overwhelmingly approves imposing national security legislation on Hong Kong to tackle secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference.

2024-03-19: Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s Legislative Council unanimously passed the “National Security Ordinance” (Article 23)