BEIJING — Nearly two years ago, tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents took to the streets in a defiant challenge to China. They called for full democracy, universal suffrage and the protection of their way of life.
But few spoke of independence — until now.
Two years after the “umbrella revolution” swept Hong Kong, with anger over Beijing’s influence in the city rising, what was once a fringe position has become a nascent political force.
On Sunday, in the first vote since the 2014 protests, the Hong Kong ballot included candidates who support the idea of independence, as well as other newcomers who have called for greater autonomy for the Chinese special administrative region.
The election results will not immediately change Hong Kong’s governance. Only half of the seats in the city’s 70-seat legislative council are directly elected through universal suffrage; half are “functional consistencies” that give corporations, associations and chambers of commerce actual votes.
Yet if there’s a strong showing from young, independence-leaning candidates — which polls suggest may be possible — it means that those critical of Beijing’s influence will maintain the ability to veto policies proposed by the pro-China camp.
And it sends a clear message to Beijing: The battleground may have shifted, but the fight for Hong Kong is on.
Over the past four years, Hong Kong’s political landscape has been radically re-shaped.
In 1997, the one-time British colony was returned to Chinese rule under an arrangement known as “one country, two systems.” Hong Kong would maintain certain rights and separate laws for 50 years but is beholden, ultimately, to Beijing.
In the “two systems” framework, many in Hong Kong saw space for political change. And for the better part of 15 years, the city’s pro-democracy camp worked within the system for that goal.
When people in Hong Kong last voted in legislative elections, in 2012, independence was not on the agenda — 2014 changed that.
In June of that year, Beijing issued a White Paper that confirmed some of the democracy movement’s worst fears about the Chinese government’s plans for Hong Kong. “One country, two systems” does not mean autonomy, it said, but rather “the power to run local affairs as authorized by the central leadership.”
By September, anger over the paper, combined with outrage at the arrest of student leaders, culminated in the peaceful occupation of one of Asia’s financial centers — for 79 days.
But thousands of people sleeping on a major thoroughfare did not secure a single concession from Beijing. And by the time the crowds dispersed and the tent city was torn down, many thought the movement was over.
Perhaps it could have been. But in the years since, Beijing has done little to ease fears. This winter, five men affiliated with a Hong Kong publishing house that specializes in gossipy books about Chinese leaders disappeared — abducted, it later emerged, by Chinese security forces.
In a poll published in July by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, about 17 percent of 1,010 Hong Kongers surveyed said they support independence after 2047. The survey found that less than 4 percent thought independence was possible.
