Making sense of Hong Kong's fault lines

Problem is not 'one country, two systems' per se, but the economic, political and social conditions the city is operating under

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The Hong Kong protests, which have raged for more than five months, have given "one country, two systems" a bad name.

This was the formula agreed between China and Britain, under which Hong Kong was guaranteed a high degree of autonomy in all matters other than defence and foreign affairs for 50 years after China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 27, 2019, with the headline Making sense of Hong Kong's fault lines. Subscribe