Word: mainland
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...Cheung is particularly concerned about maternal perpetrators of filicide-suicide in Hong Kong, many of whom have been immigrants from mainland China married to local men. "These immigrant wives aren't eligible for welfare systems or public housing until they fulfill a seven-year residency requirement," says Cheung. "If their Hong Kong husband leaves them, they become stranded." Choi Sai-mui, who plunged with her son from the Tsing Yi Bridge, was one of these women. So was the woman who in 2007 tied the hands and feet of her 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son before...
...People's Republic do not apply. Since the British handover in 1997, the former colonial entrepôt has been governed as a special administrative region (SAR) of China under the principle of "one country, two systems," and it looks a lot more like a democracy than the mainland. It has a free press, independent bewigged judges (a legacy of the British) and regularly scheduled elections - although there are no direct elections for the SAR's Chief Executive or for half of the legislature, which has seats reserved for "functional constituencies" representing various professions. Hong Kong is no Potemkin village...
...There is also concern that Beijing will allow universal suffrage only after Hong Kong passes some sort of antisedition law that could make it illegal to campaign for democracy in the mainland the way Liu Xiaobo did or to call for the independence of Hong Kong, Tibet or the Uighur autonomous region of Xinjiang. In 2003 an antisedition bill proposed by the local government was defeated after a million people took to the streets in protest. Beijing has not formally made the antisedition law a precondition to democracy, but there have been subtle hints that it may be a factor...
...same question could be asked about mainland Chinese. If Hong Kong becomes democratic, presumably they'll agitate for change as well. And that could destabilize a country bent on a quiet, stable rise. Yet there's room for a small-scale democratic experiment. China's economic miracle started with a small-scale economic experiment right across the border from Hong Kong, in Shenzhen. And if China hopes to bring democratic Taiwan back into the fold, it will have to prove it can truly sustain "one country, two systems." Hong Kong could be that trial...
...Improving ties with Taiwan have also lessened some of the military tension along China's periphery. Beijing considers the self-ruled island a breakaway province that should ultimately be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary. A more China-friendly leadership in Taipei has helped eased some of the fear of armed conflict. But the region still has the potential to be a flash point. Taiwan says China has some 1,500 missiles stationed along the Taiwan Strait. And a decision by U.S. President Obama in January to approve the sale of more than $6 billion in military equipment...