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CIAO DATE: 2/5/2007
The Long March in Hong Kong: Continuing Steps in the Transition from Colony to Democracy
Thomas S. Axworthy , Herman B. Leonard
August 2006
Abstract
Avowedly apolitical, Hong Kong is in the midst of the most rapid political transition in China and the success of this transition is crucial not only for the seven million residents of Hong Kong, but also for the future of China itself. How the authorities in Beijing respond to democratic demands from Hong Kong, and how the government of Hong Kong treads a democratic pathway within the boundaries of the Basic Law, are two of the most important questions in international politics today. China’s decisions about Hong Kong will tell us much about the prospects of democratic transformation in China itself, and on that crucible the future of the 21st century might turn.
