The secret negotiations behind the Hong Kong handover
One thing to keep in mind is that in 1997, HK&#x27;s GDP was about one sixth of China&#x27;s (even though China has 200x the people), and it was a very important conduit between China and the world: In the early 2000s, HK&#x27;s port had about as much volume as Shanghai and Shenzhen together.<p>Today, HK&#x27;s GDP is barely 3% of China&#x27;s, and the ports of Shanghai and Shenzhen together have 3x the throughput of HK. (Just have a look at these pictures: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dailymail.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;article-2478975&#x2F;Shanghai-port-worlds-busiest-handles-736m-tonnes-year.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dailymail.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;article-2478975&#x2F;Shanghai-por...</a> )<p>In other words, HK used to be hugely important for China. Now, it isn&#x27;t, and with rising Chinese nationalism, HK is being seen more and more like an unruly and spoiled child.<p>The grievances of HK&#x27;s population are real: a political and business establishment dominated by property tycoons (and increasingly mainland Chinese political factions) keen on maintaining their privileged position; huge economic inequality; a slow erosion of political liberties (&quot;salami tactic&quot;).<p>That all, of course, gave rise to the Umbrella Movement in 2014.<p>However, given that the Chinese Communist Party is not inclined to weaken its grip on power, and extremely protective of the (perceived) territorial integrity of China, I don&#x27;t really see how this will end well. :-&#x2F; Here&#x27;s hoping.<p>Sources for statistics:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;marginalrevolution.com&#x2F;marginalrevolution&#x2F;2014&#x2F;09&#x2F;hong-kongs-share-of-chinese-gdp.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;marginalrevolution.com&#x2F;marginalrevolution&#x2F;2014&#x2F;09&#x2F;hon...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.vox.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;9&#x2F;28&#x2F;6857567&#x2F;hong-kong-used-to-be-18-percent-of-chinas-gdp-now-its-3-percent" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.vox.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;9&#x2F;28&#x2F;6857567&#x2F;hong-kong-used-to-be-1...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_world's_busiest_container_ports" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_world's_busiest_cont...</a>