Political Dynamics of Hong Kong Under Chinese Sovereignty

Politics in Hong Kong was activated when Hong Kong started its democratisation process. Prior to the development of representative government in the mid 80s, politics in Hong Kong was 'absorbed by administrative consultation'. The 1989 June-fourth incident and the arrival of the last Governor, Chris Pattern, accelerated the democratisation process and intensified the competition for elected seats in the three-tier representative assemblies. Major political actors, including the liberals, businessmen, conservatives, Beijing officials, and the general citizenry were all divided on the issues of democracy and China -- Hong Kong relationship. With the introduction of directly elected seats to the Legislative Council, patterns of political interactions among political actors were largely transformed. The Legislative Council was turned into an active chamber of discussion; the relationship between the executive and legislature became tense; the leadership of the executive was challenged; the administrative officers and politicians became political competitors; and adversarial party politics was developed. The Chinese involvement further complicated the dynamics of politics in Hong Kong.