It is another weekend in Hong Kong. The world awaits the unveiling of the next act of the drama that is unfolding as a generation tries to free itself from the situation created by their parents in the affirmation of the Basic Law.
In 1997 Britain’s lease on the business capital of Asia and Doorway to China expired. In its place was the Basic Law, an agreement to have one country and two systems as China regained the goose that laid the golden egg. At the same time, China created Special Economic Zones, and Hong Kong was designated a Special Autonomous Region. Capitalism was tried in these regions, and they became little giants in China. Selected children were sent to the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK to learn the principles of capitalism so that China could gain advantage through its newly acquired Most Favored Nation status and its retention of environmental and tax relief as a developing nation. Wealth without responsibility and America’s plunge into national debt created a situation in which economic and political change in Hong Kong was unbridled.
Investors from Mainland China took over the housing markets of Hong Kong, pushing housing costs to a level unattainable by the local people. The generation born under the Basic Law would never be able to afford a reasonable flat or apartment in which to live.
The government was deaf to the cries of injustice rising from campus and factory alike. Law and its practice became tenuous as determinations of the court became politically swayed, and those who questioned justice disappeared.
The emerging student population began to realize that with government and commerce disrupted, education and career would soon be compromised. The young people began to walk through the four steps that Martin Luther King so aptly described in his letter from the Birmingham Jail leading to direct non-violent Action
First: They gathered facts about cases of injustice.
Second: They attempted to negotiate with the Hong Kong government settlement of understanding in the Basic Law. They approached the business sector, drawing attention to unjust actions in the workplace.
Third: They assessed themselves and began to prepare for non-violent direct action by studying King and Nelson Mandela. They established their emotions on the bedrock of truth.
Then, two months ago, they began the direct non-violent demonstration.
Reactions were predictable. Nonviolence is designed to create a social tension so that grievances can be addressed. The tensions came as millions of Hong Kong residents clogged the streets and divisions were identified. There are 19 districts in Hong Kong, and the movement had designed swift travel from district to district so that a “little group” appeared to be “big.”
From his cell in Birmingham, Dr. King asserted that “We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny.” Hong Kong’s position as the Gateway to China and the Crossroads of East and West made the airport the logical place of demonstration, so the movement staged a sit-in there which impacted the globe and drew attention to their cause.
Now it is another weekend in Hong Kong. The nations are responding to the situation because the global economy is affected, travel is affected, shipping is affected, and the Central Government of China has places troops and equipment at the border, threatening to restore order while supporting their appointed government.
So what do we Christians do?
We pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. We must beseech the Holy Spirit to again intervene in the life of Hong Kong. He is the only One who can bring the Kingdom and will in response to our prayers.
Please stay in touch with our friends in Hong Kong. We have served many churches and have seen literally thousands of people come to Christ while ministering there. We have participated in prayer walks and intercession in all 19 districts. We have worked tirelessly to teach the way of the Cross to these friends and now suffer with them as they cry out to God for deliverance.
