The massive public demonstrations by students and young members of the middle class that have roiled Hong Kong in recent weeks are ostensibly demands for democracy. However, they actually reflect frustration among a population that has been poorly governed by a succession of leaders picked by China’s central government more for their loyalty than their competence.
In fact, the current near-uprising is the culmination of a long series of demonstrations since Hong Kong’s handover by the UK to China in 1997, after former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten, the last British governor, failed to persuade Beijing to allow Hong Kong to establish a genuine democratic government.