China and Hong Kong: an a-constitutional crisis

Hong Kong has seen a reduction in recent civic unrest due to the strict rules implemented to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. However, in the years prior to the pandemic, Hong Kong experienced the effects of a series of prolonged mass protests against the perceived illegitimate interference in Hong Kong’s legal system by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In the Hong Kong Special Administrative Territory, a large part of the population sees interventions by the CCP as violations of a historically enshrined regional autonomy. This chapter discusses two, among many, of the factors that have questioned the legitimacy of central institutions in Hong Kong. The first element is the difference in ideological roles that constitutional law has in China and in Hong Kong. For the CCP, the Chinese Constitution is one of the institutional devices that helps in the promotion of its socialist agenda, whereas in Hong Kong, the rule of law is a foundational element of Hong Kong identity. The second driver of the crises is the emergence of a regional identity under the term ‘localism’. I explain that Hong Kong localism is a different moniker for a new ethnocentric movement that sits uneasily with Chinese hegemonic identity.