What's The Story With Hong Kong? Is It A Nation Or What?

You may know Hong Kong as an especially popular part of China. If so, you’re right...kind of. While Hong Kong is a part of China, it has its own government, currency, and Olympic team. It would be like if we said Texas is a part of the nation but it did everything differently. Wait Texas already does that, so pretend they had a President too and were roughly a third of their own size.

Okay so now we have tiny, independent Texas, which at one point was colonized by Mexico. We allowed the influence for years because they forced our residents into uncontrollable taco addictions and the only way it could be obtained was through this link. Over time, the taco addiction would fade, but the Mexican influence on tiny Texas grew and became more Mexican than American, but it was still American. In 30 years when its status would be evaluated again, would it be its own power or an official part of either nation?

The answer seems more clear in the real world scenario of Hong Kong and China than it does in the imaginary. In the fake scenario, you have two countries contesting over a state that borders both of their nations, and while the circumstances were different, that real world fallout is why the US owns Texas and “Remember The Alamo” is a thing. For Hong Kong, which was a recognized territory of the British Crown, the answer is less complicated. The border is not rivaled, so for all intents and purposes, China can invade Hong Kong and take it. The Chinese, perhaps out of benevolence or just wishing to keep the world off their backs, allows Hong Kong to remain independent. Why revamp a successful system that is in place?

The video makes many compelling arguments as to why Hong Kong “should” become a nation, but in the end China can do what it wants with it. China refers to the country as theirs because it’s part of their territory, regardless of an 1800’s drug deal the Brits instituted. This video complicated things much more, but it could have just said “China says it’s theirs because it was, and regardless of Hong Kong’s separation, they could take it back.” Sorry Hong Konginians.