ABSTRACT

This study sets out to answer two related research problems. First, the primacy of the “China factor” as the overriding constraint for Hong Kong’s democratic development has been well recognized. However, I have shown that the granting of moderate concessions by the Chinese Government for Hong Kong-wide support for democratization in 1990 when exposed to massive pressure implied that the Chinese Government’s position towards Hong Kong’s democratization was negotiable. This position depends upon the bargaining power of the pro-democratic forces. Therefore, the China factor has not entirely explained what happened in Hong Kong. We would have to look at a variety of internal factors and analyze how they have interacted with the China factor and produced the eventual outcome in relation to Hong Kong’s democratic development. I have thus explored what the other domestic and external constraints have been, which have delimited the bargaining power of pro-democratic forces and the subsequent scope of concessions from the Chinese Government throughout the period of 1984 to mid-2002.