拆解：為什麼中國否認香港曾是英國的殖民地？

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

EXPLAINER: Why is China denying Hong Kong was a UK colony?

KEN MORITSUGU

Fri, June 17, 2022, 2:03 AM

BEIJING (AP) — Hong Kong is preparing to introduce new middle school textbooks that will deny the Chinese territory was ever a British colony. China's Communist rulers say the semi-autonomous city and the nearby former Portuguese colony of Macao were merely occupied by foreign powers and that China never relinquished sovereignty over them.

It's not a new position for China, but the move is a further example of Beijing’s determination to enforce its interpretation of history and events and inculcate patriotism as it tightens its grip over Hong Kong following massive protests demanding democracy in 2019.

“Hong Kong has been Chinese territory since ancient times,” says one new textbook seen by the AP. “While Hong Kong was occupied by the British following the Opium War, it remained Chinese territory.”

It is one of four sets of textbooks being offered to schools to replace those currently in use, all stating the same position, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper reported earlier this week.

WAS HONG KONG A COLONY?

Hong Kong was a British colony from 1841 until its handover to Chinese rule in 1997, with the exception of Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945. Its colonial status was the result of a pair of 19th century treaties signed at the end of the first and second Opium Wars, along with the granting of a 99-year lease in 1898 to the New Territories, which greatly expanded the size of the colony.

China’s Communist Party, which seized power during a civil war in 1949, says it never recognized what it calls the “unequal treaties” that the former Qing Dynasty was compelled to sign following military defeats.

In the late 20th century — with China unwilling to extend the lease on the New Territories, and the colony not viable without them — Britain entered into protracted and often contentious negotiations with Beijing over conditions for the return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule.

Ultimately, China took control of Hong Kong in 1997 under a “one country, two systems" arrangement that would keep the city's economic, political and judicial systems distinct from those in mainland China for 50 years. That was laid out in a 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration registered with the United Nations, although China now refuses to recognize the agreement.

HAS THIS ISSUE COME UP BEFORE?

In 1972, just months after the China seat at the United Nations was transferred to Beijing from the Republic of China government that fled to Taiwan during the civil war, the government acted to remove Hong Kong and Macao, which reverted to Chinese rule in 1999, from a U.N. list of colonies, effectively stripping them of their right to self-determination.

At a time when European nations had granted independence to other colonies, China feared the same could happen to the British and Portuguese enclaves it wanted back. “The settlement of the questions of Hong Kong and Macao is entirely within China’s sovereign right and does not at all fall under the ordinary category of ‘Colonial Territories,'" China's representative said at the time.

Mary Gallagher, who teaches Chinese studies at the University of Michigan, said then-Chinese leader Mao Zedong wanted to ensure that Hong Kong would remain part of China. “So Hong Kong moves between the Chinese empire and the British empire, but loses its right to determine its own future,” she said.

WHY IS HONG KONG CHANGING TEXTBOOKS NOW?

The new textbooks are part of broader changes to education following the 2019 protests, in which many students participated and some played leadership roles.

The texts are for liberal studies classes, which the government overhauled last year after pro-Beijing lawmakers and supporters said they encouraged opposition and activist thought. The classes now focus on themes such as national security, patriotism and identity.

The textbooks promote the official view that the protest movement was the result of foreign agitation and threatened national security. The Beijing government used such arguments to pass a sweeping National Security Law for Hong Kong in 2020 curtailing free speech, criticism of authorities and political opposition.

Authorities have launched a National Security Education Day on April 15, with students encouraged to learn more about national security and take part in educational activities that emphasize the importance of protecting China.

WHERE IS THIS LEADING?

The new textbooks are part of a push to bring Hong Kong's institutional values more closely in line with those of mainland China, especially in the areas of politics and history. Increasingly, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is imposing his vision of strongly nationalistic and increasingly authoritarian rule on the region.

China has sought to eradicate any memory of the military's 1989 bloody suppression of student-led protests centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, citing pandemic concerns to ban once huge public commemorations in Hong Kong on the June 4 anniversary.

“The Communist Party has a monopoly of the truth and of history in China,” said Steve Tsang, a Chinese politics specialist at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. “In the Xi approach to history, facts are merely incidental. Only interpretation matters. And only one interpretation is allowed.”

Translation

北京（美聯社）- 香港正準備推出新的中學教科書，否認中國領土曾經是英國的殖民地。中國共產黨統治者說，這座半自治城市和附近的前葡萄牙殖民地澳門只是被外國勢力佔領，中國從未放棄對它們的主權。

這對中國來說並不是一個新的立場，但此舉進一步證明了北京對在 2019 年發生的,要求民主的大規模抗議活動後加強對香港的控制，加強其對歷史和事件的解釋及灌輸愛國主義的決心。

美聯社看到的一本新教科書說： “香港自古就是中國領土” ; “雖然香港在鴉片戰爭後被英國占領，但它仍然是中國領土。”

據香港《南華早報》本週早些時候報導，這是向學校提供的四套教科書之一，以取代目前使用的教科書，所有教科書都陳述了相同的立場。

香港曾是殖民地嗎？

1841 年至 1997 年香港為英國殖民地，直至 1997 年移交中國統治，期間日本在 1941 年至 1945 年佔領香港除外。香港的殖民地地位, 是在19 世紀第一次和第二次鴉片戰爭時, 由两次分别簽署結束戰爭的條約所导致。之後 中國在1898 年批出 99 年的新界租約，大大擴大了英國殖民地的規模。

1949 年在內戰期間奪取政權的中國共產黨表示，它從未承認前清朝在軍事戰敗後被迫簽署的所謂“不平等條約”。

在 20 世紀後期 - 中國不願延長新界的租約，而沒有新界，這個殖民地就無法生存 - 英國與北京就香港回歸中國統治的條件進行了漫長, 且經常在爭議中的談判。

最終，中國在 1997 年根據 “一個國家、兩個制度” 的安排控制了香港，這將使香港的經濟、政治和司法制度與中國大陸不同長達 50 年。這安排見於1984年的中英聯合聲明中, 並在聯合國註冊了，儘管中國現在拒絕承認該協議。

這個問題以前出現過嗎？

1972年，於內戰期間逃往台灣的中華民國政府將聯合國中國席位轉移到北京幾個月之後，中國政府採取行動, 從聯合國的一份殖民地名單中, 撤除香港和澳門，並於1999年恢復中國統治，這實際上剝奪了他們的自決權。

在歐洲國家授予其他殖民地獨立的時候，中國擔心同樣的事情會發生在它想要收回的英國和葡萄牙的佔地上。中國代表當時表示: “香港和澳門問題的解決完全在中國的主權範圍內，完全不屬於 ‘殖民地’ 的一般範疇” 。

在密歇根大學教授中國研究的 Mary Gallagher說，當時的中國領導人毛澤東希望確保香港仍然是中國的一部分。 她說: “所以香港在中華帝國和大英帝國之間轉移，卻失去了決定自己未來的權利” 。

為什麼香港現在改變教科書？

新教科書是 2019 年抗議活動後教育變革更廣泛的一部分，當時許多學生參加了抗議活動，其中一些學生發揮了領導作用。

這些課本是用於通識教育課程的，在親北京的立法者和支持者表示通識教育鼓勵反對派和激進主義思想後，政府去年對其進行了徹底改革。這些課程現在側重於國家安全、愛國主義和身份認同等主題。

教科書宣揚了官方觀點，即抗議運動是外國煽動的結果，威脅到國家安全。北京政府利用這些論點在 2020 年通過了一項全面的香港國安法，以限制言論自由及對當局的批評和政治反對派。

當局於4月15日啟動了國家安全教育日，鼓勵學生更多地了解國家安全，並參加強調保護中國重要性的教育活動。

 這通往哪裡？

新教科書旨在推動香港的制度價值觀更接近中國大陸的價值觀，特別是在政治和歷史領域。中國領導人習近平越來越多地將他的強烈民族主義和日益獨裁統治的願景強加於該地區。

中國一直試圖消除對軍隊 1989 年血腥鎮壓以北京天安門廣場為中心的學生領導的抗議活動的任何記憶，並以擔憂病毒大流行為理由, 禁止曾經常有的在 6 月 4 日週年紀念日在香港舉行大型公眾記念活動。

倫敦東方和非洲研究學院的中國政治專家 Steve Tsang 說: “共產黨壟斷了中國的真相和歷史”; “在習近平的歷史觀中，事實只是偶然的。 只有解釋才是重要。 而且只允許一種解說” 。

So, Hong Kong is introducing new middle school textbooks that will deny the Chinese territory was ever a British colony. The new textbooks are part of a push to bring Hong Kong's institutional values more closely in line with those of mainland China, and to impose a strongly nationalistic and increasingly authoritarian rule in Hong Kong.