Hong Kong Situation Reflects Infighting Within Chinese Communist Party Leadership

Seeing the bill as a major milestone of Hong Kong’s decline into submitting to total mainland control, Hong Kong residents were not pleased with the bill’s suspension and have continued their protests. The extradition bill proposed that people could be extradited to mainland China for trial. Though Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced the extradition bill as “dead,” she never said “withdraw,” the operative word protesters were looking for. About half a million people marched on Sunday. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear protesters late in the evening.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks to reporters during a press conference in Hong Kong on July 22, 2019. Vincent Yu/AP Photo

Seeing an extradition agreement with mainland China as a critical juncture for Hong Kong to remain free from the communist state, hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents have been continuing their protests against the government’s bill.

But political insiders have told The Epoch Times that political infighting in Zhongnanhai—China’s “White House” and central headquarters of the CCP—has also been responsible for further fueling tensions in Hong Kong.