Malta and Hong Kong : a comparative study

Abstract

The island of Malta is 316 square kilometres and consists of five different islands. The population is 515,000. Malta has 150 years of experience as a British colony. It officially became a British colony in 1814 and became independent in 1964. The colony period lasted for 150 years. The Hong Kong region is composed of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the "New Territories". The total area is 1092 square kilometres, and the current population is 7.7472 million. Malta, known as the heart of the Mediterranean, and Hong Kong, the Pearl of the Orient, are very different in geography and climate but share similar fates. The colonial power of Britain colonized them for about 150 years. After the arrival of the French, the Maltese formed a National Assembly and sent envoys to Sicily and Britain for help. In 1800, the British decided to make the island of Malta a protected territory. The United Kingdom gradually realized that Malta could not only be used as a ship repair base for the British Royal Navy but also as a base for commercial exchanges. In the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1814, the European powers recognized the British occupation of Malta, and Malta has became a British colony. Britain had been trying to seize Chinese land since the 17th century. In the 19th century, Britain intensified its aggression against China. Between 1840 and 1842 and between 1856 and 1860, the British pretended to protect British merchants' so-called "interests" in the opium trade. They launched two Opium Wars to invade China and forced the Qing government to sign the "Nanjing Treaty" and the "Beijing Treaty". Hong Kong Island and Kowloon were ceded to the British. In 1898, the British forced the Qing government to sign the "The Convention Between Great Britain and China Respecting an Extension of Hong Kong Territory" and forcibly leased the "New Territories" area for 99 years thus occupying the entire Hong Kong area. Under British colonial rule, both Malta and Hong Kong practised the system of governors. However, the political and economic development of the two regions is different. The first constitution in Malta was promulgated in 1835. From the initial seven committee members to the subsequent 18 members, the United Kingdom agreed in 1921 to implement a constitution that would allow Maltese to enjoy the management of local affairs. In the 1870s, Chinese merchants became a force to be reckoned with in entrepot trade. They requested political participation in1878. However, until 1880 that the first Chinese parliamentarians were elected. In the following years, the Chinese had always had only one seat in the Legislative Council, and by 1896 it had been increased to two. Under British rule, Hong Kong's political system was undemocratic. Economically, the British military expenditure in Malta and the British consumption of soldiers and their families in Malta constitute the primary source of Malta's economic income, thus forming the "Military Bases economy". The United Kingdom and other Western countries turned Hong Kong into an outpost for invading China. It became a transit port and an important channel for selling goods to China and plundering Chinese industrial raw materials. After Hong 2Kong was ceded, it became a small colony of the British Empire in the East. It has gradually become an entrepot between China and the rest of the world. Both the Maltese case of independence and the handover of Hong Kong got successful negotiations. Nevertheless, the two are different. With the vote result, Malta finally got independence In 1964. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Chinese government decided to Take back Hong Kong on 1st July 1997, resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong, and implement the policy of "one country, two systems", "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong", and a high degree of autonomy. Although Malta, after independence and Hong Kong after the reunification both encountered difficulties in the economy, the economy has also achieved better development due to the timely implementation of policies. This dissertation will compare Malta and Hong Kong from six aspects, namely geography, different ways of being colonized, the political economy of Malta and Hong Kong under British colonial rule, different paths to independence and handover, and the economic development of the two regions after the return.