Most of these people believe that because they have their own government, Hong Kong should have the right to makes its own rules and ultimately decide if it wants to be independent of China. This belief is much different than the belief of the older generations living in Hong Kong. Those over the age of 30 have witnessed changing from being under British rule to being loosely governed by China, and have a different view of the situation. They perceive that while they have their own government, it was meant to aid in introducing laws to Hong Kong that would help the people better assimilate into mainland China when their agreed upon 50 years of sovereignty are up in 2047. This difference in views has split the people in the region into two groups, and this difference in opinion has led the group who believes in the independence of Hong Kong to stage protests. These protests are meant to put pressure on the Hong Kong government to stand up for itself, and also to raise awareness of this issue to people outside of the Hong Kong.
For some, the desire for an independent Hong Kong appears to be less strong. This stance in the older generations comes from the fact that older generations did not grow up with an independent government, they were under British rule, and to have the "one country, two systems" model already feels like an improvement to them. Another reason that reaches across all generations is that many people who live in Hong Kong have family that live in mainland China. While they may be in favor of having independence, unity with China is more important to them because of their family ties.
This difference in views has been cause for tension in Hong Kong.
