In Hong Kong, new virus rekindles old animosities towards China

"They condemn the government as failing to protect the public's wellbeing so they see fit to take it upon themselves to act."Despite the protesters clamouring to completely seal the border, two crossings remain open, although visitors from the mainland are now required to go into a 14-day quarantine.The pressure to close the borders reflects not only fear about a new and unknown infection but is also rooted in the long-simmering tensions between the people of Hong Kong and mainland Chinese after tourism and migration from the mainland boomed in the wake of the 1997 handover. In the summer of 2003, a few months after the SARS epidemic had battered Hong Kong's economy, Beijing relaxed visa restrictions, enabling hundreds of millions of Chinese tourists to visit and help the territory recover. Under the "one country, two systems" framework, Hong Kong maintains border controls, but Beijing handles visa issuance. In all, about 40 percent of the territory's population was born elsewhere, overwhelmingly in mainland China. With the coronavirus outbreak adding to the sense that the mainland is the source of Hong Kong's woes, some in the territory see China's Communist Party and the Chinese people as one and the same and accuse all mainland Chinese of being complicit in opposing the Hong Kong protesters.That includes the whistle-blower doctor who died last week from the infection.