← Back to context

Comment by cscurmudgeon

7 months ago

Shouldn't people of Hong Kong decide that?

https://theworld.org/stories/2016/08/30/there-s-movement-tur...

Should the people of North Dakota be able to take a vote and decide to become a Chinese province?

I mean, I completely empathize with their situation, but the fact of the matter is that the UK has even less of a claim to governance over the territory than China does. It’s physically connected to mainland China with no other countries or territories around.

  • > Should the people of North Dakota be able to take a vote and decide to become a Chinese province?

    They have the moral right to do so.

    But the ground reality is that many Chinese are becoming North Dakotans (Americans).

    https://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?g...

    And many Hong Kongers are becoming British:

    https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/07/ho...

    • Whether you have the moral right to do so is rather debatable. Morals are up to the individual.

      I would say that it would be a major national security issue and detriment to everyone else in the country if a state was allowed to secede to another country, especially a foreign adversary.

      In the United States nobody has the legal right to secede, even if a statehouse passes a law or holds a ballot vote on a constitutional amendment.

      As far as emigrating and gaining legal status elsewhere that’s up to the individual.