Driven by deep domestic anxieties and spurred by international governments, the Hong Kong protests show no sign of abating.

Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, a member of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Legislative Council, said in 2003, as soon as then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa announced that he would postpone the national security legislation in line with Article 23 of the Basic Law, there were no more protests, and people's lives returned to a normal peaceful state.

But things are different this time. After every concession the HKSAR government made, the protests got more and more violent. They are not just simple protests against a controversial legislation but well-organized movements seeking a "regime change," which is something much more "sinister."

Article 23 of the Basic Law stipulates that the HKSAR shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against China's central government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies.

Ip pointed out that of the seven national security offenses listed in Article 23, three offenses are already on the city's books – treason, sedition and theft of state secrets, while the remaining four are not.

Therefore, many gaps in the legal regime remain, and legal instruments are lacking to deal with organized activities targeted at, for example, splitting Hong Kong from China or toppling the government.

With so many young students involved in the current violence, more and more people are arguing that Hong Kong's education has failed its youth.

The problems with Hong Kong's education system play a big role in fermenting unrest among young people, said Ip.  Of the 6,000 people the police have arrested so far, 40 percent are students. And a total of 250 teachers have also been involved.

It's indeed true that a lot of the teaching materials and textbooks, especially for the subject of liberal studies, contain highly biased information against China, as well as against the police. These teaching materials and textbooks demonize the police and paint a very negative picture of our motherland, she said.

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