The British traditions of colonialism where by the governed had no voice in who governed them? The governor of Hong Kong was NEVER voted by the residents of HK but was selected by the government in UK. This was the exact arrangement that the Chinese kept in place. I don't love what China is doing to HK but let's not romanticize the British control of HK.
Edit: I don't want to give the impression that the British didn't do good things in HK but as far as governing goes, the UK maintained a very tight grip on HK until the very end. HK didn't elect its own legislature, IIRC, until 2 years before the handover.
It's worth recognizing that that was the case because China told the British that they would invade HK if the British gave them full self-determination.
That's not true. Britain ruled Hong Kong for over a century without introducing democracy. The governor was appointed by the UK Foreign Minister, the legislature was appointed by the governor, and most of the high administrative posts were held by Brits. Chinese people were treated as second-class citizens, and of course had no say in government. The UK only began introducing any democratic elements once it became clear that they were going to hand over the city to China.
Democratic government and human rights are separate things. Generally the latter follows the former, but there have been scenarios in which an unelected government upholds rights. China currently has neither democratic representation nor human rights.
Britain wanted Hong Kong to have a democratic government. China wouldn't let them.
> documents recently released by the National Archives in Britain suggest that beginning in the 1950s, the colonial governors who ran Hong Kong repeatedly sought to introduce popular elections but abandoned those efforts in the face of pressure by Communist Party leaders in Beijing
That was only because they could no longer keep Hong Kong and the handover was inevitable.
Britain also tried to stop Portugal from giving the people of Macau citizenship so they wouldn’t look as bad when they didn’t give citizenship to the people of Hong Kong.
Edit: I don't want to give the impression that the British didn't do good things in HK but as far as governing goes, the UK maintained a very tight grip on HK until the very end. HK didn't elect its own legislature, IIRC, until 2 years before the handover.