Six years ago on Canada Day, Martin Lim was in Hong Kong watching the ceremonies as the former British colony was handed back to China.

The Vancouver businessman remembers the promises of the new Beijing masters that Hong Kong will flourish under the pledge of "one country, two systems".

He was skeptical. In his heart, he knew that his homeland will one day soon be politically integrated with China.

Six years later on Canada Day, Lim's skepticism was playing out in Hong Kong.

Like him, thousands of overseas Chinese-Canadians were watching with angst as one- tenth of their homeland's population, some 500,000 people, had taken to the streets in a show of defiance to stop the imposition of a draconian security law.

The new law, pushed by China's top puppet in Hong Kong, Tung Chee-Hwa would among other things give the administration the power to ban local offshoots of groups already banned by Beijing, to remove journalists and others in public-interest defence in official secrets cases, and to allow police searches without warrants.

Basically, what Beijing wanted was for Hong Kong to have similar security laws that has helped it maintain a repressive communist regime for decades.

It was the beginning of what Hong Kongers had feared since the handover - political integration with China.

But the people of Hong Kong would have none of it.

Their mass protest and threats of further chaos has forced a stunning reversal by Tung Chee Hwa, Hong Kong's embattled leader - a rare triumph of people power.

He has agreed to defer the law after initially watering it down for a vote this week.

But the fight to maintain the freedoms that Hong Kong has had for over a century while living under the shadow of the dragon, is far from over.

Many Hong Kongers are grateful for the economic gifts from the Chinese central government to help shore up their ailing economy.

But they understand that while economic integration opens up more opportunities for Hong Kong, political integration will curtail individual freedom, something Hong Kongers guard jealously.

Recent history lends credence to their aversion to the proposed security rules.

Among the four major man-made calamities that caused widespread death in the 20th century, one was during Mao Zedong's rule in communist China.

Up to 70 million Chinese are believed to have died--millions of them starved to death--under Mao's rule from 1949 to 1976.

The communists justified their actions in the name of wiping out 'counter-revolution', which, simply put, refers to enemies of the communist revolution, and activities that would jeopardize communist rule.

Hunger and persecution drove people out of their country and many of them sought refuge in Hong Kong.

Against this historical background, Hong Kongers' concerns about the new law--which bans subversion, treason and sedition--are legitimate. That is because the acts banned under the proposed Article 23 of the Basic Law are similar to the 'counter-revolutionary activities' banned under the Chinese system.

Even before the law is passed radio stations and newspapers are feeling the glare of Beijing, which is forcing them to tone down on certain types of coverage.

For instance the mass-circulation Ming Pao Daily News, which has publications in Vancouver and Toronto, asked its employees to refrain from taking part in the latest demonstrations, although the same newspaper staged a protest rally a few years ago after the Chinese authorities arrested one of its reporters on charges of leaking state secrets.

The fallout from the Hong Kong flip-flop has also put Tung Chee Hwa in a precarious position as calls for his resignations abound.

Beijing is now struggling to find a way for him to leave gracefully without both him and the communist regime losing face.

In Taiwan, the Hong Kong scenario is being cited as evidence that it should refuse China's offer of a similar autonomy deal as part of a reunification agreement.

There is no doubt that Beijing's pledge of autonomy for Hong Kong comes with strings attached.

The question is how far are the people of Hong Kong willing to go to ensure that the strings that bind them with China do not become the ropes that strangle their freedoms.