Months of protests in Hong Kong have given way to fighting in the airport, with police moving against the demonstrators, and getting pelted with water bottles. Flights have been suspended at the airport for the time being.
The halting of flights seems to have riled up some of people at the airport, while the government issued statements suggesting that the unrest in and of itself shows “sprouts of terrorism.”
Hong Kong’s leadership is very uncomfortable with the protests, with Carrie Lam, the city’s leader, accusing the protesters of engaging in “lawbreaking activities in the name of freedom,” and warning the city’s recovery could take a long time.
Trump has called for calm, taking a hands-off approach. With Hong Kong protesters singing the US national anthem, and displaying the American flag, and China expressing concern about US involvement in the protests any direct appearance of US involvement would be risky to bilateral relations.
Apart from concerns about a return to normalcy after all these protests, the real question is what will happen next. Speculation is growing about China’s options to end the protests, and any severe crackdown is going to an international backlash. Chinese officials are clearly growing impatient with the protests, but are also aware that a violent crackdown would have consequences.
The HK “protests” have all the hallmarks of a color revolution or foreign instigated regime change operation, similar to the one in the Ukraine resulting in a coup d’état and before in Yugoslavia. China’s restrained is commendable but cannot last indefinitely. China must at some stage clamp down on this violent attempt to separate HK from mainland China.
Hong Kong has a long, recent, history of freedom from Chinese rule, and I’m sure it was a shock being handed off from a relatively lassiez-faire UK governance to whatever stunted communocapitalist system the Chinese are laboring under. It seems a little more ‘organic’ than the uprisings in Ukraine.
Hmmm, a piece of historic Chinese lands being a colony of UK being represented as “freedom from Chinese rule” … interesting thought process, that.
Once the UK’s lease of Hong Kong expired, maybe it should have continued to hold the territory in trust until such time as a legitimate Qing heir could be located to “return” it to.
They should’ve kept it but Britain is a shell of its former self.
Knapp’s advocacy of neocolonialism is certainly a new twist but perhaps there were hints before.
Or maybe Knapp is simply unaware that the Qing were reviled and were overthrown in the democratic revolution of Sun Yat-Sen, in turn overthrown by Mao’s socialist revolution.
To call for return of HK to the Qing is like calling for the US to be returned to Queen Elizabeth.
Or perhaps, Thomas, a better way of for recapturing HK is for Great Britain to again force the use opium onto HK by force of arms. A new Opium War. That’s the ticket.
Or perhaps, Cratylus, I was throwing a little thought bomb into the mix to see what would result.
Here’s the question I was hoping to raise: Does or should the “ownership” of a particular parcel of land by one regime automatically transfer to a completely different regime after a revolution?
Is there some particular reason why anyone who isn’t from Hong Kong should have any say at all in what polity Hong Kong affiliates with or under what conditions? Why should they be at the mercy of Beijing, or London, or Washington, or Taipei, or anyone else if they would rather not?
Wow people actually defending Chinese authoritarianism. I want to love antiwar.com but i just can’t
Wow, people actually saying we should keep our nose out of other people’s business. What a shocker for an antiwar site …
Its a pity there still exists such an enormous ignorance about what China is to day. Opinion are still based on the old “Yellow peril” fake news dating back to the Vietnam War. Try to make a honest effort and set your prejudices aside and find out with an open mind what China really is today and what it means to tomorrow’s world. It’s an eye opener and you will be grearly surprised.
As shown in this article, it is very clear that Washington is meddling in the affairs of Hong Kong:
https://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2019/08/how-washington-is-meddling-in-affairs.html
While the ideals of democracy are admirable and desirable, Washington’s version of democracy is tainted by big money and has developed into a system where politicians are for sale to the highest bidder.
While the US apparently has been meddling, there’s now no question that at least some of the protesters are actively trying to bring the US further into conflict with China over Hong Kong. If US officials urged them to do this that’s foolish and inappropriate, if those protesters are doing it of their own volition they are trying to force an irrelevant country to intervene in the internal affairs of China / Hong Kong, which US officials should condemn. Absent that is at least tacit support, so China is justified in feeling peeved.
Hong Kong is part of China; I doubt if China will face much approbation if they simply apply the law and restore order. The majority of the locals are likely demanding it as we speak.
For the protesters to be singing the US and previously French anthems shows a level of westoxification that is interesting to witness.
My roommate is a Hong Konger and she has nothing but contempt for “Mainlanders”, and wishes the British still ruled there. From hearing her tell it, this is by no means an uncommon view there.
Yet another American regime change ops disguised as a “pro-democracy” campaign.
The fact that the America-controlled “Free Press” is creaming its pants about these protests is one giveaway of the Anglo-American hand–not to mention the role of US outfits like the National Endowment for Democracy or US regime “diplomats.”
The same America that whines about “RussiaGate” and supposed Russian interference in its domestic politics brazenly thinks it has a God-given right to destabilize and interfere in other nations half way around the world!
Democracy is truly the mask of the Anglo-American Empire.
It’s the modern Politically Correct version of the Western Civilizing Mission and White Man’s Burden.
Neocons see Hong Kong as China’s ‘Soft Underbelly’
https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/neocons-see-hong-kong-as-chinas-soft-underbelly-daniel-mcadams/
American Govt., NGOS Fuel and Fund Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Protests
http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2019/june/14/american-govt-ngos-fuel-and-fund-hong-kong-anti-extradition-protests/
I think there’s an organic element to the Hong Kong protests but it’s been made quite clear there’s US interventionism involved as well.
Internal Chinese business and none of ours, anymore than dissent in the US is any of Chinese business. Keep our noses out of it.
You can just look at the fascism wrapped up in the American flag right here in America to see why people should be concerned with protesters waving American flags in Hong Kong.
The Oligarchs never pass up an opportunity to hijack a grass roots movement in order to “develop new markets” they can rig in their favor.
Another “color revolution” gone awry. Maybe the CIA is going to have to rethink its plausibility thingy. Unlike Ukraine, they didn’t have Victoria Nuland passing out cookies (and $5 billion). I’m guessing it’s not just the cookies.
In Ukraine someone shot both the police and the protestors . It was proved the bullets came from the same guns . The best way to start a war .