Posted on 12/03/2019 5:30:15 AM PST by Kaslin
At first glance, it would appear that five months of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong had produced a stunning triumph.
By September, the proposal of city leader Carrie Lam that ignited the protests -- to allow criminal suspects to be extradited to China for trial -- had been withdrawn.
And though the protesters' demands escalated along with their tactics, from marches to mass civil disobedience, Molotov cocktails, riots and attacks on police, Chinese troops remained confined to their barracks.
Beijing wanted no reenactment of Tiananmen Square, the midnight massacre in the heart of Beijing that drowned in blood the 1989 uprising for democratic rights.
In Hong Kong, the police have not used lethal force. In five months of clashes, only a few have perished. And when elections came last month, Beijing was stunned by the landslide victory of the protesters.
Finally, last month, Congress passed by huge margins in both houses a Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act that threatens sanctions on Hong Kong authorities should they crush the rebels.
When President Donald Trump signed the bills, the protesters now had the U.S. as an ally, and the Chinese reacted viscerally.
An enraged Foreign Ministry declared: "The U.S. ... openly backed violent criminals who rampantly smashed facilities, set fire, assaulted innocent civilians, trampled on the rule of law and jeopardized social order.
"This so-called bill will only make the Chinese people ... further understand the sinister intentions and hegemonic nature of the United States. It will only make the Chinese people more united and make the American plot more doomed to failure."
Thus do the Hong Kong protesters appear victorious, for now.
Sunday, black-clad masked protesters were back in the streets, waving American flags, erecting barricades, issuing new demands -- for greater autonomy for Hong Kong, the release of jailed protesters and the punishment of police who used excessive force.
This confrontation is far from over.
Instead, it has escalated, and the U.S. government, having given up its posture of benevolent neutrality in favor of peaceful demonstrators for democracy, has become an open ally of often-violent people who are battling Chinese police inside a Chinese city.
On Monday, China retaliated, suspending visits to Hong Kong by U.S. military planes and Navy ships and declaring sanctions on the National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House and half a dozen other U.S. agencies that promote democracy for interfering in the internal affairs of China.
And there is another issue here -- the matter of face.
China has just celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Revolution where Mao proclaimed, "China has stood up!" after a century of foreign humiliations and occupations.
Can Xi Jinping, already the object of a Maoist cult of personality, accept U.S. intervention in the internal affairs of his country or a city that belongs to China? Not likely. Nor is China likely to accede to demands for greater sovereignty, self-determination or independence for Hong Kong.
This would only raise hopes of the city's eventual escape from its ordained destiny: direct rule by Beijing when the 50-year China-U.K. treaty regarding the transfer of Hong Kong expires in 2047.
For Xi to capitulate to the demands of Hong Kong's demonstrators could cause an outbreak of protests in other Chinese cities and bring on a crisis of the regime.
Xi Jinping is no Mikhail Gorbachev. He is not going to let his people go. He is not going to risk a revolution to overturn the Maoist Revolution he has served his entire life.
A ruler committing the atrocities Xi is committing today in the concentration camps in the Uighur regions of China is staying his hand in Hong Kong only so the world and the West cannot see the true face of the ideology in which this true believer believes.
In providing moral support for protesters in Hong Kong who desire the freedoms we enjoy, America is on the right side. But to align the U.S. with the protesters' cause, and threaten sanctions if their demands are not met, is to lead these demonstrators to make demands that Hong Kong's rulers cannot meet and China will not allow.
We should ask ourselves some questions before we declare our solidarity with the protesters engaging the Hong Kong police.
If the police crush them, or if China's army moves in and crushes the demonstrators whose hopes were raised by America's declared solidarity, then what are we prepared to do to save them and their cause?
Are we willing to impose sanctions on Beijing, such as we have on Venezuela, Iran and Vladimir Putin's Russia?
Some of us yet recall how the Voice of America broadcast to the Hungarian rebels of 1956 that if they rose up and threw the Russians out, we would be at their side. The Hungarians rose up. We did nothing. And one of the great bloodbaths of the Cold War ensued.
Are we telling the protesters of Hong Kong, "We've got your back!" when we really don't?
Why is this our fight ?
With any other president I would say yes.President Trump would not do that.Tariffs baby,tariffs.Seems to me that china has not stomped on the protests in HK for fear of that very thing.We got them by the balls and they know it.We will see what happens.
[Are we willing to impose sanctions on Beijing, such as we have on Venezuela, Iran and Vladimir Putin’s Russia? ]
Yes
Yes, back when “Made in Japan” was what we got upset about.
This is our fight because the heart and soul of freedom is at stake. Our own country is under assault by the very same kinds of forces that the children of Hong Kong are struggling to destroy.
The Democrat party is not different in any unique respect from the Chinese Communist Party. Given the kind of absolute power the CCP enjoys our own tyrants in the DNC would act no differently.
We stand in solidarity with the children of Hong Kong and war against the same enemy.
Just wait until we start to see a similar movement to ‘Divest From South Africa’ hit social media. There is a Kyle Bass interview recently talking about how the Chinese financed construction of the Uyghur camps with bond offerings in the U.S. and the World Bank, done by Xinjiang Province, where the camps are located.
Bottom line: It is impressive that freedom loving people in Hong Kong are inspired by America, but it should be made clear to them America is not willing to sacrifice blood or even material treasure to secure their well being. Hong Kong will be subdued and there will be a deal on tariffs. The communist party will remain in control in China for the foreseeable future. Sorry but that is political reality. The majority of the Chinese people are not willing to revolt or force change. The Chinese should not look to the West for their salvation. Even the Pope signed a vile deal with the communists selling out his own Catholics who had sacrificed mightily for their faith.
Who said it was? If we had passed a resolution condemning Hitler in 1933 would you have said the same thing?
Uyghur Concentration Camps ARE concentration camps. Hong Kong was the canary in the coal mine for what is to come.
the best we can/should do is offer them citizenship ..
and not the dual kind..
Send your sons...
[Send your sons...]
Imposing tariffs is just the first step.
Maybe America should be more concerned about Cuba. I read that Cuba is meddling in politics just south of our border...
Each party is doing what it can on the way to the inevitable blood bath.
[Imposing tariffs is just the first step.]
War will happen only when Chinese troops initiate hostilities across an international border. And even that is likely to be a limited clash, unless they do something on the scale of Pearl Harbor that kills thousands of Americans, or worse.
Taiwan is probably watching what is happening, because they would potentially be next.
Hey, Pat, (AKA Mr. I told you so), didn’t the Chinese sign an agreement with the British regarding the transfer of Hong Kong to them? Something like they were to maintain Hong Kong’s independence etc. Something like that?
I guess what I’m getting at is, don’t you think the rest of the free world has a dog in this fight too?
The protesters should know their boundaries. THe USA is NOT asking or expecting the rebels to protest to the point of wanting Hong Kong independence.
In short, this is not Hungary....
South Africa’s impact on our economy was a “Fart in a windstorm” compared to China’s impact.
Ike sent “advisors” into a similar situation in SE Asia.
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