[teacherwoes]

I currently live in HK and see and hear about the protests every day. Many of the independent HK news services keep telling people that there is no reason China to send troops to HK. And many people hold those reasons up as truth.

I suppose, in a western way of thinking, there isn’t any reason for China to send troops. But this is China and they already have had several senior government officials basically saying that troops are ready to hit the ground but just need HK’s approval. Besides, China doesn’t do anything without a reason.

One of the senior people in the current HK administration has basically said that the police can’t do their job properly. It sounds like a set up for asking China for troops. Have to wait and see.

[Zhang Fei]

[I suppose, in a western way of thinking, there isn’t any reason for China to send troops. But this is China and they already have had several senior government officials basically saying that troops are ready to hit the ground but just need HK’s approval. Besides, China doesn’t do anything without a reason.]

---

Xi Jinping is extremely intolerant and domineering. That is the meaning of his massive crackdowns on religious belief in China, with people of all religions ending up in gulags. Hongkongers out on the streets may finally get him to the point that he mows thousands of protestors down, pour encourageur les autres. His position is secure - all the factional rivals in high Party positions appointed by other people (Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, et al) have been replaced with his handpicked people. He is effectively Mao Zedong redux - what he says goes, meaning he can literally have someone killed on his orders without any talkback.

Re sanctions - the sanctions on China after Tiananmen Square were mild, and business as usual, except for defense-related items, resumed in a few short years. That was at a time when China was a nit in the global economy - it exported little and imported little. Now that it is a major market for many countries (including Hollywood, for which it is one of the biggest foreign markets with almost $800m worth of foreign revenues*), it would take serious political will to impose major sanctions on China over the killing of a few thousand protestors.

* https://www.forbes.com/sites/robcain/2017/12/27/china-2017-box-office-wrap-up-hollywood-movies-grab-3-4-billion-universal-rules/#349950ae233e

[Jumper]

One country, two systems; for 50-years. This needs to be broadcast worldwide everywhere. China is flexing her muscles again. Things will only get bloody in HK. It is entirely possible that those armed atolls might become overrun as a response from the US, the Philippines, etc.

[ifinnegan]

“suppose, in a western way of thinking, there isn’t any reason for China to send troops. But this is China”

That’s the tub.

The whole point if the protests is Hong Kongers saying it is not China.