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Hong Kong: Why the Stakes Are So High
A cursory reading of the situation is that the Hong Kong people are advocating for the freedoms and liberty of Hong Kong. They are doing that. But it is more than that, as the Chinese government surely sees.
If Hong Kong manages to protect its freedoms, then riots will – eventually – break out in Shanghai and Beijing and everywhere else. The future of all of China depends on crushing the Hong Kong protesters. The Chinese understand this. What they (and nobody) understand is what consequences may come from putting down protesters in a society that (still) has a free press, using soldiers and live ammunition. Tiananmen Square was before Social Media. Those consequences could include enormous economic pain from sanctions and businesses avoiding both countries, and it could readily spark a global recession.
This is a Very Big Deal.
Indeed, I think the only way in which Hong Kong emerges with freedoms intact is if Chinese dissidents simultaneously act in Beijing and Shanghai and elsewhere. Which would mean a complete revolution in China.
Published in General
Surprisingly, no one has mentioned the importance of strengthening our ties with, and forming an alliance with China’s other long-term rival, India. This nation now has a growth rate of 6%, and is on track to surpass China’s population. I think this should be an American priority.
Recognize Taiwan.
I’d like Trump to ask them to at least.
That would be…bold.
I think I like it.
I mean what would the next president do, unrecognize it?