We'll Always Have Paris, but Not Beijing

July 7, 2019 By Michael Curtis

Two centuries ago, the renowned economist Adam Smith wrote of China as "one of the richest, most fertile, best cultivated, most industrious countries in the world." Today, China is anxious to be the dominant economic and military power in the world, an ideological rival of the U.S., attempting to spread its tools of authoritarian controls and communications around the world.

The true face of the Chinese political regime emerged in responding in June 2019 to the protesters in Hong Kong opposing the bill that would allow suspects to be extradited to trials and the legal system in mainland China, which is notable for arbitrary detentions, torture, and human rights violations. Not only did Beijing and local authorities respond with force and arrests against the protesters, but Chinese spokespersons also accused the U..K of a "colonial mindset" haunting the minds of some of its officials or politicians, and Western agitators for "meddling" in the internal affairs of China.

Britain was simply defending the 1997 legally binding agreement that gave Hong Kong, in which there are 300,000 U.K. nationals, the right to rule itself and retain its independent legal system............To Read More...