Trouble in Hong Kong

Will China intervene?

August 14, 2019 Joseph Klein

Protests in Hong Kong have escalated for weeks over mounting concerns that Hong Kong’s government is allowing Hong Kong's autonomy and its residents’ personal freedoms to erode under pressure from mainland China.

When the territory was returned to China by the United Kingdom in 1997, China had promised to respect Hong Kong’s special status under a "one country, two systems" policy. Fulfillment of that promise appears to be slipping away, prompting massive numbers of demonstrators to take to Hong Kong’s streets. Crackdowns by Hong Kong’s police have been met with more protests, most of which have been relatively peaceful but have been accompanied by some violence.

The most recent protests this week have involved civil disobedience as thousands of people managed to shut down Hong Kong International Airport two days in a row. Riot police moved in and clashed with protesters at the airport on Tuesday. Tensions boiled over as a policeman was observed by a journalist drawing his gun and aiming it at protesters after he was attacked by his own baton that had been taken from him.

Hong Kong's highly unpopular chief executive Carrie Lam, whose proposal to extradite Hong Kong criminal suspects to mainland China touched off the protests months ago, warned that the city risked sliding into an “abyss.” She added, “A lot of residents go out and return to the city [through the airport], and many tourists and business people use this transport hub. Hong Kong’s reputation, as a safe society that respects the rule of law, will be in a very dangerous [situation].” Her words have fallen on deaf ears........To Read More....