I support the Hong Kong police too!
Hong Kong has never been democratic. It was an island out of time, founded by British pirates and drug smugglers, keeping the early nineteenth century British political
system of local rule by the local gentry, and the late eighteenth century early nineteenth century British form of capitalism, derived from Manchesterism and little changed
from Manchesterism. (British impact and Hong Kong’s colorful history started well before the first Opium war, but the story for some reason seems to have been erased, as
if the white man never set foot there before the first Opium war.)
The one nation, two systems deal, was that Hong Kong would keep its ancient and customary political and economic system, with China handling its external affairs and
defense. The protester’s demand for universal suffrage is a violation of of the two systems deal, that would create a subversive and hostile Cathedral and US Government
State Department outpost on China’s doorstep.
The protesters destroyed the legislative assembly, and shut down Hong Kong International airport, an airport I frequently use, inconveniencing and endangering large
numbers of people much resembling myself.
If the local elite lacks the will to govern, and the will to crush those grasping for power, then China has little choice but to itself violate the two systems agreement by directly
intervening in Hong Kong, itself directly repressing those who would overthrow the ancient and customary system in favor of the system of the modern west, an intervention
that would unavoidably destroy the Hong Kong system almost as badly as universal suffrage would.
The Hong Kong government should recover their testicles, and, if necessary, read the riot act and disperse the crowds with napalm and machine gun fire.
The old system served Hong Kong well, and the only reason for changing it is that the protesters hope for backing from the US Government State Department, so think that
power is up for grabs. I hope that Trump’s call for calm will be interpreted as implying that no such backing will be forthcoming. China alleges that the US Government State
Department has been up to no good, and I see ample reason to believe the accusation.
Ich bin ein Hongkonger
A Hong Kong businessman named Jimmy Lai hopes our political leaders will support Hong Kong. He even suggests politicians consider flying to Hong Kong. Like JFK
flew to Berlin during the Cold War, calling himself a Berliner.
I suppose Trump could fly to Hong Kong and do the same. That would be a bold move if Trump did that. Politically speaking, it’d be a big gamble. He could win big or lose
big.
If Trump did that, he might sway a lot of Asian-Americans to vote for him. In fact, he might sway a lot of moderates in general.
Not to mention Trump might sway other nations if he took the lead in supporting a democratic movement in Hong Kong. He might be able to move a lot of the international
community to take action as well.
On the negative side, it could end up igniting an international crisis or something along those lines. This in turn could impact his political fortunes.
Of course, it would sorely anger China. However, why would Trump care about angering China? For one thing, he’s already angered China with the trade war. Yet the trade
war has brought China to the table to discuss fairer trade practices and so on. That’s because the trade war hits China where it hurts most, i.e., their economy. Otherwise the
next decades could see the Chinese economy overtake ours and all that that would entail. At least to my knowledge, even a majority of Democrats support Trump
attempting to stem China’s global ascendancy.
I suppose the major problem would be this would signal to Hong Kong that we support them, but if push comes to shove I’m not sure what we could do to support Hong
Kong against China. After all, if China did invade Hong Kong, then I don’t know what we could actually do about it short of going to war which of course no one wants.
At least as far as I can see, the best option is if we can convince other nations China is currently doing business with to stop doing business with China, then that would hurt
China’s economy. If the threat of this is viable, then it might dissuade China from touching Hong Kong. However, this doesn’t necessitate Trump flying to Hong Kong. It
could be accomplished behind the scenes, as it were.
The issue for China is that they regard Hong Kong as theirs, along with other places like Taiwan, which China argues European colonial powers took away from them. Of
course, China likes to push this narrative because they know it often works on guilt-ridden Westerners.
However, above and beyond politics, and in terms of “moral authority”, it comes down to democracy vs. communism. If we believe in democratic ideals, then why not
support democratic movements (though that’s not to imply we should always do so)? Indeed, China supports spreading communism abroad.
Sources:
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2019/08/ich-bin-ein-hongkonger.html
oogenhand 