A cold, rational CCP wouldn't have gotten itself into this mess. Hong Kong was popularly pro-China before the extradition bill. Re-integration in a few decades would have gone smoothly. But someone got impatient and jumped the gun.
> Re-integration in a few decades would have gone smoothly.
You over-simplify the integration of a region which has its own strong identity, liberal rules and culture. One can't tell which measures will lead to strong resentment and which will get accepted - among the many that will eventually be needed.
It's probably gonna get worse unless China itself opens up. But in any case, it seems fairly evident that Hong Kong will have to fight this fight alone and the rest of the world will merely watch.
> You over-simplify the integration of a region which has its own strong identity, liberal rules and culture.
> It's probably gonna get worse unless China itself opens up.
Agreed with both points.
> One can't tell which measures will lead to strong resentment and which will get accepted - among the many that will eventually be needed.
In fact the public opinion was clearly against the extradition bill, but the government has a record of passing bills against strong public opposition (e.g. the High Speed Rail and its Juxtaposed controls).
> But in any case, it seems fairly evident that Hong Kong will have to fight this fight alone and the rest of the world will merely watch.
Not quite. In this fight, Hong Kong has got support from Britain [1], Europe [2], the United States [3], among others. The most powerful one is the “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019” [3], a bipartisan bill introduced by US Representative Jim McGovern and Senator Marco Rubio. The bill would put real pressure on China (and pro-Beijing officials) to choose between worse financial access and democracy for Hong Kong.
> Hong Kong was popularly pro-China before the extradition bill.
Depends. For economic co-operation or dependency, probably yes. But Hong Kong people has very little faith in the Chinese legal system, most of us know it's a facade, from the grass-root to the super-rich.
That's why, by pushing for the extradition law amendment, which, if passed, would allow the Chinese government to extradite "criminals" from HK based on their laws, the HK government has kicked the hornet's nest.
A cold, rational CCP wouldn't have gotten itself into this mess. Hong Kong was popularly pro-China before the extradition bill. Re-integration in a few decades would have gone smoothly. But someone got impatient and jumped the gun.