The demise in Hong Kong of “one country, two systems” – Beijing’s constitutional arrangement with London that guaranteed its restoration of sovereignty over the British colony – should serve as a lesson for Taiwan. This somewhat undiplomatic observation came from veteran US diplomat Stephen Young, who served as Consul General to Hong Kong while holding the rank of “ambassador” between 2010 and 2013 as well as director of the American Institute in Taiwan, Washington’s de-facto embassy on the self-ruled island. Communist Party patriarch Deng Xiaoping first mooted the “one country, two systems” concept for the return of Hong Kong as well as the future reunification of Taiwan.
