Hong Kong has once again burnished its reputation as a thorn in the side of the Chinese Communist Party and its leader, President Xi Jinping, after protesters swarmed the city's streets for the third time in one week. Years of relative calm after the 2014 Occupy protests had given the impression that the semi-autonomous Chinese city had fallen into step with Beijing under leader Carrie Lam.
But in just eight days, mass protests have forced the government into a rare public backdown, emboldened anti-China elements in Taiwan and may even become a part of negotiations around the trade war between the United States and China. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News Sunday that he expected President Donald Trump to raise the Hong Kong protests with Xi at the G20 talks in Japan this month.
