In continuing the protest against China’s totalitarian plans for Hong Kong, the protesters are doing the people of their city, as well as Macau, China, and really, the rest of the world an enormous service. The tiny territory that’s part of China’s “one country, two systems” policy is showing the world what courage looks like in the face of the totalitarian dictatorship that China has become.
And the world is not only taking note of Hong Kong’s plight, but is also taking a close look at what China is doing through proxies or threatening to do itself. Hong Kong has come to symbolize freedom in a region of the world that has become dominated by China’s financial bullying and military threats.
In an earlier post, we explored the possibility of the Hong Kong protests ending in a way similar to that of the Tiananmen Square massacre. But Hong Kong’s outcome remains to be seen. Regardless, the symbolic importance of the city is undeniable. The risks that these protesters are taking today is no less than those taken by pro-democracy protesters thirty years ago in Tiananmen Square.
