Hong Kong, which was returned to China by Britain after the expiration of a 99-year lease, has long been regarded as a sort of capitalist jewel in China's crown, but now it seems to be becoming a "thorn in its side".
One has to wonder why, after 17 years, the students of Hong Kong have suddenly decided to confront the Chinese government over the issue of democracy. They have made it plain that they are not prepared to accept the dictates of central government - and the general law of the land in which they live. Meanwhile the Chinese government is aware that if the students get their way it will set a dangerous precedent and possibly trigger pro-democracy movements across the mainland that would undermine their authority and possibly in time bring down the regime, so they are not going to stand for it. Thus, since neither side looks likely to back down, the stage is set for a major showdown - and possibly a bloodbath.
Hong Kong is the third largest banking center in the world, so chaos and a bloody suppression of the democracy movement there would likely have a severe knock on effect on markets. Already money is flooding out of Hong Kong, which is one reason why the dollar has been so strong.
Hong Kong is geographically tiny compared to the rest of China...
Territory of Hong Kong...
Most of the students involved in the Hong Kong protests look like fresh-faced rich kids who have never done a serious day's work in their lives. This contrasts starkly with many young people on the mainland who have to struggle working 12-hour days in factories and on farms etc. Thus the protesters are a sort of bourgeoisie that the government in Beijing might rightly take a dim view of. Most of them are in fact naïve, and seem to think that democracy is a sort of utopia, when in reality democratic societies like Britain and US are run for the benefit of a narrow elite, with the masses controlled by means of coercion and their thought processes guided by subtle media indoctrination - for example you are free not to work, if you don't mind sleeping under a bridge, and when they get to express their worthless opinion once every 4 or 5 years at the ballot box, they have 2 parties to choose from who are controlled by the same elite plutocrats, which in the case of Britain has for many years been the Conservative and Labour parties, and in the case of the US has been the Democrats and Republicans. The right way for the authorities in Beijing to deal with the demonstrators is to pack them all onto buses and take them to another far off city like Chongqing and "reeducate" them with a 2-year stint working in a factory - that would straighten them out. However, for obvious reasons the students would strongly resist any such relocation.
Don't let knowing nothing stop you from speaking out!!...
You may recall what was written earlier on the site some weeks ago about the Western elites conducting a war on the major BRICS partners, because they represent a threat to dollar hegemony, which is why they organized the pro-Western coup in the Ukraine as a prelude to heavy sanctions against Russia. At the time we observed that if Russia falls China will be next. Well, we certainly can't accuse them of "letting the grass grow under their feet" - it seems they are not waiting for Russia to fall before they go after China. They are almost certainly involved in whipping up the students in Hong Kong to confront the government, and certainly are via the pro-democracy propaganda in the Western media aimed at emboldening the protest movement in Hong Kong. They want to weaken and undermine the Chinese government in Beijing with their ultimate goal being to topple it, and the naïve student pawns in Hong Kong are the perfect vehicle for the job.
Maybe not - but they can have a good try.
Umbrellas are not much of a defense against tanks...
It will be interesting to see how this plays out - it looks like we are going to see an ugly and potentially very violent confrontation, that could easily end up like Tiananmen Square - or worse, with a lot of naïve dead students littering the sidewalks, and this may have a dramatic impact on markets.
Hong Kong is China's "Achilles Heel" through which the West can get at the Chinese government, and the regime probably knows it, so from its perspective, the right thing to do is stamp out the protest movement and do whatever it takes to stop it resurfacing. Have they got the nerve to do it? - we'll find out soon enough.
FOOTNOTE: after posting this article a subscriber brought my attention to an article entitled US Government Is Funding The Hong Kong "Student Protests", which confirms the deductions made here. The message of the last two paragraphs of this article are very important to understand.
