Hong Kong Protesters Wave American Flags, Want Trump to ‘Liberate’ City
Meanwhile, Trump’s “decoupling” approach may help America’s position with China.
Since our report on the Hong Kong protest last week, its council has officially withdrawn the extradition bill, which caused the demonstrations.
However, it seems to be too little too late.
Massive but peaceful demonstrations against the legislation — which would have allowed extradition of criminal suspects to China for trial — long ago morphed into increasingly violent clashes with police over a much broader series of demands aimed at curbing the Beijing government’s deepening control over the semiautonomous Chinese territory.
For the protesters, it now appears there is no going back.
Student activist Joshua Wong, who is out on bail after being arrested last week because of involvement in demonstrations, wrote on Twitter that people would not believe the announcement was sincere.
This weekend’s demonstrations featured one where thousands of protesters sang the Star-Spangled Banner and called on President Donald Trump to “liberate” the city.
They waved the Stars and Stripes and placards demanding democracy.
“Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong,” they shouted before handing over petitions at the U.S. Consulate. “Resist Beijing, liberate Hong Kong.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Saturday urged China to exercise restraint in Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Esper made his call in Paris as police in Hong Kong prevented protesters from blocking access to the airport but fired tear gas for a second night running in the densely populated district of Mong Kok.
Chinese media was quick to promote the government’s stance that there will be no #KongKExit from the mainland.
Hong Kong is an inseparable part of China and any form of secessionism “will be crushed”, state media said on Monday, a day after demonstrators rallied at the U.S. consulate to ask for help in bringing democracy to city.
The China Daily newspaper said Sunday’s rally in Hong Kong was proof that foreign forces were behind the protests, which began in mid-June, and warned that demonstrators should “stop trying the patience of the central government”.
It will be interesting to see if this plea to Trump will have an impact on the upcoming trade talks. It looks like progress has started. Trump has found a new stick to take into the meetings: Decoupling China from manufacturing.
The decoupling push is quite different than any U.S. efforts to get China to open up more of its economy to American companies. Instead, it focuses on reducing America’s extremely heavy reliance on China for so much of its manufacturing needs.
Even if China’s economy weren’t so closed off to so many American goods and services, a strong argument has long been made that the U.S. needs to diversify its sources for imports. While finding those new sources wouldn’t necessarily do anything to dent America’s trade imbalances, it would reduce the risks of a major disruption to the U.S. economy based on disputes or other problems connected to a single foreign country.
…Just five days after that trade war flare up, the Nikkei business daily reported on Aug. 28 that Google is shifting its Pixel smartphone production to Vietnam from China starting this year and that the company is also looking to shift some of its smart home speaker assembly to Thailand.
It’s not that Google is the first U.S.-based company to announce some shift away from China; more than 50 other big names have moved out or scaled back. But the timing of Google’s reported plans and how they seem to have affected Beijing can’t be ignored.
It will be harder on China if it rolls its tank over the golden goose of Hong Kong if the US continues the decoupling path. It will need global goodwill and Hong Kong’s business centers to maintain any semblance of a sound economy.
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Comments
Waving an American Flag ruins their chances of becoming Democrat Party Protected Illegal Immigrants
This is all connected. It may have started as an accidental connection, but it’s glued together now.
The only way to a free Hong Kong is a free China; if tens of millions of protestors form in the mainland, the momentum will be unstoppable. It’s interesting that Xi has been completely silent on the issue.
China’s tendency towards an Imperial system is highly ingrained, and it would take quite a good deal of time to ever transition the nation away from reflexive totalitarianism.
And yet China, for all its educated populace, vast territory, cohesiveness, and vast resources, does not have the economic vibrancy of either Hong Kong or the United States of America, both of which are relative newcomers on China’s political scene (as is the Communist version of its government).
Maybe it is time for China’s government to internally discuss the reason why people from the US and HK prefer those systems. That discussion might be eye-opening, and lead to greater prosperity for China as a whole.
China has seeded at least the US with educated people who serve in many levels of academia, research, and business. Getting candid answers from them might be difficult, because they have already been selected for intelligence, education, and ambition. Perhaps if the question is placed to them in this manner: “What do you think your colleagues would say, if you asked them to say why the United States enjoys such economic success?”
I have heard from Europeans who have worked in the US that “there is no better place for getting things done than the US.” The Chinese government would benefit from knowing why visitors to the US think this is so.
You probably know this, but the Chinese leaders do not care. They only care to maintain their power, and if they can expand it, they will.
I know what to do, it is marvelous. We will trade the Chinese San Francisco for Hong Cong. That would take care of everything. All will be happy.
Maybe i am stupid. But if someone is waving an American flag and demanding freedom this geriatric Sailor will go to the mattresses for them. Here is the bad news. We are going to have to stand up to China sooner or later. Here is the good news. China is not very popular with the Chinese.
Dave, i can think of at least 30 other Chinese cities i would be gratefully trade for SF.
I mean JFC. Pardon my French. My family still lives on the SF bay area. I wish it was the same country i grew up in 50 years ago.
As the real history of SanFran fades and replaced with revisionist history, those today will never know how good it was… which is exactly what the Left requires to create their utopia of automatons.
The Hong Kong protesters obviously have no idea that the Democratic party here in America is working tirelessly to rid the country of our Bill of Rights.
“Wave American flags”
Obviously these are white supremacists.
Can we have the HK protesters shipped over here, and send Antifa to China? Let’s all write our honorable (and dishonorable) members of Congress.
The citizens of HK are more American than any of the democrats.
Donald trumpm dont trust china
Back in the nineties could ride a horse off a cliff. I bet some of you think i am joking. I slso invsded iran
I invaded iran in the back seat of an F14. Chah Bahar.
The irony is that those US flags were probably made in China. Do they even make US flags in the US anymore?
In Hong Kong, sure the flags were likely made in China.
Are they made in the USA. Yes. But you have to look.
The republican and democrat led government constantly made trade deals giving textiles the short end of the stick. They protected their buddies but gave textiles away. Our textile industry is something like 5-10% of what it was in 1980. Same basic thing happened with the furniture industry.
Sooo … Google has switched its production from Communist China to nearly Communist Vietnam. That means a people not earning what they’re worth will still be manufacturing Google’s phones. How about letting American’s manufacture the phones? Oh, right, they’ll expect decent wages, workplaces and benefits, something that heavily Socialist or Communist countries don’t have to do.
You don’t really understand all this, do you?
It would be nice if all manufacturing were done here, but that will not happen.
As much as our interests are economic, they are also and as importantly about national security. We cannot have the large majority of non domestic manufacturing being done in China. Trump understood this from the very beginning. He understood it 20 years ago. He is acting on it now. The Chinese are just now waking up to the fact that Trump beat them. They were ignorant of the real goal.
The Chinese are extreme racists, believe in their superiority. It’s a false belief.
I have to be carefull. I dislike only one thing about the chicoms. Communism
I bet you didnt.
To the ssme bach studiies i
I probly didnt pit things the tight way
Right way. I mispelled.
I definitely mispellled. The pain woke me up. But it is the pain that tellsn me i am allive. So this is the resson i am up before dawn. No need to thank me for my service.
The reason you dont need to thank me is. I had very selfish reasons for wanting to go home.
I could holld my nieces and nephews in my hands