By Daniel Nardini

As Chinese troops are massed on the border separating the city and territory of Hong Kong from the rest of China, the question seems to be if and when China will invade Hong Kong or is using the use of Chinese troops as a threat. Hong Kong for all due purposes is in revolt against the Chinese Communist Party, and with good reason. The Chinese government can claim that since Hong Kong is now part of China that it can do whatever it wants to Hong Kong “legally.” But this is entirely wrong. What must be remembered is that the Chinese government signed a binding agreement with Great Britain that in return for Hong Kong becoming part of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese government would maintain Hong Kong’s form of local government and legal court system. In other words, it is what has been called the “one country, two systems” approach. Hong Kong was supposed to enjoy autonomy, and China would leave well enough alone for the next 50 years..

Or at least that what it theoretically was supposed to be. China has broken its signed pledge to let Hong Kong remain an autonomous territory. In the late 2000’s, the Chinese government took total control of Hong Kong’s local government by making the majority of its legislature Chinese Communist Party appointed. The ruling head of Hong Kong also became government appointed instead of elected as by agreement with Great Britain it was supposed to be. What touched off the massive protests in Hong Kong was an “agreement” forced on the local Hong Kong government that would allow China to forcibly take any and all Hong Kong residents from Hong Kong to be tried in China’s secret court system. For all that is wrong with Hong Kong under Chinese rule, at least Hong Kong still retains a British-style judicial system with guarantees and protections from arbitrary arrest, torture and execution which courts in the rest of China do.

This was too much for the people of Hong Kong, so they revolted. They know that if such a thing is implemented in Hong Kong that they will have nor protections whatsoever. Clearly, China under emperor Xi Jinping wants to crush Hong Kong and make it like the rest of China. So yes, this is an act of betrayal and war against the people of Hong Kong. If China does send in the troops and military police to crush Hong Kong, then probably it is time to either break or downgrade relations with China since it will have violated its formal international agreements and therefore cannot be trusted. This goes beyond Hong Kong and even Asia—it is a threat to the entire world and just one more example of a rising and hostile, unstable superpower China.