My Take | Hong Kong’s fate is now truly out of our hands
- The intensity and duration of the current crackdown in Hong Kong will depend on whether Beijing can reach an understanding or compromise with the Biden White House, but the greater the antagonism between the two countries, the more severely the city will be treated
The crackdown against the anti-government protest movement and the opposition is intensifying. When it will end is anyone’s guess. But two factors seem to be the main determinants.
The first is Beijing’s need to neutralise the opposition and to prevent it from re-emerging. The second is the direction in which Sino-American relations will head under new United States president Joe Biden.
One thing we can be sure of is that the worse Beijing’s relations get with Washington, the more severe and extreme the crackdown will be in Hong Kong.
For local activists and pan-democrat politicians who want the United States and other Western governments to intervene in Hong Kong, their prayers being answered will be their worst nightmare.
Sometimes, their naivety is both pitiful and disheartening.
The latest crackdown is the arrest of 11 people on suspicion of aiding 12 local fugitives to flee the city.
Among those is well-known pro-democracy lawyer and district councillor Daniel Wong Kwok-tung. These came after the arrests of 53 activists, many of them prominent former pan-democrat lawmakers.
