The people of Hong Kong are insisting that their elections not be controlled by the Communist government of China. Thousands of mostly young people have been in the streets of Central - the central business district on Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong has elections of local officials. However, Beijing picks the candidates. No independent nomination of candidates is being allowed.
How long will Xi Jinping allow the protesters to clog Hong Kong’s key central business district? How will he end it? Allow the free elections they want? The Army of China like in 1989?
Photo: Protesters running from tear gas. Note that many are wearing goggles! NBC News on 9/28/2014.
… To allow students to block the city center and impede traffic shows weakness. Hong Kong’s reputation as a financial center and tourist attraction will suffer. And Beijing cannot permit this to go on too long without risking supportive protests erupting on the mainland.
Nor can the students be allowed to force Hong Kong to give up Beijing’s veto of candidates. To capitulate would expose President Xi Jinping as a leader who can be broken by street action. To permit that perception would imperil Xi’s standing with Beijing’s hard-liners, and potentially the regime itself.
Thus if the protesters do not vacate Hong Kong’s streets soon, they may have to be removed. And Beijing is not a regime to recoil from force if it has run out of other options.
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