Regardless of how the Hong Kong Protests proceed in coming days - and whether or not any concessions are won - this historic episode has undoubtably weakened Chinas influence in the region. Or, as one blunt China expert put it, if anything remotely like what happened in 1989 occurs in Hong Kong, China can kiss its soft power goodbye for a couple of decades.” The use of thugs - widely believed to be working for the Beijing government - to violently attempt to force protesters out of the public space has already earned comparisons to 1989 which only grow as violence continues. Only last month Chinese President Xi Jinping publicly stated Beijings desire to create one country, two systems in Taiwan as well as Hong Kong and, given increasing economic cooperation between the two nations, some began to see this as a possibility if still a possibility lying far down the road. But with the rise of the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan in which students stridently opposed bringing one country, two systems to Taiwan, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has been forced to back away from this issue he formerly seemed to favor. Now President Ma has publicly rebuked Jinping given the growing feeling in Taiwan that in the not-so-distant future, we could very well end up like Hong Kong. It seems that Jinping may be able to stifle resistance at home, but he will pay the price of only increasing resistance to his regime abroad.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 01:11:59 +0000
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