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Comment by rayiner | Hacker News Reader

A better take on this: https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/10/china-nba-twitter-dis...

> This event is starkly clarifying. And it should give conservatives and progressives pause, because China’s model of imposing Xi Jinping thought is a direct and equal threat to us. If Chinese authoritarianism is able to spread into American life through corporate power, because corporations are set up to serve shareholders and have trouble thinking ethically beyond that, then perhaps it is the duty of the state to interrupt the exchange mechanism through which this corruption proceeds. If China is forcing American corporations to impose Xi Jinping thought, maybe it’s time to choose.

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I think we can trace this back to Clinton elevating China to MFA status and fast tracking it into WTO without much in terms of good international citizen milestones. For a few cheap TVs yesterday and today, along with disposable everything, we sold out good old blue collar workers (who in theory Clinton supported) and the path to a more democratic government in China. As I’ve said, Clinton’s legacy vis a vis American workers is much worse than Reagan’s —at least with domestic corps they were within our grasp. No more.

Much worse?? Equal at best. Ronald "Union buster" Reagan did absolutely nothing for the average working man. We'll likely never recovery from the trickle down economics bullshit he kick-started.

Reagan did things people saw and experienced (union busting), but to me Clinton was more consequential and pernicious, but the cost was hidden and happened slowly. I mean he sold out American manufacturing and by proxy blue collar workers and we got nothing in return but environmentally detrimental cheap consumer products. He was much worse but he isn’t yet denounced for it. I’m almost sure Bernie wouldn’t shy away from admitting it.

Sold out the environment too, since much of the manufacturing doesn't have to follow any regulation. Granted much of this blame lays equally on the Chinese since it's their own country they're polluting (aside from the atmosphere and dumping garbage in the ocean).

Ehh. I’m not really inclined to call my representative and advocate that we get involved in yet another foreign entanglement. What does “save Hong Kong” mean? Undoing the agreement that’s in place for hand-over to China?

Hong Kong will likely be integrated, and any military action would be a disaster. But we can make swallowing Hong Kong hurt, politically and economically.

On the on hand we have a degree of outrage that China can influence corporate America.

In the same discussion we have calls to hurt China politically and economically for implementing an international treaty.

If we expect China to measure its influene in our country, we ought to show some measure.

There is nothing wrong with calls to hurt a Communist government politically and economically.

I think you left something out. That treaty will be used to kidnap and torture dissidents.

For starters it means not integrating them into a country with concentration camps, kills journalists, suppresses dissent

Hong Kong was a democracy, it getting eaten up by China is horrendous.

> Hong Kong was a democracy, it getting eaten up by China is horrendous.

Hong Kong was never a democracy in the modern sense. Its citizen only elect half of the members of the legislative council. And the Chief It had Rule of Law, freedoms of press and assembly and other factors, but it was never a full democracy.

It's a bit more complicated than that. The British Empire had some battles with China in the 1800s and took over Hong Kong. Eventually in 1898 a treaty was signed effectively ceding the territory to Britain in perpetuity, but for face-saving reasons it was written as a 99 year lease. In 1984, after multiple regime changes in China and the decline of the British Empire, a new agreement was made between China and the UK that would make Hong Kong a Special Administrative Zone as a part of China. Under the one country, two systems policy, Hong Kong would retain domestic political and economic autonomy for 50 years (until 2047). As China has grown more powerful and the UK less powerful in the past 20 years, China now has more power to try to accelerate the integration of Hong Kong. This is worrying for Hong Kong citizens, who fear they will be subject to persecution and retaliation under China's judicial system.

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