At a certain point and time, Hong Kongers should be given political asylum, but the standards should also apply to mainland and Tibetan residents.
From an American policy or geopolitical perspective, Hong Kong as an island is meaningless. Its people are its capital.
> the standards should also apply to mainland and Tibetan residents
Perfect is the enemy of good.
You think Newsome would would be indifferent if China grabbed Catalina Island?
Strategically speaking, yes. Nobody is landing troops or planes on Hong Kong. And China's ability to project military power onto it is unconstrained, today, by non-diplomatic factors.
Between leaving the population in place in hopes it makes Beijing's life more difficult, and offering them relief, the advantage--to the people and outsiders--seems heavily one sided.
> You think Newsome would would be indifferent if China grabbed Catalina Island?
Most Americans would be pissed if anyone grabbed any sliver of American territory. That doesn't make every inch of American territory high ground.
It's economically meaningful. But from a foreign policy or geopolitical perspective, strategically, it's not worth expending force over.
> having a tiny outpost of liberalism as a check on the worst impulses of the mainland
I'd prefer this too. But Beijing has made its intentions clear. Short of the U.S. deploying force to defend Britain's 1997 agreement, Hong Kong--as it exists today--has fallen.
A Chinese invasion of HK would make a great setting for the next "Fallen" movie, if only Hollywood wasn't so busy sucking up to the CCP.
You are not going to win against CCP in this scenario. They have bigger army diplomacy AND they don't have rule of law.
Continue protesting, but figure away out, and Get out!
By staying, you are helping the CCP. You work, spend, and play in HK, you are giving the CCP money and power to continue doing this to you. By leaving, you take value out of the equation.
When people leave en masse. You can then form groups and communities elsewhere. Tell people of your plight, teach your kids the lessons you learned, and take on the CCP from a better position.
Vancouver (and Australia) received the bulk of Hong Kong immigrants because, during the handover exodus, the US imposed extraordinary hurdles on immigrants from there.
This turned out to be a really, really stupid thing to do. The Hong Kong chinese are essentially the ideal immigrant: extremely industrious, very well educated, highly motivated to integrate their children, possessing unusually strong international business and finance ties, strongly law-abiding and highly family oriented, and a great many speak flawless English. So... Canada got them.
HongKongers are a unique breed. We would be wise to not repeat our past mistake.
Add to that the Canadian dollar's likely continued weak performance and you can make significantly more in the US if you're at the top of your field.
The difference in GDP per capita, even adjusted for PPP, is significant and quite durable: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD?locat...
I personally don't see how that gap doesn't become wider over time, because our economic policies favour oligopolies over robust competition in many sectors, and we've been actively sabotaging any attempt to develop our bountiful natural resources.
Parent poster likely isn't referring to the economic outlook.
Why? I certainly like our position in the world far better than where canada is. Apparently so do canadians as millions of them immigrate to the US where hardly any americans immigrate north. Wonder why?
> So... Canada got them.
And they got hongcouver - something they whine about all over social media.
> HongKongers are a unique breed. We would be wise to not repeat our past mistake.
If they are so special why did they get conquered by the british? Why did they stay conquered for 150 years. And why did they need china to finally give them "democracy" after the brits left. If they are so special, let them stay in hong kong and figure things out themselves.
In a world where the US has extremely high unemployment, you are advocating that we allow more people from china? No thanks. I'm feeling generous, let canada and australia have them all and get all the benefits.
Not that I don't support freer immigration; I just think exodus is kind of the worst case scenario.
Was that the goal here? Was Pompeo's testimony in any doubt, almost without regard to Hong Kong's situation?
If I remember correctly, the HSBC building was actually designed so that much of it could be dismantled and removed from HK if the CCP handover did not go well. The only thing that would remain would be the large cantilevered pilons supporting all the removable floors.
Like they did in South Africa they just packed their bags when it became expedient to do so and buggered off without worrying about the consequences.
Hong Kong is lost.
But its people can still be saved.
With that attitude it certainly is. Maybe if we had the balls to sanction China for its myriad of human rights violations, or you know do what we have 0 problems doing in the middle east, provide arms and training to resisting movement (but I guess we only have to balls to do that when the country poses no real military threat to us).
https://thediplomat.com/2020/05/will-vietnam-lease-cam-ranh-...
We've been levying tariffs against China in a carrot and stick approach for the last 3 years. We're basically extorting the rest of our NATO allies to block Huawei hardware from being used for 5G implementation. The US is currently trying to get their CFO extradited from Canada to stand trial for bank fraud. We continue to support Taiwan militarily, with arms sales and joint training opportunities and have been since the Cold War (the first one, that is). Looks like we're actually giving them Main Battle Tanks now for the first time ever, if this wikipedia page is to be believed.[1]
I hear you, that I'd like a harder stance taken on China as well - but that probably means going after US companies that do business there. I'm fine with this, but it's a much harder pill to swallow for many. Otherwise your only option is overt military intervention in Hong Kong. And that doesn't seem worth it for Americans.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_US_arms_sales_to_Taiwa...
HK was bound to be lost eventually (in 2047), the acceleration is what makes the situation worse.