We have seen harsh sanctions fail to bring changes in a small poor country like NK where anyone looking South must be amazed at where they could have been.
In case of PRC, forget a kinetic physical action. Their economy is so interconnected with every other major economy that no one can afford even actual sanctions.
I am hopeful that the sheer number of citizens in HK would perhaps lead to the city retaining some of its independence. We can't predict the future... who knows? What if Xi dies in the next 5 years and his successor isn't such a hardliner?
For IT profession though, it's more flexible. Personally, I have worked in a multi-nation develop team, and the experience is good.
Not suddenly, but every other major economy could probably afford a gradual distancing that ends up in more-or-less the same place.
I think Germany's actions speak far more than any other country's. I would have assumed someone like Merkel to be tough here based on her standing on social issues and how she handled the migrant crisis. She, at least in the West had an image of a liberal leader with the right attitude on challenges of our times like climate change. But even Germany seems to be tiptoeing around while they look to sign a trade deal.
And yet it happened. From racist Jim Crow laws to Gay Rights, the progress made in 100 years is astonishing.
Give the PRC 100 years and who knows how it might change.
No one imagined it in the 1920s because they had already imagined it in the 1860s but got Jim Crow instead.
Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
So in your view, what were we supposed to learn from history?
The south will burn again
china has none of that