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Comment by ConceitedCode | Hacker News Reader

Just curious, what would you have liked to see the U.S. do about Hong Kong? Arguably if anyone was gonna do something it should probably be the British being their agreement was broken. I'm sure the British would have U.S. backing them if they wanted to retaliate.

The U.S. started removing the extra trade agreements from Hong Kong (which arguably is a large part of what made Hong Kong what it is today) and sanctioned individuals in the Chinese government [1]. While this seems to be a "weak" response, I'm not sure what else I would like to see short of getting the military involved.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Autonomy_Act

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> Just curious, what would you have liked to see the U.S. do about Hong Kong?

I have no idea. There's a reason I make my living as an engineer rather than as a politician or a diplomat.

Given that agreement on Hong Kong independance was set to expire relatively soon, is difficult to justify serious intervention from a cost/ benefit perspective.

The original seisure of Hong Kong was an act of gunboat displomacy, and not exactly an exemplar of justice and law. Consider how its seen in donestic politics in China.

This does not mean that I approve of China's activity, just putting things in perspective.

>if anyone was gonna do something it should probably be the British

Except the UK has much bigger issues ATM like dealing with the social, political and economical fallout of Brexit and Covid-19.

To put it mildly, even if they wanted to, it's tough for them to help put out a fire in a far away village when they have a huge dumpster fire in their own back yard to deal with first.

Building relationships with our allies in the area (TPP), State Department diplomacy, etc. to pressure China effectively. I think TPP was dead regardless of who won, but that State is impaired right now.

It is hard to see what the US should do, but I think the west has a moral obligation to do something (even though it is technically an Anglo-sino agreement).

The UK is trying to welcome people from Hong Kong to the UK (passports left over from before the handover) which could hurt them where it actually matters if lucky.

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