The arrest of a district councillor under colonial-era sedition law and Beijing’s order stopping a dozen foreign journalists from working in Hong Kong are a blow to Hong Kong’s freedoms.

Not only does Hong Kong’s leader lack the credibility to begin a television address with ‘my fellow Hongkongers’, the government’s inadequate handling of the crisis has pushed the city’s residents to draw on their own resources.

We’re all racists, it’s just a matter of degree. If The Wall Street Journal’s ‘Sick Man of Asia’ headline was racist, was it more offensive than the CCTV variety show featuring blackface? Unlike China, at least the US admits it has a problem.

Hong Kong’s leaderless drift continues even as the city battles to contain the spread of the coronavirus and Beijing’s new appointments do not bode well.

The chief executive can win hearts and minds by completely closing the border with the mainland and announcing an independent inquiry into the protests. She must also persuade Beijing to change its approach to Hong Kong.

The oft-repeated claim by Beijing loyalists that the city’s freedoms are intact does not stand up to scrutiny. Beijing’s attack on Hong Kong’s core values, to make it more aligned with mainland China, is insidious and very real.

By bringing in a strongman with no Hong Kong experience to lead the liaison office, the central government shows that it has learned little from the mistakes that landed the city in this crisis in the first place.

This was Hong Kong 2019: children are charged for burning a flag or spraying protest graffiti, while grown men go unarrested for assault. Carrie Lam condemns doxxing, except when Ta Kung Pao is doing it. Who’s in the mood to celebrate a new year?

Using education to enforce patriotism may work on the mainland, where outside information is already tightly controlled. But Hongkongers such as Wu and Lam should know that in an open society, it is just another infringement.

By kicking out the loyalists and voting for the resistance, Hongkongers have shown they are unafraid to stand up to Beijing’s heavy hand. But the central government still claims foreign forces are somehow responsible for the election humiliation.

The chief executive ignored peacefully protesting masses months ago. Following a student’s death, she says the violence she forced some protesters into won’t get them anywhere. She and others like her just don’t get what students are fighting for.

The Hong Kong crisis is likely to end in tragedy unless Carrie Lam can muster the courage to tell her bosses in Beijing to stop eroding the city’s autonomy, allow genuine democratic elections, and end the insidious mainlandisation.

No one needs to hear Carrie Lam boast of her successes when the violence on the streets shows her agenda hasn’t worked. That violence finally pushed her to tackle livelihood issues, but silence on the five demands won’t calm Hong Kong.

Protest anthem ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ captures perfectly the spirit of a movement that does not seek independence but, rather, freedom from Beijing’s ever-tightening leash. With long-cherished rights under threat and the civil unrest touching its bloodiest point yet, the anger is boiling over.

While peaceful mass protests went nowhere, violent unrest got Beijing to acknowledge the problem of unaffordable housing in the city, forced some concessions from Carrie Lam, and spurred overdue soul-searching. But, when the protests ebb, will Beijing further tighten its grip on the city?

The chilling events of the past week – including the multiple arrests of activists and lawmakers, and the brutal police beating of train passengers – underline the erosion of Hong Kong’s freedoms, and of ‘one country, two systems’.

Beijing is mistaken if it thinks Hong Kong can be ruled with a communist mindset. Going after core Hong Kong values can only backfire.

Beijing is seething after Hong Kong protesters defaced national emblems. It would be even more embarrassed if the 70th national anniversary was marred by scenes of unrest. The authorities need to work out how to meet protesters’ demands.

By condemning the defacing of the national emblem before the attacks on commuters in Yuen Long, Carrie Lam and Beijing displayed a lack of understanding of what Hongkongers value. Having missed the window of opportunity for reconciliation, only political reform will suffice.

The mass movement – distinct from the small group of violent protesters – should be honoured for its peaceful call for freedom and democracy. It’s time for Beijing to listen, and give Hongkongers a chance to prove how sensible they can be.

Beijing needs to understand that the extradition bill is just the latest in a string of proposed policy actions, including national security legislation and restrictive universal suffrage, that threaten Hong Kong’s basic character.

Both the Chinese and Hong Kong governments seem to be taking the view that the unrest over the extradition bill has been stirred up by external forces. Backtracking on the bill would now be seen as capitulation to the West, not just Hong Kong youth.

Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with Germany, so why didn’t the government seek to have the Mong Kok pair returned? Probably because it didn’t want the city’s dirty linen washed in public, amid perceptions that our freedoms are being eroded.

Hongkongers fear that there are many pretexts on which they could be extradited to the mainland – having patronised Dongguan’s sex trade is just one of them. The government created the crisis by introducing the ill-advised bill, now it must solve it.

Five years after the failure of the Occupy movement, protesters are out in force again. The latest protest against the government’s proposed extradition arrangement with the mainland is the biggest since Lam became chief executive.

Singapore is clean, convenient and meets its citizens’ housing needs, although political free speech is limited. Hong Kong has none of the benefits, and its edge in personal liberties is rapidly eroding.

Unification by force would be devastating for the region, including Hong Kong, and must be avoided, while the option of a Hong Kong-style ‘one country, two systems’ is dead on arrival. Perhaps there is a third way.

In this new cold war, the US and other democracies that abide by fair and open rules of engagement cannot stop China claiming its place as the world’s No 1 superpower. Where will that leave the rest of us?

Beijing and Hong Kong have accused a US diplomat of interfering in the city’s affairs. But the State Department has a duty under US law to monitor whether Hong Kong retains a high degree of autonomy and thus remains eligible for special status.

Resistance in Hong Kong to the idea of transferring fugitives to the mainland stands in stark contrast to the openness to an extradition arrangement with Taiwan.