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Letters | Hong Kong protesters and government forces must find ways to de-escalate
- The Hong Kong government should withdraw the extradition bill and protesters should accept this as a win
- Failure to de-escalate could mean PLA intervention, and the end of the Hong Kong we know
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The confrontation between the Hong Kong government and pro-democracy demonstrators may have reached a new critical point. If the demonstrations continue, the government risks appearing weak and ineffective. The demonstrators will, in turn, look weak and ineffective if they stop. The question for both is how to back off without either side losing face.
Failure to return to the antebellum status quo by the government risks near- and long-term harm to Hong Kong. Possibly the only way the government can stop or control the demonstrations, is to eventually request military or police aid from China. If done, this would essentially destroy Hong Kong’s unique position in the world and its economic power. The government’s route must be to withdraw the bill.
Failure by demonstrators to end their demonstrations, even if the government agrees to withdraw the bill, could compel Chinese government intervention through force. This would, as noted, have a drastic impact on Hong Kong’s economic viability and the freedom of its citizens.
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New governments could, of course, reinstitute this bill. But that eventuality could and would be addressed by the citizens of Hong Kong. They have spoken. They would again in the future as powerfully as they have today.
Dr Sidney Weissman, professor of clinical psychiatry, Northwestern University, Chicago
Time for young protesters to quiet down a notch
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