My Take | Beijing may be ruthless, but it’s not stupid
- Right-wing media in the West are baying for a bloody crackdown in Hong Kong – not because they are concerned about our freedoms but rather to advance their own agendas
These days, right-wing American ideologues like to claim that Beijing is preparing Tiananmen 2.0 for Hong Kong. Here are a few fine specimens, respectively from the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal: “Beijing is prepping for a massacre in Hong Kong”; “The Coming Hong Kong Crackdown: The protests are the most stunning rebuke to Beijing since Tiananmen Square. They may end the same way.”
Under the guise of concern for our welfare and freedom, they are baying for a bloody crackdown. Why? Because that would provide the pretext for hawks in Washington to expand their fight against China on multiple fronts including, possibly, the use of military force.
After decades of modernisation, its troops are much better trained and equipped than the country bumpkins who were sent into Beijing 30 years ago.
In any case, troops would be deployed under Hong Kong’s Garrison Law, which means those already stationed here; they are disciplined troops who have had extensive anti-riot drills, especially after the Occupy protests of 2014. They will use standard non-lethal gear, most likely alongside Hong Kong police.