Hong Kong’s government needs short- and long-term solutions to the protest crisis – what it can’t do is wait indefinitely
- Unresponsiveness from the government – supposedly accountable to both Hongkongers and Beijing – has been a major factor in the escalation of the crisis
- Officials must quickly announce some kind of action on political reform and an independent inquiry to show they are listening, even if the measures don’t take effect right away
If there was one point on Hong Kong’s road to hell when things might have turned out differently, it was surely the evening of June 9. There had been many mistakes leading up to that night, and there would be many more in the weeks that followed, but that was the pivotal point.
The biggest public protest since establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 1997 had just finished and many marchers were still on their way home when the announcement was made that it had all been in vain.
Notwithstanding the large number of participants, the government was going to bulldoze on with the second reading of the extradition bill a few days later. A different decision that evening could have led to a completely different outcome.
The economic situation is bad but, perversely, it is the easiest to fix. Hong Kong’s economy is very robust and will recover quickly once the security situation has stabilised. Reversing the dire security situation depends on finding an adequate response to the political issues that remain beyond the now-withdrawn bill.