THE auguries for the Year of the Rooster might seem better for the United States than for Hongkong. America enters the new year with a new president, a new vision and a new broom. Democrats are in office for the first time in 12 years, pledged to prime the pump of the economy, but finding that the recovery may have already started. They have a freer, more democratic world in their sights, and they are willing to question some of the old certainties to achieve it. If the Republicans thought, for instance, that placing conditions on China's Most Favoured Nation trading status would not lead to improved human rights there, or greater democracy for Hongkong, then many Democrats are willing to challenge that assumption. Perhaps the generation that fought in Vietnam will finally be able to lay the ghosts of that era and restore full trade and diplomatic relations with Hanoi.

Hongkong has other worries, not the least of which is the danger that US relations with China will worsen. As well as damaging the local economy and slowing the growth of Southern China, trade sanctions could easily persuade Beijing to dig in its heels in still greater opposition to democratic progress.