Brent Scowcroft Center Resident Senior Fellow Robert Manning writes for the National Interest on why a recent white paper released by the Chinese State Council detailing China’s plans for Hong Kong should have Asian capitals on edge:
While recently in Hong Kong for a reunion of former correspondents, the territory seemed much the same as we had first found it in the 1980s, a robust place where assertive southern Chinese business acumen had intertwined with British habits of law and free speech. Yet appearances can be deceptive.
This past week, the Chinese State Council published a ‘White Paper’ for Hong Kong. The document nicely illustrates both the Chinese Communist Party’s political fragility and a type of slightly menacing diktat, which the Middle Kingdom is currently applying across East Asia.