Why the Protestors of Hong Kong Are Destroying the Prosperity of Their Country — Martin Seiff

Martin Sieff is exactly right on this IMHO, recalling his boyhood experience in Belfast as precedent.

The protestors and West believes that Hong Kong is a vital resource for China, but they apparently do not realize that this is no longer so. Hong Kong's contribution to the Chinese economy has shrunk greatly, and China has already been planning to replace it with Shanghai as a financial center, as it use to be, and other centers on the mainland. Reports reveal that Hong Kong is already being abandoned.

China won't relinquish it sovereignty over Hong Kong without a fight, which highly unlikely to happen. But Hong Kong is no longer the "pearl of the Orient" in China's estimation. It has served its purpose and is already in the process of being replaced by truly Chinese financial and business centers at the core. 

In fact, Hong Kong is an uncomfortable reminder of Chinese humiliation during the colonial period. For that reason alone, Hong Kong would eventually be doomed to oblivion in the new China as China regains its traditional position as the "Central Realm," replacing the "upstart" US with a short history and no culture. 

Even Europeans were running around in bear skins, who Romans considered uncivilized barbarians, while China was already an ancient civilization largely unknown to the West. Traditional societies like China now view Western civilization degenerating under the excess of its liberal philosophy, now being pushed its logical conclusion of "anything goes."

Taking the long view, China was in no rush for this break to happen. But the short-term thinking of others has now forced the issue, the "others" being the protestors and their backers.

This is just another step in the process of decolonization that is now going on in the non-West as "liberal globalization" (neoliberalism, neo-imperialism and neocolonialism) is rolled back.

Strategic Culture Foundation
Why the Protestors of Hong Kong Are Destroying the Prosperity of Their Country
Martin Seiff, formerly senior foreign correspondent for The Washington Times and United Press International