The Hong Kong Independence Treaty by which Britain gave Hong Kong (HK) back to China stated that HK would have a high degree of autonomy for the next 50 years.
That was the "spirit of the agreement" before and at the time of the signing of the Treaty in 1997. Now China seems to want to rewrite the Treaty by making interpretations and assumptions which would override the spirit and intentions of the signataries at the time !
Not only the signatories understood this but all the residents in HK at that time also ! To be quite blunt, no one in HK in 1997 wanted the Chinese to forcibly impose "totalitarian" principles in this former British colony so soon after the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 ! Is Beijing "proud" of what happened then ?
China must realise that another massacre will result in Sanctions by the International community. Trade embargos by the EU and by many other countries in the British Commonwealth could cripple Chinese exports.
Hong Kong would no longer be a window on the outside world and the banking and commercial operations would flee with all the key residents !
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