The speed with which a rebellious colony can be brought to heel is now clear for the world to see, but watching it makes a depressing sight when the place is one where youâve lived a large chunk of your life and those being crushed include persons whom you respect and even love.
The restive colony is Hong Kong, a city of nearly 7.5 million people being relentlessly ground into submission according to a Beijing-scripted playbook that mocks both the legislative process and any meaningful rule of law.
When the Chinese resumed control over the territory, they promised no changes in Hong Kongâs system for at least 50 years. What they meant was that once the national flags had been actually swapped at midnight, June 30, 1997, Hong Kong would pass seamlessly from being a colony of Britain into being a colony of the Peopleâs Republic of China.