The Occupy, or Umbrella, movement has lasted more than a week now.How will Beijing get the umbrella to close? That's a matter of major concern.
Hong Kong's pro-democracy protest is occurring at a very sensitive time.
First, Beijing leaders are preparing for the Communist Party's fourth plenum on October 20-23, which is focused on adopting measures to strengthen the rule of law.
Second, Beijing will host the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meeting November 10-11, highlighted by a summit between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, Barack Obama.
It's fortunate that the SAR protesters have heeded the retreat appeals - behind which Beijing is believed to have played a role. The students' departure from the Central Government Offices has to some extent eased the tension. Now it's necessary for all to insist on ending the crisis through meaningful dialogue.
A peaceful outcome bodes well for Hong Kong and Beijing, as well as the United States.
Since the Occupy movement erupted 10 days ago, the Americans have maintained a profile that is abnormally low. First of all, Clifford Hart, the head of its consulate-general here, issued a statement urging both sides to show restraint.
His statement was so mild that it even sparked criticisms in some sectors back in the United States.
There's no mistake Hart's remarks were made in response to Beijing's allegations of foreign intervention in Hong Kong's affairs. The concerns weren't completely unfounded, given the large amounts of water, umbrellas, and even toiletries that had been pouring in to support the demonstrators.
It's simply not in the interest of either Xi or Obama to allow the Hong Kong issue to affect their summit.
They know there are already too many contentious points between the two powers, and it would be best to avoid exacerbating the situation.
While Obama can't totally ignore the SAR issue because of politics at home, the matter is intentionally pushed to the lower end of the priority list.
This explains why unidentified US officials had leaked to The New York Times that the US government won't let the Hong Kong issue affect Sino- American relations, and why Hart issued his low-key statement.
In politics, diplomatic ties are led by national needs rather than ideology.
There are far too many global issues requiring the two countries to cooperate. For Washington, it would like to win China's backing in the fight against the Islamic State terror group, climate change, Iran's nuclear ambitions, etc.
For China, it has enough troubles at home and would prefer to maintain a peaceful environment for development.
But will everything happen as guided?
If the search for a peaceful solution to the Hong Kong crisis is disrupted by incidents - deliberate or otherwise - opinions in the United States may force Obama to get tough with Xi, even including cancelling their summit.
The good news is there's still plenty of time between now and November 10 for all to resolve the crisis here peacefully, barring unexpected violence.
Let's keep our fingers crossed.
樓主: 七國咁亂
發表於 8-10-2014 22:04:09
樓主
2014-10-13 22:14 
