The protests in Hong Kong continue to escalate. Yet, the Western left has struggled to come to terms with the situation – torn between the contradictory desire to support the movement and the mainly liberal democratic demands of the protestors themselves. In this article, Pang Laikwan analyses the nature and stakes of the movement.
Protests continue to erupt in Hong Kong, sparked by an extradition bill that would allow the Hong Kong authorities to transfer Hong Kong residents to mainland Chinese courts. Yet, as Ho-fung Hung argues, the roots of the movement go much deeper than the demand for self-determination, and have the potential to have dramatic and systemic consequences for ever-increasing US-Chinese imperial rivalry.