[deepVoid]

Exactly. It is not really a dilemma. If the Hong Kong people want to protest, let them be. It's their own problem. Mainland may help them if they appreciate it (clearly they don't). If they want freedom, let them be. If you truly love and care about Hong Kong, give it freedom and leave Hong Kong alone. There will be absolutely no forces needed in Hong Kong.

[smacktoward]

> If you truly love and care about Hong Kong, give it freedom and leave Hong Kong alone.

But this is fundamentally incompatible with the mainland's entire long-term goal for Hong Kong, which is to strip it of all its distinctive characteristics (which are seen as undesirable products of foreign meddling) and turn it into just another Chinese province.

This is why the treaty with the UK that handed over Hong Kong specified that the "one country, two systems" policy would definitively end in 2047. The idea of Hong Kong as a distinct entity with its own political and economic traditions was something the CCP could only swallow if they knew it came with an expiration date.

[deepVoid]

It is incompatible with CCP's views for sure. However, I don't think their long-term goal for Hong Kong is to turn it into another Chinese province though. Hong Kong has been doing well and prosperous under the current system. Hong Kong people enjoy more freedom, better quality of life. It does not really benefit CCP to turn it into a province which is less prosperous in many ways.

[CharlesColeman]

> It does not really benefit CCP to turn it into a province which is less prosperous in many ways.

What? The CCP cares far more about exerting control than about HK's prosperity. Especially now that they have dozens of equally prosperous but politically pacified cities.

There was a time that the CCP felt it benefited from HK's special status, when foreigners were more comfortable doing business there, but those days are in the past.

[smacktoward]

If what mattered to the CCP was keeping Hong Kong prosperous, why not extend "one country, two systems" indefinitely? Or extend it until such time as a majority of the citizens of Hong Kong vote to terminate it?

The CCP would never offer concessions like these, because this is a question of power, not economics. What matters to the CCP is that Hong Kong eventually be in a position where it can no longer defy it.

[deepVoid]

CCP has not decided not to extend "one country, two systems" either. 50 years is in the agreement with the UK when Hong Kong was returned to China. CCP has not said that they would not extend it either. I don't see why they would not if it works well for Hong Kong and CCP.