[einhverfr]

As things continue to develop in Hong Kong I am more and more impressed by his choice of venue. I would not call him an idiot and I would not want to wager anything important on my chess skills against him.

Hong Kong is actually the perfect place because he is able to play three distinct groups off eachother. The immediately obvious parties are the US and China who both are likely to look at this in terms of what he knows, but then there is also the large-scale concern in Hong Kong over encroachment by the Chinese government so he is able to play Hong Kong off China as well. It is one thing to play two groups off eachother but three gives him a significant chance.

Moreover an extradition request would be a total game changer. Right now it is a game of chicken. Extradition procedings woudl turn it into a game of national security assets and intra-Chinese politics.

The fear of him already being turned by the Chinese is another thing he is able to play off of.