The world must come together and stand as one in rallying and embracing the fight of the Hongkongers.
As we all know, their struggle against the nefarious acts and creeping interference in their way of life by China began on June 9. This was all because of a controversial bill that sought to allow suspects to be extradited to the mainland. This was totally unacceptable to the people of the former British colony, by virtue of common sense and reason.
Hongkongers know fully well that if they did not fight this bill, it would start the destruction of their political order as well as the ways of their civilized life and harmonious body politic. That is the reason a million Hong Kong citizens took to the streets in June.
Under collective public and international pressure, Hong Kong authorities eventually scrapped the bill. But the damage had been done, and a further path to a much bigger and greater struggle was opened and charted by the people of Hong Kong.
A couple of days ago, the latest places to become fierce battlegrounds were the campuses. The brave and determined students of those universities stood their ground and defended their schools from the unreasonable attack and treacherous invasion of the police. There have been reports that the People’s Liberation Army had come out of their barracks to help restore order. This is dangerous in my view.
The world must come together to support, help and embrace the cause and the struggle of the brave Hong Kong people. Let us not again commit the same mistakes that we did in 1989, when Chinese authorities crushed student protests in Beijing that were demanding reforms and greater democracy.
The same thing is about to happen in Hong Kong. Are we just going to watch?
The world must tell China in a categorical manner that Beijing cannot do everything as it pleases. That for China to remain a member of good standing in the international community, it has to follow and respect the norms, values and stipulations of international laws, including the agreements and treaties it had entered into. If not, then it will become a rogue state and a pariah in the community of nations.
If, on the other hand, the world will not do anything, it would be a shame to be a part of this so-called “international community.”
JOSE MARIO DE VEGA, mario_the_radical@yahoo.com