So the meeting between Mike Pompeo and Yang Jie-chi did happen. Both sides later issued their own statement. To Pompeo, the meeting did not let him down because he had no expectation of it in the first place. Yang, however, was inevitably upset as he expected something from the talks but walked away empty-handed.

As soon as the meeting was over, Beijing rolled out the draft on the national security law. The draft had actually been ready. It was just a matter of when to unveil it. China would have lost face if the proposal remained under wraps following the fruitless meeting in Hawaii. Therefore, it was put before the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) hours after the meeting. This indicates the meeting in Hawaii was closely related to the legislation.

To be sure, the national security law is bad news for Hong Kong, as it will place Hong Kong people in an even more precarious situation. Our struggle for freedom will get more difficult and come at a bigger price and with more sacrifices. That is inevitable, since we are facing a regime that empowers itself by brutalizing people. Such is a disaster Hong Kong is destined to face. As it is unavoidable, the city has to brave it out.

Nevertheless, the legislation will not stand the CCP in good stead either. With it, the party is pitting itself against the rest of the world. It has to face just as perilous a situation. The law was deliberately kept off the agenda of the NPCSC meeting because it was treated as the last resort by Beijing, which had hoped to use the legislation’s withdrawal to bargain for reconciliation with the West. But as this hope was dashed by the talks in Hawaii, Beijing decided it might as well smash the glass. In for a penny, in for a pound.

It is not as if Hongkongers would have had an easier time without the national security legislation - Carrie Lam’s CCP-controlled government would have continued to send dirty cops to crack down on protests and punish people with a warped kind of rule of law. Various problems would have remained unresolved and the calamities dragged on. With the legislation, the CCP has an extra weapon to suppress Hong Kong people. But it will also find itself in an acute, nasty crisis at home and abroad. In case of full-blown sanctions imposed by the West, China’s economic and social problems will worsen sharply, and the CCP will be one step closer to its demise.

For Hong Kong people, it is a matter of suffering long-term or short-term pain. Long-term pain won’t hurt one to the core, but the duration of the pain will be long; short-term pain will be excruciating but the duration shorter. We no longer have the first option. What we are facing is short-term pain. No one knows how short-lived it will be, but the duration will certainly be short enough so that an old man like me will get to witness its end.

The same goes for the CCP, people in mainland China and basically the whole world. It is all a matter of enduring long-term or short-term pain.

Now that things have come down to this, there is no choice other than “laam chau”, an idea embraced by some Hong Kong protesters and often translated as “if we burn, you burn with us”. Things have to get to their worst before they can get better.

(Ngan Shun Kau is a veteran publisher and writer. His publications and works are award-winning.)

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