The Carrie Lam administration has gone nuts on settling the scores with Hongkongers involved in the protests. It has made a large number of significant arrests and started prosecution of iconic figures in the movement, including Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, Ivan Lam, and Jimmy Lai. They have received heavy sentences and undergone unreasonable detention. On top of these, the government has been after the media and Sinicized education. These are all examples of the intensification of the CCP getting out of control with its unprecedented sprint to destruction.

The CCP tore off the last fig leaf of one country, two systems, and placed an almighty national security law above all authority to suppress Hongkongers’ peaceful resistance. It no longer cares for Hongkongers’ frustration and international outlook, nor the judgment of history. What they want, and want remains, is only the security of the regime.

In the beginning, the CCP still held hopes for the Western counties. Before the people’s Liberation Army stationed troops in Shenzhen to be ready to cross the Luohu Bridge, Yang Jiechi went to the United States to lobby, but to no avail. In Hawaii, Yang met with Pompeo and hoped that the United States would approve of the implementation of the national security law in Hong Kong, and ran his head into a wall. Afterward, when Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Europe and attempted to wedge between the United States and the European Union, he was faced with another setback. The E.U was indifferent, and many retorted harshly.

The CCP’s diplomatic impasse has stemmed from many years of expansionary policy, trampling on human rights and suppressing people’s resistance, as well as its wolf warrior attitude. The CCP knows very well its international position – but there is no going back for them. There is no going back to the days when it proudly trotted around the world. The Western countries have gained enough consensus on the true face of the CCP behind the mask. Bounded within the framework of universal values, the CCP has no more friends.

The CCP’s unscrupulous ambition of world domination had made use of the Western countries’ freedom and tolerance. It has promoted its own ideology in the name of exchanges and cooperation and used the evil united front to lure and intimidate a large number of Western elites.

It has been the negligence of the United States and the Western countries that has caused them to overlook the CCP’s threat. With their strong national power and confidence in their own systems, they have allowed the CCP to infiltrate for decades without realization. The minute they finally woke up, half of the country has fallen, and they could easily enter a world of no return. This is the fundamental reason for the overall turnaround of Sino-U.S. relations since Trump took office.

The United States’ strategy of handling the CCP involves three steps: domestic cleaning, all-around besiegement, and promoting internal changes. After half a year of running around to persuade, Pompeo has achieved consensus within the E.U. with this historical strategy. Recently, NATO and the E.U. have made clear statements on this issue one after another, stating their hopes to work closer and more comprehensively with the United States in its efforts towards China. With the successful coordination established between the U.S. and the Western countries, the universal value front is solidified, and the death knell of the CCP has sounded.

The U.S. not only fully supports Taiwan and the resistance of the Hongkongers, but has also stood on the side of the Chinese people on issues around ethnic minorities such as Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia. The U.S. has supported Taiwan to go on the international stage, Taiwan’s high-tech development, sol advanced weapons to Taiwan, and elevated the level of exchange and visits between government officials of the two countries. These have been severe blows right at the heart of the CCP.

The hands of the CCP are tied with Taiwan. It can neither fight, nor talk, to Taiwan. Out of desperation, all it can do is to make verbal assaults. Without any other choices, it uses the suppression of Hongkongers’ resistance to divert the attention of the mainland people, to vent, and to balance its pain. The U.S. support for Taiwan pains the CCP. The CCP’s blow to Hong Kong pains the U.S. and the West.

To the CCP’s suppression of the anti-extradition movement, the U.S. retorted by putting a wedge between the CCP and the Chinese people; To the CCP’s demolishment of the Basic Law through the national security law, the U.S. retorted that Taiwan has never been a part of China. When the CCP has no bottom line with all its brutal authoritarian means of dictatorship, the U.S. countered with no bottom line in its besiegement of the CCP.

This is the ultimate battle between Communist ideology and universal values. One will win, and one will lose. There is no room for maneuvers in between. Both sides understand the historical inevitability of this decisive battle, as well as the dangerous prospects in sight. But neither has any intention of compromise.

History could alter very quickly and very slowly. Conflicts can be huge or minuscule. But there will always be change, and there will always be conflicts. Hong Kong is at the intersection of the era. This is our fate, and we can only survive.

Can the CCP defeat the Western countries led by the U.S.? Seems difficult. Can Western countries promote transformational changes within the CCP? It is possible. It is all a matter of time. This is why we must be fully prepared for the difficulties in the foreseeable future, and we must continue to stay confident in the future of Hong Kong.

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