Alex Chow, Nathan Law, and Joshua Wong, three of the young leaders of Hong Kong’s “Umbrella” protest movement in September 2014, were sentenced to jail for their part in inciting an “illegal assembly”. They had been convicted earlier for their participation, but the Hong Kong court did not impose imprisonment. That decision was regarded as “too lenient” by the chief prosecutor and he ordered imprisonment. The Umbrella Movement was a protest against the intervention of the central government in Beijing in the affairs of Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong is part of China, certain freedoms were guaranteed to the people of Hong Kong for 50 years after the British turned over the city to China in 1997 under the principle of “one country, two systems“.
The Three Leaders: Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow
The stand-off between India and China over the Doklam region continues and seems to be getting perilously close to open conflict. The tension has been aggravated over the last few months because of disagreements between the two on China’s “One Belt, One Road” program which India regards as intrusive on Indian economic and strategic interests, over India’s support for the Dalai Lama, and China’s refusal to allow India to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Apparently Chinese and Indian patrols all along the very extensive shared border have been exchanging blows with each other.
John Davison has written an interesting article for Reuters which I have not been able to confirm in other media sources but which rings of an unsettling truth. Davison writes that the US military forces will likely stay in northern Syria for many years. The US is building military bases in the region and it is unlikely to simply leave them once built. But more importantly, even after Daesh (the Islamic State) is pushed out of the area, the region will still be unsettled as the Kurds, the Syrians, and the Turks sort out some arrangements for the future. Given all the blood that has been spilled in the region, all these groups believe that they have earned a say in controlling the territory and it is unlikely that they will agree.
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