You are too broad and open-ended. If just focus on HK and if you understand how local HKers perceive their identity/values, you would be in agreement of what they are doing, not necessarily how though. I am supportive whatever and however they do things. End of talk.
Maybe the intent was peaceful to begin with, like you, but there could be so much suppressed bad feeling that it eventually boiled over? It didn't help the HK-G likely misjudged and screwed up big time?
You did not read my earlier posts carefully. I was and am clearly sympathetic of the expression and desire for self determination. Let's not confuse freedom and the desire for self determination though. Hk has one of the broadest freedoms in the entire world. But freedom does not mean the right to decide one's own government. Shanghai locals don't have such right, neither do people in Tokyo , Seoul , Beijing. Democratic elections are a western idea and work in many countries but they also don't work in many other countries. China has the sovereign right to decide which rule of law it likes to exercise and how the government is made up. Neither HK locals nor Americans nor anyone else has a say in this. You make it sound as if HK locals have no freedoms. Incorrect, they have all the freedoms but what they don't have a right to is to rebel against the government. In that case such rebellion will be put down, if necessary, by force. Same in the US or Germany or elsewhere. If Bavaria tomorrow declared itself independent then such declaration will simply be pronounced invalid by the federal government and if necessary special forces will put down such rebellion in the South. We must grant the same right to China to exercise its own sovereign control of its own country. The US has done enough damage with its self serving idea of promoting "democracy" in all other parts of the world. PS: you are supportive of however and whatever the protesters do? Really? You sure? Even if they start killing and executing those who disagree with them? Careful about the words you choose. Not only would that make you sympathetic of crimes and terrorism but you will most likely end up on China's black list. Not that you care, I guess.
Fully agree with you. Like the umbrella movement it started as a legitimate expression of civil disobedience. But when those same protesters chose to become radical, violent and started to attack local residents and limit the freedom of travelers and everyone else in the city that is when they crossed a red line. China will not meet most of the demands of the protesters. Carie Lam may go, the extradition bill may be killed, but that is it. The opposite will happen. Over time HK will not even get to have its own government anymore but it will be replaced by a city council and mayor in the same way as Shanghai and all other tier 1 cities.
@GRULSTMRNN it is easy for you to comment when you are not a hongkonger while sitting in an air-conditioned room in front of a computer. Those kids are outside on the streets doing things, right or wrong, in their perceived hope of maintaining some freedom against the massive chinese currents. HK is a battleground between individualism and communism, political turmoil should be here to stay even if this episode subsides. Instead of your political view, more interested in hearing how you see to inexpensively take a long-term (multi-year) HKD short position without access to the OTC market.
Wsj: "WASHINGTON—President Trump suggested a “personal meeting” with China’s President Xi Jinping to discuss the escalating crisis in Hong Kong and warned China it must respond “humanely” to the protests if it wants to strike a trade deal." This is exactly the American hubris I was earlier alluding to. If there were domestic revolts in New Orleans, for example, and China dared to stick its fingers into this domestic issues, America would rightly tell China to stfu.
I suggest you do not fully understand the underlying issues. There is more freedom in HK than in America in many cases. The issue in HK is not China, the real issue is tycoons who control everything, properties, supermarkets, insurance products, water, electricity, gas, transportation. Everything is in the hands of less than 12 families. Particularly property tycoons don't build when they win land via auctions. They horde knowing it pushes up property prices further. Their price benchmarks are the wealthy employed in the financial sector, not ordinary citizens. The problem is not politics but an economic tunnel where many young don't see the light on the other side. And may I suggest that I am "out there" a lot more and fight in the "trenches" than those millennial snowflakes who just hang around and chat on mobile phones. For years I volunteer and make myself available to numerous NGOs all over town in multiple sectors. I work with underprivileged kids, I work and help with freeing and identifying sex trafficked women, I collect bread and food during the week to distribute to those who don't have enough. I paint walls in old apartments for the elderly. I go to prisons to spend time with inmates. And the list goes on. What did those kids do? Rebelling on Facebook and standing around is making an effort to make this city more livable for the needy? Please don't make me laugh You know, it's easy for those kids to just vomit and complain. Funnily, most did not even have a clue about China or politics a few months ago. Numerous people I speak to did not have a single idea how Taiwan was founded and how the Chinese CP is comprised of and how leaders in China are chosen. Heck they did not even know how LEGCO works. They still don't by majority but they all claim their voice must be heard and their demands met. In my book people get a voice when they participate and build not by mere existence.
You can short hkd against most major currencies if you wish to. I don't recommend it but it's your prerogative. Don't listen to this Stockolio idiot in case you are responding to him. None of his predictions worked out a single time and he declares the end of the world each day afresh. I have him on ignore again so I don't know what he is blabbering about but I am sure he sees the imminent demise of the hkd, same as last week, last month, last year. Of course like a broken clock he will be eventually right about one of his claims. But trading is more about timing than the actual event.