(Newswire.net — August 16, 2019) — US President Donald Trump said the situation in Hong Kong was “difficult”, expressing hope that the crisis would be resolved peacefully and that no one would be harmed, Reuters reports.
“I hope that this will be resolved peacefully and that no one will be injured or killed. The situation in Hong Kong is difficult, very difficult. We will see what happens,” Trump told reporters.
Demonstrators in Hong Kong still cause major air traffic problems, as they seized the terminals of the city’s international airport for the second day in a row, forcing authorities to cancel all remaining flights.
Local media reported that police used pepper spray to force protesters from the airport. Two people were detained.
The siege is now over and the airport has returned to its routine.
Demonstrators, among other things, are demanding democratic reforms and an independent investigation into police brutality against protesters in the autonomous Chinese territory.
The 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests are a series of ongoing demonstrations in Hong Kong against an extradition bill proposed by the government of Hong Kong which fears that if there is no extradition to mainland China the city will become a sanctuary for all kinds of criminals.
The aggressive nature of protests, frequent clashes with the police and street violence forced the governor of Hong Kong to revoke the bill and the protesters won. However, the protests didn’t stop. Now, protesters calls for the resignation of Hong Kong’s Prime Minister Kerry Lam, and also for direct elections, the release of those arrested at previous protests, and an investigation into police use of force against protesters.
Chinese authorities are just fed up with what is happening in China’s province since it already has a great amount of autonomy since being returned back to China after more than 100 years of being a British colony.
Political analysts say that although publically the US and Great Britain are cheering for a peaceful solution, they are actually eager to see Beijing make a “wrong” move and try to resolve the problem by force. The reason for that is that as soon as Beijing makes a move against protesters in Hong Kong, the UN will vote for already “prepared” economy sanctions against China.
Amid the US and China trade war, the embargo on Chinese goods in the EU would help the success of the US because with an ongoing trade between China and the EU, the US is hurting only itself with its trade war.
According to analysts, protests in Hong Kong may have started as vox populi but are now a political tool of extreme importance for pressuring China. Former UK Member of Parliament George Galloway compared protests in Hong Kong to a “Trojan Horse.”
“The reason these protests are continuing and continue to receive such international attention, is because are intended to, and they may well weaken China. And that is an international project of the big powers in the world who want to see China’s rise checked and if possible reversed,” Galloway told RT.