Well, here is the issue. Yes, Hong Kong is definitely part of China, and HKers know that. However, Christianity, combined with HKers' strong believe in Locke's "unalienable rights" and the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon legal system, refuse to integrate with China. 2047 is not that far away, so Liberal-minded HKers youngsters are the most radical for putting up a last fight to force Beijing give as much as concessions as possible, including universal suffrage (to protect HKers' self-perceived inalienable rights) and limitation to Mainland tourists (due to difference over identity). HKers desire independence like Singapore, but they know Beijing won't allow that without a fight, so I think they might be using the word "independence" (and waving colonial-era flags) as a negotiation tactic against Beijing. In other words, HKers are waging their own maximum pressure campaign against Beijing to extract more concessions. They know Beijing probably would not use force, as doing so mean inviting all Western countries to sanction Beijing, triggering massive capital flights and economic collapse. Amid the U.S.-China Trade War, I suspect HKers know that now is the best time to pressure Beijing as much as possible since Beijing is in a relatively weak geopolitical situation.
What the protesters are doing simply do not work towards any of those goals.
If anyone in HK thinks they can pressure Beijing into doing anything it does not want to do, they are delusional at best and have ulterior motives at worst.
Just look at Trump’s epic trade war folly.
If the President of the almighty USA cannot pressure China to back down on something as transactional as trade, just what kind of cool aid are these protestors drinking thinking they can get Beijing to budge on something far more permanent and impactful like sovereignty and political concessions?!
What these protestors claim they want - more freedoms and guarantees, are not in the gift of foreign countries to give.
That’s why it makes zero sense for them to target their message to foreigners, and doing things like defacing the Chinese government emblem while waving colonial and foreign flags seems deliberately calibrated to goad Beijing into a crackdown. As their ever expanding lists of demands and increasingly violent and disruptive antics.
That is why when I look at something, I don’t care what pretty words people say, I look at their actions.
When they first protested peacefully, Beijing allowed HK to back down and withdraw the extradition bill.
Far from celebrating their victory, the protest organisers made fresh demands and escalated the violence.
Why would Beijing give more ground when that is the response? By their own actions, the protestors have explicitly demonstrated that appeasement only elicited increasingly unreasonable demands and worse behaviour.
What the actions of the people organising the protests are tailor made to do is push Beijing’s buttons to maximise the chances of them sending in the troops.
Who does that benefit? Certainly not the vast majority of people protesting.
If the proverbial does hit the fan, the likes of Joshua Wong will be whisked away by American agents while the rest pay for their plans and actions.
What the idiots shouting loudest for ‘more rights’ are forgetting is that rights comes with responsibility.
HK has more rights and freedoms than the rest of China, if instead of gratitude a loyalty, that is repaid with chaos and treason, what government in their right mind would think, yes, more freedoms and rights will change this behaviour for the better?
All these protests are doing is demonstrating to Beijing that people in HK cannot be trusted with their extra rights and freedoms. That free access to the internet just allows western oriented fake news and state propaganda campaigns to poison the minds of the young; that religious freedom only allows fertile breeding ground for FLG etc.
If HKers like to keep their freedoms and rights, the best and only strategy is to prove to Beijing they can be trusted with them.