What is the Way Forward?

Protesters stormed into the Legislative Council on Monday evening

It has been reported that Beijing sent a task force down to Shenzhen on June 9 when 1 million people came out to protest on the streets. Chinese ministries, including the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Ministry of Public Security and the United Front works Department, sent officials to Shenzhen to collect intelligence.

How they can observe Hong Kong from across the border is beyond me.

Why did Carrie Lam speak to the media at 4am?

Or do they depend on Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to give them a report of what's going on, when she met with Vice-Premier Han Zheng, the state leader in charge of Hong Kong affairs before June 15, the day she suspended the extradition bill. Surely he should see what is going on with his own eyes?

"The bottom line for Beijing is to keep Hong Kong stable and to avoid bloodshed. The strategy is to avoid escalation of violent confrontation and remain calm but firm over the principle issues," a source said. The source also praised the Hong Kong police for the way they handled the protests and the clearing of the Legislative Council.

So does "remain calm but firm over the principle issues" mean no compromise whatsoever? Do these senior officials understand that the violence is going to escalate and that there is a greater risk of bloodshed?

While there hasn't been death by bloodshed, three people have committed suicide so far in relation to the extradition bill. How does Beijing feel about that?

Vice-Premier Han Zheng met Lam in Shenzhen before June 15

The source added: "As of Tuesday, they were still in Shenzhen assessing the situation, reviewing the strategy and discussing the way forward."

What is the way forward?

As usual very cryptic.

This evening I talked to a public relations professional with about 20 years' experience who said Lam holding a press conference at 4am was very bizarre. This person said the government has not received the best advice on how to handle the crisis either...
 One would have thought the economic fall out from passing the extradition bill would give Lam second thoughts. Several chambers of commerce and diplomats have warned the chief executive that companies would pull out of Hong Kong if the contentious bill was passed, but their concerns fell on deaf ears.

Apparently this is not new -- it also happens to town planning projects on a community level too. Public consultations allow residents to give feedback of how they want their neighbourhood to be developed or improved upon, and apparently some have very good ideas, but these too are completely ignored and the government just executes its original plan, much to the chagrin of citizens who want to have a better living environment.

How is Hong Kong supposed to become a better city if it is ruled by an arrogant government that assumes it knows better than its residents? This paternalistic attitude really has to stop. The city was not built on arrogance, but on flexibility, negotiation, and hard work.

Or have Hong Kong officials forgotten their roots?