A tough pill to swallow for some political illiterates is that China is acting completely rationally. China vs the West especially against the U.S are embroiled in a sort of Cold War. Right now China is cracking down on Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong in order to eliminate their weak spots. By now everyone is familiar with the U.S tactics in pressuring nation-states—namely subversion and inciting political sectarianism within a certain nation, supplying weapons, propaganda, money, intelligence and so on.
China is afraid that if her conflicts with the West escalate, the Uyghurs and to a lesser extent Tibetans would be easily pliable and ripe for conflict because of ethnic, ideological and religious differences.
Hong Kong being a former colony of Britain is filled with spies and allies of western nations, while simultaneously being an important part of Chinas economy representing 3% of GDP and acting as a base for multinational investors. The extradition bill China drafted which is the cause for the protests would allow China to extradite these ne’er-do-wells potential agents to the mainland to be neutralized. That’s why these protests are being highlighted while the still-ongoing Yellow Vest protests are being ignored, because if China succeeds the West will lose a valuable bargaining chip against China.
