“Hong Kong leader says military could step in,” was the eye-catching headline of an Oct. 8 Star-Advertiser article. The military being referred to here is not Hong Kong’s, but China’s; the speaker, Beijing’s faithful servant in Hong Kong, Carrie Lau. Lau’s mission has been to gradually erode the democratic rights of Hong Kong’s people and make them submit to one of the world’s most harshly controlling dictatorships. Just ask the Uighurs of Sinkiang or the indigenous Tibetans how they have fared under the People’s Republic of China.

Democracy is a fragile flower. We Americans too have reason to worry right now about the fate of our own democracy. Here the threat stems from the Republican Party’s shocking remake into an extremist white nationalist party contemptuous of democratic institutions and prepared to use gerrymandering and court packing (and more?) to maintain its power. Encouraged, of course, by would-be king Donald Trump.

We, like the courageous people of Hong Kong, may well find ourselves called upon to defend our democratic rights. Imua!

Noel Kent

Manoa

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