China, USA and Europe and the Hong Kong crisis

The evolution of the facts concerning China, related not only to the issue of internal dissent and the relative repression, but also those of Hong Kong, which have obtained greater relevance from the world press and the complicated relationship with Taiwan and the related international implications, they pose dangerous issues for global stability, starting with relations between Beijing and Washington, which have deteriorated sharply. If on the Chinese domestic front, the non-respect of civil rights is more tolerated, even as regards the repression of Chinese Muslims, the problem in Hong Kong seems to be more felt in the West. The Chinese attitude of aversion to a two-country (political) system theorem must be framed precisely in the need to nip domestic dissent, removing the example of pluralism on Chinese soil. This objective is now considered a priority also with respect to economic results and international relations. The US assesses sanctions against the Hong Kong financial system, which in the short term may have serious effects on the possibility of operating on the financial front, within the American market, however the Chinese government has long since initiated a weakening of Hong Kong in the general picture of the financial importance in favor of other squares which are more under the control of the central government. Beijing's obstinacy in its attitude towards Hong Kong reveals that it has now sacrificed its operational capacity within the financial world to exercise as much control as possible. This also means that Beijing is willing to evaluate a potential negative impact on its economy by the West. For the risk it is calculated: only the US of Trump, who is in the election campaign, can try to exert pressure on China, while from Europe, for now nothing has come but a guilty and irresponsible silence. However, the Hong Kong issue, even in all its seriousness, is of less impact than what Taiwan can become. China considers Formosa an integral part of its territory and has never made a secret of being able to also consider reaching the military option to assert its power in a concrete way. The US has always maintained a link with Taiwan in an unofficial way, but in recent times, considering the country as strategic for naval traffic and essential from a geopolitical point of view, it has increased contacts, repeatedly provoking the irritation of China. As far as Hong Kong is concerned, Washington has chosen an approach based on economic sanctions, but a similar behavior by Beijing in Taiwan could not allow a similar approach; the United States could not be passive in a Chinese showdown. For now the situation has stalled but those who confront each other are two similar leaders, who have made sovereignism and nationalism their strengths and both do not seem to want to give in. There would be a third actor who could affect the economy of dialogue if he had the strength of his own foreign policy and the belief that he wanted to defend rights at any cost. American action, in fact, does not move to guarantee universal rights not respected by Chinese action and order, but by an exclusive protection of US interests: an attitude that disqualification makes Washington's role in the world arena less relevant . This void, if not on the military level, could be filled at a political level by Europe, which could invest in credibility, a dowry to spend later on other levels as well. However, it would take a capacity for courage capable of going against the Chinese economic power, but starting from the strength of having the awareness of being the largest world market. A sanction policy towards Chinese products, practiced to counter the failure to respect civil rights and the repressions carried out in Hong Kong, could act as a brake on Beijing's current policy. This could also serve to obtain, thanks to targeted European tax policies, an autonomy from a wide range of Chinese products whose production could be brought back to continental soil favoring a new industrial development. It is clear that in the initial phase immediate economic advantages should be renounced, which could be recovered from the fallout of the effects of taking on a new political role as a world leader. It would be a very interesting development.