The Long Game Is China’s Despite a Win for Hong Kong’s Protesters

Hong Kong’s protesters have won—this round. They knew not to exult in the victory. On Sunday, June 16, they again gathered in the hundreds of thousands—almost all dressed in mournful black—to march and to press their current advantage in what will be an extended struggle.

The day before, the pro-democracy activists had forced Chief Executive Carrie Lam into a humiliating retreat over a law that could allow extradition to China. While many businesspeople in Asia’s financial capital are breathing a sigh of relief, there’s little question that over the longer term, Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed government intends to keep chipping away at freedoms many of its people regard as sacred—or that the city’s future looks less secure than at any point since the U.K. returned it to Chinese control in 1997. It faces something of a perfect storm: instability and fear of Chinese domination within its borders, the development of more sophisticated companies and financial markets in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and other mainland cities, and perhaps above all the rise of Singapore, which is now a serious challenger in almost every industry.