"GLOBAL ISSUES, LEADERSHIP CHOICES":

With COVID-19 keeping most of the world off-balance and Hong Kong's protesters at home and demoralized, China is asserting greater control over Hong Kong. Under a new security law likely to take effect in September, activist groups may be banned in Hong Kong, the mainland's security services could operate openly in the former British colony, and long jail sentences could be imposed for "national security violations." The U.S., UK and other countries have threatened action against China, but many China-watchers expect China to call the world's bluff. "[W]hen it comes to the global economy, the Communist Party is wagering that the world needs China, with or without Hong Kong. The response of the business community has been muted so far. Even if it protested, business has always come back to China, whether in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown or the British handover of Hong Kong back to China in 1997. 'There will be some unhappy people for some time,' said John L. Thornton, a former president of Goldman Sachs who has longstanding ties with China’s leadership. 'But the drum rolls, the dogs bark and the caravan moves on. That’s the political judgment. They [Chinese leaders] have had a fair amount of empirical evidence that the concerns will disappear.'" www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/business/china-hong-kong-damage.html