Two Days of Calm in Hong Kong, Cross-Harbor Tunnel To Reopen

Nov. 21, 2019 (EIRNS)—Thursday was the second day of relative calm in Hong Kong, as the police siege of Polytechnical University has driven all but a few anarchists to surrender. The university sits over the Cross-Harbor Tunnel, where the anarchists used fire bombs to keep it closed all week. The tunnel is expected to be opened today. With the destruction of the toll booths, the city is waiving all fares for now. Despite the normal social media calls for mass demonstrations, only a few hundred responded and were easily contained. The city’s streets are cleared.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi, meeting today with former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen in Beijing, said in regard to the lunatic Congressional passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act: “Right now, the China-U.S. relationship has reached a critical crossroads. But we regret to see that some politicians in the United States are now smearing, attacking, slandering China to a level close to madness.”

The new EIR Report, “End the McCarthyite Witch Hunt Against China and President Trump,” being printed today, must be used to expose and defuse this insane push for war with China. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that Hong Kong is an issue for China as a sovereign state, just as he considered Crimea a matter that must be considered in the context of Russia’s historic sovereignty.

The “Hong Kong” bill passed the Senate late in the day Nov. 18 by a voice vote, and the House earlier with only one “no,” from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), so a Trump veto could be overriden. The act does not force him to take any of the punitive actions mandated in the bill.

China’s Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said that communication between the trade negotiators was continuing. The Wall Street Journal reported that China has invited U.S. negotiators for face-to-face talks in Beijing, citing unnamed sources.

The test of whether the Western-backed anarchists have been contained in Hong Kong, without the intervention by the PLA or armed police, which the regime-change fanatics were hoping to provoke, will be on Nov. 23, a Saturday, which is the day of the week on which the largest riots have taken place over the past five months.