EVERY crisis brings its disaster as well as opportunity. If there can be cooperation and compromise, this pandemic is a good time to accept all the past problems and move on to a better future. But why is it so difficult to achieve political cooperation, compromise or conciliation, using Hong Kong as an example?
Hong Kong’s future as an international financial centre hinges on its political stability. As Beirut has shown, any descent to violence irreparably destroyed its position as a financial hub and cultural centre for the Middle East. Even the last British governor Chris Patten agrees that violence is not a path that can lead to good outcomes.
Despite Hong Kong’s exemplary handling of the Covid-19 outbreak (far better than London or New York), renewed protests and violence mar the temporary fragile lockdown peace. When even high school students are involved in protests and violent acts, the political poison is too deep to be handled by just police action. Exhortations for cooperation are falling on deaf ears, when both sides condemn each other as irreconcilable enemies.
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