One for the China agenda

As Hong Kong approaches the 20th anniversary of its handover to Chinese rule on July 1, the signs are increasing that the terms of the agreement guaranteeing civil liberties in the former British colony likely aren’t worth the paper they were printed on.

Hong Kong was supposed to be able to exercise a high degree of autonomy from mainland China and maintain its enormously successful capitalist system for at least the 50-year term of the agreement, which established a “one country, two systems” arrangement.

But, it seems, China grows impatient.

Last Sunday, an election committee of some 1,200 members dominated by the Chinese government cast its majority for Carrie Lam to serve as chief executive. She has served as the city’s second highest official for the past five years. Lam is slated to take office on July 1, the anniversary of the hand-over, a time when pro-democracy activists had already planned demonstrations during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jin-ping.

Monday came an even more ominous signal, as two years after the pro-democracy 2014 Umbrella Movement protests — one of the most colorful, peaceful and benign demonstrations ever — nine of its organizers were arrested for their role in the protests. The charges carry a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

The timing of the arrests is nothing if not curious. But it’s certainly a topic that should be on the agenda when President Trump sits down with China’s president later this week.

If Trump wants to use the bully pulpit he seems so fond of, now would be a really good time.