Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The steady drip, drip, drip coming from Hong Kong these days is the sound of the territory’s cherished liberties and freedoms slowly leaking away from multiple taps.

There was a lot of optimism when the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong was signed in December 1984, promising that China’s socialist system and policies “shall not be practiced” in the territory and that its capitalist system and lifestyle “shall remain unchanged for 50 years.”

Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai speaks at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York on Sept. 20.
Photo: Bloomberg

Prior to the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ passage of a bill that would relax restrictions on mutual visits of high-level officials from Taipei and Washington, China allegedly sent a letter to the US Congress warning against “crossing a red line,” according to the Washington Post.