China’s leaders were equally alarmed by protests that spread across class lines to topple Communist rule in places like East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania. That’s certainly been true this year, with the Western press filled with speculation over whether the Hong Kong protests will result in a Tiananmen-style crackdown by Beijing. It does not want a new iconic photograph capturing its brutality, 30 years after Tank Man. Many people have been injured badly and arrested in Hong Kong, but there have been few deaths. Jeffrey Wasserstrom is a professor of history at UC Irvine and author, most recently, of the forthcoming “Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink.”

Source: Los Angeles Times December 03, 2019 10:52 UTC