China's Manifest Destiny East, West, North, and South

Mainland China is not about to let Hong Kong stand in the way of its "Manifest Destiny" to the East. Despite the terms of the 1984 Sino-British treaty that ended colonial rule and prepared Hong Kong to become a semi-autonomous region of China on July 1, 1997, the island is unlikely to remain unchanged for 50 years. In fact, free elections ended three years ago. On June 30, 2017, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry said the mainland is no longer bound by the 1984 treaty.

     On July 1, 2017, just before Hong Kong's annual march to commemorate the 1984 treaty, China's President Xi Jinping, on his first visit to the island, warned "Any attempt to endanger China's sovereignty and security, challenge the power of the central government...or use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland" is an "impermissible" way to cross a red line.

     Martin Lee,  who is known as Hong Kong's "father of democracy," observed money is all the Communist Party has. (Under Deng Xiaoping, China embraced striving for economic progress by the country and individuals.) It has no core values or principles of freedom, civil rights, or a rule of law.
He told the 60,000 or more pro-democracy protesters on July 1, "Even if our country will be the last in the entire world to reach that goal, we will still get there."

     Meanwhile, China will continue to pursue its eastward quest to dominate the South China Sea and maintain control over its so-called semi-autonomous regions: Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

     Activities involving India and Myanmar (Burma) also reveal China's interest in securing a strategic position in the West. Its Maritime Silk Road (road, bridge, and tunnel) project, estimated by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to cost at least $1.7 trillion per year through 2030, is designed to reconstruct the ancient Silk Road linking China to India. The hydroelectric dam China built on the Brahmaputra River gives Beijing control over the needed monsoon water that flows from Tibet through India and Bangladesh. And China's interest in securing access to the Bay of Bengal through Myanmar prevents Beijing from pressuring that country to severe its military ties to North Korea.

     As for China's quests in the North and South, see the posts, "China Stakes a New Arctic Claim," China's plans for its Polar Silk Road in "Santa Opens Arctic for Business,"  and "China Is Everywhere in Africa."