Watchful waiting

Our granddaughter is now four years old, and Susan and I are viewing the news from Hong Kong with growing concern. Amber Li is genetically half-Chinese; culturally, she’s Chinese with an American father; officially, she’s an American citizen. The Chinese government is already trying to preserve face by depicting the Hong Kong protests as driven by American intervention; if things escalate, my granddaughter’s status and my son’s and his wife’s could get … iffy. I’m not a fan of ‘iffy’ when dealing with a totalitarian government.

Further, my feelings in this matter are layered. I like China, I don’t like its government; I dislike the government, but I can see that it can’t back down on this particular issue. They’re fighting for their survival, trying to avoid a revolution (which they would of course characterize as a counter-revolution, but their own revolution has been the settled establishment for four generations now). Personally I’m not averse to revolutions against overbearing state control; I’d be a lot happier, though, if such a turn could be postponed till my son and his family could get out of the country. Which, so far, they don’t see the necessity of doing, and I don’t know that they’re wrong but I wish they could just go ahead and play it safe on this one.

Amber is older now than her father was when Tiananmen Square happened.

History can repeat itself. Ask the French in 1939.