◎ President Trump, still addressing the consequences of the earlier unconsummated events, faces a new situation as the people of Hong Kong defy Beijing’s further erosion of their guaranteed rights of limited self-government.
Read moreAs Hong Kong Stands Up to China, US Should Do the Right Thing — This Time
◎ Hong Kong’s chief executive and pro-Beijing lawmakers will likely try to determine Party central’s intention from Liu Xiaoming’s remarks and act accordingly.
◎ The present situation in Hong Kong is ripe for Xi’s political rivals to exploit and shift the balance of the struggle.
◎ Xi’s political rivals are “weaponizing” Party orthodoxy against the Xi camp in Hong Kong affairs.
◎ Both President Trump and Xi Jinping have signaled strongly that they want to meet each other at the G20 in Osaka.
◎ The real challenge will be America’s response to China’s first-level retaliation, and whether Washington is prepared to move up the escalatory ladder.
◎ The CCP could use conventional and “unrestricted warfare” strategies and tactics against the United States.
Read moreRisk Watch: How the CCP Could Do a ‘Pearl Harbor’ to Survive the ‘New Cold War’
◎ The Trump administration has moved to challenge the regime on Huawei, human rights and Taiwan, as well as strengthen alliances and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific.
◎ The Trump administration is confronting China multidimensionally — on trade, Taiwan, the South China Sea and North Korea — as no predecessor ever did.
Read moreHenry Kissinger is Still Brilliant — and Still Wrong About China
◎ Ren Zhengfei’s alternating rhetoric reveals that Huawei is at its “wit’s end.”
