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China Draws Hard Line on Hong Kong Protests

China Draws Hard Line on Hong Kong Protests

<p><b>Hong Kong:</b> The Chinese government's plan to simply wait out the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong <a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRcPoqMbR-puPAbfb5>may be working</a>. Days after dramatic clashes between umbrella-wielding protesters calling for open elections and riot police using tear gas and pepper spray, crowds have begun to thin and protest leaders are faced with the question of whether to escalate against Hong Kong's chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, who has shown no willingness to compromise.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Protesters have demanded that Leung resign by Thursday, threatening to block government buildings -- hundreds reportedly crowded around the building where Leung's office is located as police carried riot gear inside. Beijing has thrown its weight behind Leung, and the demonstrators have been <a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRcPoqMbR-puQA2e47>warned</a> that there will be serious consequences if protesters attempt to occupy government buildings. Still, it was unclear whether the standoff might force the situation to a head.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Part of the problem is that, with Beijing unlikely to accede to the protesters' demands, there has been no consensus about what the next step for the protests should be. "All the protesters here and Hong Kong people know it is extremely unlikely the Chinese leaders will respond to our demands," <a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRcPoqMbR-puPAbfb5>said</a> Joseph Cheng Yu-shek, a political science professor at the City University of Hong Kong. One protester, complaining about the deteriorating focus of the movement, <a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRcPoqMbR-puPAbfb5>told</a> the <em>New York Times</em>, "If this drags on -- it’s already turning into a carnival, with people dancing, singing and all that -- people may forget what they’re here for."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Chinese government has reaffirmed its support for Hong Kong's leader. "The central government has full confidence in the Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, and is extremely satisfied with his work," said a front-page commentary in <em>People's Daily</em>, the main newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, adding that the party would "unswervingly support him in running the city." The protests, it said, would drag Hong Kong into "chaos." Seventeen-year-old student leader Joshua Wong tweeted, "Don’t think that this will be over soon. This is fundamentally a war of patience and a test of our endurance."</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>Turkey:</b> The Turkish parliament is <a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRcPoqMbR-puRA950b>set to vote</a> on two motions to authorize the use of military force in Iraq and Syria to fight the Islamic State (IS), both of which are expected to pass on Thursday. Turkey has been slow to join the fight against the terrorist group because, until last month, it had held 46 Turkish hostages.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In an appeal to parliament on Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the West needed to find a more permanent solution to IS than simply dropping bombs, adding that "the immediate removal of the administration in Damascus" -- a reference to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad -- remained a priority. It has already <a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRcPoqMbR-puRA950b>deployed</a> tanks and armored vehicles to bolster forces on its borders with Iraq and Syria.</p>


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Africa

<p>• Sierra Leone's Ebola outbreak is <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRcPoqMbR-puSAe886>accelerating</a> as it waits for international aid to arrive. Reports claim there may be as many as <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRsPoqMbR-puTA08a0>five new cases</a> every hour.</p>
<p>• Starvation and disease allegedly killed <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRsPoqMbR-puUAf1a3>more than 100</a> former soldiers and their relatives at a demobilization camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Human Rights Watch.</p>
<p>• The Ebola outbreak in Liberia <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRsPoqMbR-puVAc34d>may be stabilizing</a>, according to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who said that doomsday predictions "were simply wrong." </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
Americas

<p>• After the first case of Ebola in the United States was reported in Texas, the biggest threat may come from the country's 43.3 million uninsured -- and Obamacare might be the country's best protection against an outbreak, <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRsPoqMbR-puWA0300>says FP's</a> Laurie Garrett.</p>
<p>• The president of Argentina's central bank has <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRsPoqMbR-puXA6d3c>resigned</a> amid high inflation and economic woes. He had held the job for less than a year.</p>
<p>• A Venezuelan lawmaker from the National Assembly for the Socialist Party was found <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRsPoqMbR-puYA0525>shot to death</a> in his home. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
Asia

<p>• A trading error involving $600 billion in stocks <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRsPoqMbR-puZA54f8>rattled Japanese markets</a> on Wednesday.</p>
<p>• Afghanistan's new president, Ashraf Ghani, announced that he was <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1KZMPoRjjjjB3sAe7b9>reopening the investigation</a> of the collapse of the Kabul Bank, which folded after losing almost $1 billion in what may be one of the world's largest incidents of banking fraud.</p>
<p>• Islamist militants in the Philippines linked to al Qaeda have <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRsPoqMbR-puaA9c29>threatened to behead</a> one of two German prisoners on Oct. 17, demanding a ransom and that Germany halt its support for the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State.</p>
Europe

<p>• <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRsPoqMbR-pubA81f1>Hundreds of Russian troops</a> remain in Ukraine despite a pullback of forces after the Sept. 5 ceasefire agreement, with another 20,000 stationed on the Russian-Ukranian border, according to NATO.</p>
<p>• The European Central Bank is expected to announce a decision on whether it will offer <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRsPoqMbR-pucA09da>more stimulus</a> to Europe's struggling economy after leaving borrowing rates unchanged.</p>
<p>• Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen wasted no time in setting up his life in the private sector, announcing the launch of a consulting company on his <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1DicPoX7mIy0H7A7c9e>successor's first day</a>.</p>
Middle East

<p>• Militants from the Islamic State have carried out "staggering" crimes, including mass executions, abducting women and girls as sex slaves, and using child soldiers, <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRsPoqMbR-pudA1a3f>according to</a> the United Nations. The report estimates some 9,347 civilians had been killed by the end of September.</p>
<p>• Egyptian authorities <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VC1RRsPoqMbR-pueA97bc>confiscated</a> all copies of the <em>Al Masry Al Youm </em>newspaper to censor the latest installment in a series of interviews with a deceased Egyptian spy. The interview was still available online.</p>
<p>• The execution of an Iranian woman who killed a man she said was trying to sexually assault her was has <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71vbqf.1f9w/VCv0k8Pou2SLsz5gA4755>been delayed</a> after an online campaign.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
- By Thomas Stackpole

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