海角大神

As pro-democracy protesters have filled central Hong Kong 鈥� and ignored orders to disband 鈥� the United States has toed a careful line: supporting Hong Kongers鈥� right to free expression, but avoiding public criticism of China and the political decisions out of Beijing that sparked the protests.聽

鈥淭he United States supports universal suffrage in Hong Kong in accordance with the basic law and we support the aspirations of the Hong Kong people,鈥� White House spokesman Josh Earnest said this week.

Yet with each day that the protesters refuse to back down, the cautious US approach risks looking increasingly thin and weak on democracy, supporters of a more robust US response say. Some are already calling for sanctions along the lines of those slapped on China in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

The get-tough-with-China-now camp is also blasting Britain for what some saw as a wobbly show of support for the protest movement. The government of Prime Minister David Cameron said it was monitoring the demonstrations closely and that the people鈥檚 rights need to be 鈥減reserved鈥� even as the protesters need to exercise those rights 鈥渨ithin the law.鈥澛�

But some US-China experts counter that the US is right to take a cautious approach, especially in its public comments on what is still an evolving 鈥� and so far largely peaceful 鈥� struggle.

鈥淲ashington has to walk a fairly careful line here, especially when you have the Chinese already making the claim, unfortunately, that the Hong Kong protests are externally motivated,鈥� says Dean Cheng, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation鈥檚 Asian Studies Center in Washington. 鈥淎ny really overt level of support for the protesters鈥� demands would only reinforce those claims.鈥�

What should be occurring behind the scenes, Mr. Cheng adds, is a strong message to Chinese officials 鈥� and in particular to President Xi Jinping 鈥� that repression cannot be an option, and that how Beijing resolves the crisis will have significant repercussions for Hong Kong鈥檚 and China鈥檚 relations with the world.聽

鈥淚 would hope that Washington is making it very clear that 25 years after Tiananmen Square, the world is smaller, the whole world is watching Hong Kong, and that any forceful suppression of the Hong Kong protests will result in an even stronger backlash against China than in 1989,鈥� he says.

The Hong Kong protests were sparked by Beijing鈥檚 recent announcement that, while it will allow the city鈥檚 next chief executive to be elected by universal suffrage in elections set for 2017, it will now insist on vetting the candidates. Pro-democracy demonstrators say the new restrictions violate the 鈥渂asic law鈥� adopted when the former British colony was turned over to Beijing in 1997.

As Mr. Xi navigates what is arguably the first crisis of his tenure, Cheng says the Chinese leader is being pulled between two key demands: to 鈥渟tay firm, stay strong鈥� toward the protesters on one hand, but to 鈥渒eep Hong Kong viable as a world financial center鈥� on the other.

Especially with the Chinese economy slowing, the US can remind Beijing of its interest in seeing Hong Kong remain a top international investment destination and not a new symbol of Chinese repression, Cheng says 鈥� but again, that kind of diplomacy should be carried out in private, he says.聽

Xi also can be reminded that Beijing鈥檚 vision of 鈥渙ne country, two systems鈥� is being tested in Hong Kong and watched closely, Cheng says 鈥� by the whole world in a general sense, but with particular interest by Taiwan, he adds, where Beijing wants to see that same vision applied.