WASHINGTON - US writer David Ignatius commented on the Hong Kong protests that it was a delight in a world where democracy is declining and authoritarianism is growing. However, he said he was also very scared because this exemplary protest reminded him of the early days of the Arab Spring.
Ignatius, in his article in The Washington Post, pointed out that last Sunday afternoon, which ended in Hong Kong with a spell of violence, is a prelude to future problems.
Yet the democratic movement has deep roots in Hong Kong, says Martin Lee, a human rights activist who led democracy protests more than 30 years ago and is now 80.
"For 35 years, I have used peaceful means and ignored me," he said, sympathetic to the hard-line demonstrators who used violence.
During his week-long stay in Hong Kong, he asked hard-line protesters and pro-Beijing government officials, as well as local business leaders and media intellectuals: Where is this vague movement going? The answer he heard in dozens of conversations he had had the same basic answer as the activist gave me: "How will it end? I don't know."
Ignatius summed up the current situation as a perilous stalemate; the government is weak, waging up to a weekly raid on protesters, and Beijing is frustrated, but it seems unwilling to intervene militarily;
He pointed to what a former senior official in Hong Kong told him that he wanted to negotiate with the young protesters, but in this online amorphous movement he could not find them.
The remarkable thing is that Hong Kong people are openly challenging China, which in 1997 promised "one country, two systems", but has backed down.
He concluded that this courageous and noble movement needs leaders who can shape and exploit success now, so that the future does not become darker.