John L. Thornton China Center

[Beijing] doesn't understand the social and political dynamics of advanced economies like Hong Kong and Taiwan. [It] particularly doesn't understand the priorities of young people. Most of all, it does not understand how its own policies are creating the problems it finds troubling.

The [political reform] proposal that ultimately went to [Hong Kong's] Legco (the Legislative Council) in April 2015 was better than people realised, and maybe reviving it with modest changes would elicit enough support from the democratic camp. Unless politics is restored to institutional channels it will stay in the street.

There's a potential here for a crisis of unimaginable consequences. The Chinese know it, we know it. The question is: is there enough shared concern ... that you can think about much more of an activation of this cooperation between the U.S. and China?