Summary
The leader of China, it turns out, may not be all-powerful. Faced with huge and disruptive protests in Hong Kong, China blinked.
As China expert Kevin Carrico notes, the leader of Hong Kong is not elected democratically, as activists demand.
Lam was chosen by a committee dominated by supporters of China's ruling Communist Party. She is beholden to the Chinese government, not the people of Hong Kong.
What is happening today in Hong Kong parallels what happened in 2003, when huge protests forced the government to drop a proposal to impose what opponents saw as a draconian national security law modeled on China's.
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