The Hong Kong protests are waning. Last week prominent leaders of the movement Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, who founded the Occupy Central group that provided the catalyst for the protests, handed themselves into police. There were released without charge. Now, police are dismantling camps and making dozens of arrests.
As the protests come to an end and a new day dawns on Hong Kong, it would be easy to say that they have achieved little, aside from bringing the city to a halt and frustrating Beijing in the process.
In fact the ramifications of these protests extend beyond Hong Kong, across the water in Taiwan. On November 29, the ruling Kuomingtang (KMT) party was thoroughly trounced in local elections, losing even Taipei, usually a guaranteed victory. The drubbing has led president Ma Ying-Jeou to disband his entire cabinet, pending a major reshuffle.
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