> The erosion of Hong Kong’s democracy in recent years means they’re not likely to trust China’s assurances that Taiwan could maintain some degree of political autonomy under a “one country, two systems” model.<p>As a former HK resident, it's a sad story. In short the PRC promised to respect HK's existing mostly-democracy until 2047, but they've already declared that only legislative candidates pre-approved by the mainland (i.e. Communist party) may run in local elections, and are imposing decade-long jail sentences on people who try to organize protest votes.<p>I suppose the way it exposes the PRC's brutal dishonesty to others is a thin <i>thin</i> silver lining.