As China turns 70

Properly Woke Americans like to think of the United States as a racist, misogynist society ruled by a fascist with orange hair. But whenever repression really hits the fan, anywhere in the world, people still wave the Stars and Stripes, as protesters in Hong Kong are doing here.

In 1949, Mao Zedong and the Peoples Liberation Army won the civil war and sent the former Nationalist government fleeing to Taiwan. Seventy years later, both mainland China and its offshore island are prospering, but only Taiwan is free. The people of Hong Kong know that, and they know that the absolute dictator in Bejing is determined that they too will be brought under the heel of his secret police, total surveillance, and "re-education" camps.