Dear Paul,

The problems in Hong Kong do stem from the West as you mention. However, they stem from some good things about the West. The West has certain freedoms - the right to free expression - the right to select the government. Hong Kong was acquired by England as a result of a horrible act by the West - the opium wars. However, under western occupation the people of Hong Kong learned and enjoyed certain freedoms. They want to keep those freedoms, but those freedoms are not consistent with the policies of a one party state which controls the media and curbs dissent. What has happened in Hong Kong is that the people have enjoyed certain freedoms found in western societies, and they want to keep those freedoms. At first the Chinese government gave a certain amount of leeway to Hong Kong - one government - two systems. However, the Hong Kong system proved incompatible with the Beijing tyranny.

Hi David,

I support self determination for both the people of Hong Kong and Taiwan. Those Western rights and freedoms you speak of, if tested to the enth degree may not be accepted by the powers that be in such a benign way. I hope our society never reaches a point where true democracy has to be tested to the limit. The only time post war has our democracy been tested and found wanting was during the Whitlam years, when it was shown that a democratically elected government can be replaced by the actions of the privileged un-elected usurping democracy. Could it happen again, of course, will it happen again, I don't know.

Dear Paul,

I support freedom not self-determination. Self-determination means a political unit is set up on the basis of a religious or ethnic identity. Those people who are part of the political unit but do not share the political or ethnic identity on which the political unit was set up may become second-class citizens. I think all citizens of every country should have equal rights. That is not always possible if a political unit is set up on the basis of self-determination. Part of a country such as Nunavik in Canada may be set up on such a basis, but a country set up on such a basis is generally oppressive to part of its population.

"At its core, self-determination ‘is concerned with the fundamental right of people to shape their own lives’. In a practical sense, self-determination means that we have the freedom to live well, to determine what it means to live well according to our own values and beliefs."

Hi David,

I simply apply the above to all those living and identifying as Hong Kongers and Taiwanese. I have a good friend from Taiwan, living in Sydney, as she say's to me often; "Paul, I am Taiwanese not Chinese". and I believe her, all my friend wants is for her family back in Taiwan to be safe and protected, she fears the CCP and what it might do, rightly so.

BTW, she also believes America would sacrifice her family as part of the geo-political game, that concerns her as well.

Honestly, post WWII when the world changed forever, when has Australia gone to war to protect "freedom and democracy", politicians say often, I say never.

Dear Paul,

I don't agree with the quotation you cited on self-determination as I don't think it is true. I also don't think any nation has gone to war to protect or advance freedom and democracy although they may claim that in their propaganda.

I am a dual citizen of the US and Australia and feel that, by and large, they are good countries. I can feel that because they have been good to me and my family. Somebody locked up for years in a detention centre will probably feel differently. However, to claim in the Declaration of Independence as Thomas Jefferson did that "all men are created equal" and at the same time own slaves is a monumental act of hypocrisy. I believe that hypocrisy is a universal attribute of nations.

Dear Paul,

We have different identities. We may identify with a nation, with a religion, with an ethnic group or with any other group we care to identify with. Some groups like the Burgundians and the Manicheans disappear while others come into being or continue. If we go back 2,000 years none of us have Christian ancestors that far back.

If we go back 300 years there was no Hong Kong. The name of the territory, first romanised as "He-Ong-Kong" in 1780, originally referred to a small inlet located between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was an initial point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Eventually, nobody will identify as a Hong Konger.

Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), was formerly known as Formosa. The island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu Islands, became a dependency of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Taiwan Prefecture in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Japanese victory in the First Sino-Japanese War. The short-lived Republic of Formosa resistance movement was suppressed by Japanese troops and quickly defeated in the Capitulation of Tainan, ending organized resistance to Japanese occupation and inaugurating five decades of Japanese rule over Taiwan. Its administrative capital was in Taihoku (Taipei) led by the Governor-General of Taiwan.

Taiwan was Japan's first colony and can be viewed as the first step in implementing their "Southern Expansion Doctrine" of the late 19th century. Japanese intentions were to turn Taiwan into a showpiece "model colony" with much effort made to improve the island's economy, public works, industry, cultural Japanization, and to support the necessities of Japanese military aggression in the Asia-Pacific. Eventually, nobody will identify as a Taiwanese.