What this is has done is to make it abundantly clear the the Chinese government doesn't give to shits about either it's people or democratic principles. The democratic & free world was willing to give China the benefit of the doubt while it modernized as it was thought that capitalism & wealth would lead to more democratic tendencies.
Between this, wholesale theft of IP, extinction of minorities and expansionism in the South China Sea, it's pretty clear what Whinnie the Pooh thinks their trajectory should be. There is no reason to be accommodating anymore.
It's actually quite sad. China had a moment in time where it could have become a great country, instead it decided that the worst kind of dystopic, intrusive totalitarianism and repression was the way forward. Fundamentally, when the regime is scared of it's people, it's because they are weak...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
