OK, so streets in Hong Kong are filled with people demanding democratic reforms. How will the Chinese government respond?
Will there be real changes?
A Tiananmen Square style beatdown?
Something in between?
Run stories to discredit them-- bored students, probably encouraged by foreign agitators, that don’t appreciate that parts of rural China still have a standard of living on par with Ghana. The party has real problems to contend with rather than indulging a bunch of spoiled and ungrateful kids, etc. Maybe throw in some old-fashioned “whhhy is western media so meeeeeean to us?” whining.
Eventually things will simmer down, as Hong Kong needs China and everyone with real capacity for making change knows that, and people on the mainland are still too busy reaping the benefits of China’s economic success to rock the boat too hard.
China might through them a bone with a small reform, or will open up one of the many safety valves they’ve gotten good at deploying- a rousing anti-foreign rally is a classic, or they’ll reopen some of the Internet channels so people can get their rants out in a controlled space while thinking they are being transgressive.
A beat down is unlikely. China’s has learned a lot about the press in recent years.