The Tragedy of Hong Kong, and Why It Could Be Coming to a Geopolitical Theater Near You
A TFP conversation with Mark L. Clifford, author of the tragic and alarming new book 'Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow the World: What China’s Crackdown Reveals About Its Plans to End Freedom Everywhere'
By Michael Judge
When I reach Mark Clifford, author of the new book Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow the World: What China’s Crackdown Reveals About Its Plans to End Freedom Everywhere, he’s feeling guilty for being free. He’s at his home in East Marion, N.Y., at the far end of Long Island, overlooking Lake Marion.
“I’m sitting here looking at this beautiful lake,” he says. “Beyond that is the ocean. I’ve got a red-bellied woodpecker in a tree not far from me. I’ve got birds flying by. It snowed last night. It’s a sunny day. I’m free. Right?”
Before I can reply, he’s half a world away, in his beloved Hong Kong, where the 64-year-old journalist spent most of his adult life, first as an award-winning writer and editor-in-chief at The South China Morning Post and The Standard, and later as executive director of the Asia Business Council (2007-21) and a board member of Next Digital, parent comp…
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