BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping suffered twin blows to his approach to Hong Kong this week: first on Sunday when democrats dominated local elections, and then a few days later when U.S. President Donald Trump signed legislation on human rights in the city.
China banked on Trump not signing the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act -- which, among other things, imposes sanctions on Chinese officials found to violate Hong Kongers' human rights -- in order to move trade negotiations forward. But this was not Beijing's first big miscalculation.
