China has expanded its influence over Hong Kong ever since. The current demonstrations started when people rejected a law that would allow extraditing dissenters to China where dissent is punished harshly. The law was suspended, but protesters continued to demand more democracy and the resignation of the governor.
China is rising in world importance, soon passing the US as the biggest economy and extending its power and influence through many policies and initiatives, economic, military and media.
They surely do not like what they see in Hong Kong. Surely their long-term agenda is to integrate Hong Kong completely into Mainland China.
What would stop them to just annex Hong Kong? That’s what Russia did to the Ukraine’s Crimean peninsular. The West howled, cried, shouted, sanctioned etc, but could do noting.
The West would not do anything if China annexed Hong Kong. The West is breaking apart, weakened and divided, while its power shrinks. The US is lead by idiots; the UK (former master of Hong Kong) is on a suicide mission.
Would this not be the ideal moment to take over Hong Kong?