Xi may try to put a lid on Hong Kong protests before PRC's 70th anniversary

Much may depend on what happens in the first week of September, when students who have been driving the demonstrations are set to return to universities and high schools

For all the tumult Hong Kong has seen since pro-democracy protests erupted in early June, the countdown to a crucial anniversary for China on October 1 makes the next six weeks particularly sensitive. 

The 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, the name used by Communist Party leaders after they forced Chiang Kai-shek’s regime to retreat to Taiwan, will feature a military parade through Beijing personally inspected by President Xi Jinping. That has raised some fears that Xi will seek to get Hong Kong under control by then to avoid any violence that steals headlines. 

Much may depend on what happens