It's time for Beijing to learn the lesson of inclusivity

THE Chinese Communist Party finds itself in a dilemma: Should it rejoice over the decline this year in the number of Hong Kong people who commemorated the anniversary of the June 4, 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square, or should it be more worried that many of those not taking part don't consider themselves Chinese anymore?

Every year for the last 27 years, Hong Kong has marked the bloody anniversary with a candlelight vigil in Victoria Park. In recent years, however, attendance has been dropping; the organisers this year said 125,000 people had taken part, compared with 135,000 last year and 180,000 the year before that.

Police figures are always much smaller; this year, the police said 21,800 people had taken part - less than half the 46,600 figure last year, which itself was less than half of the 99,500 in 2014.