Many in the western business community are still hoping they can keep their heads down and continue to benefit from Hong Kong’s unique position in the world.

They are wrong — from a moral as well as a practical perspective.

Hong Kong is now the main battleground in an escalating cold war between China and what is left of the US-led liberal world order. Beijing’s decision to ignore the damage to its global reputation and defy its international treaty obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong shows the Chinese Communist party already believes this.

In the boom years of globalisation, Hong Kong was always said to be the epitome of a commercial city whose citizens cared little for politics, as long as they could buy, sell and shop. But, across the world, the period when economic concerns always seemed to override politics is over. Once again, Hong Kong is at the forefront of a new era.

Today Hong Kong rests upon a delicate balance — one in which western liberal capitalism and Chinese authoritarianism find themselves juxtaposed, not always without conflict, but never without mutual benefit. Far from the parallel tracks that we had once placed our obdurate faith in, my fear is that “one country, two systems” will end its days as a violent clash between east and west. The death of an independent Hong Kong will mean the death of the peaceful coexistence we have all come to take for granted.