This summer is not unfolding as Chinese President Xi Jinping anticipated. He had planned to bask in the reflected glory of the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's reversion to China and the forging of a new relationship with the United States that would put the two great powers on a more equal footing, both of which would consolidate his position in the run-up to the all-important 19th Chinese Communist Party Congress to be held later this year.
Instead, the Hong Kong fete underscored problems in Beijing's international standing, relations with the U.S. are on the downswing and China is being challenged on other foreign policy fronts. None are insurmountable, but cumulatively they are troubling for a leader who must show positive results as his party contemplates its next five years.
The Hong Kong festivities went largely as planned and the events were unblemished by protests. Xi and other Chinese leaders, though, are troubled by the growing divide between residents of the city and the mainland. Rather than closing the gap between the two, Hong Kongers seem to take growing pride in and identify with the distinctive identity of their "special administrative region" (or, more precisely, its more independent predecessor). This has necessitated a crackdown by authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong, which intensifies the ill will, which generates a tougher response.