Taiwan secessionists' bid to sabotage 'one country, two systems' ill-fated

That the Hong Kong government officially withdrew the extradition law amendment bill on Wednesday, depriving the anti-government protesters of their proclaimed raison d'etre, should serve to defuse some of the tension in the embattled city.

With the legal process for the amendment bill's withdrawal completed, those who have indulged the violence of the demonstrators because of genuine though misguided worries about the proposed changes to the special administrative region's extradition law no longer have any justification for abetting their anti-social behavior.

The bill's withdrawal was completed on the same day the suspect in a Taiwan murder case, which prompted the proposed change to the law, was released from a Hong Kong prison.