In principle oyu are correct and I am expecting the tanks to roll eventually.

But the economic fallout will be huge, much more than the closure of Hong Kong itself (and the elites money laundering service) but the businesses that will pull out form mainland China, companies that would take the financial hit of just quitting rather than dealing with a murderous tyranny who cannot be relied upon to honour deals, nations that would reject Chinese loans ('silk road') and look for investment elsewhere.

I live in Indonesia where, until just this year, China was the country's number 1 investor. In a matter of months China has dropped to number 3 with Japan in 2nd place. Before it was a joke that in an contract bad been China and Japan in Indonesia China would always get the contract... if only to placate the powerful ethnic Chinese living here. That, plus the Chinese knew how to bribe the right people and the Japanese didn't.

That has changed!

I also note the sudden rise of 'Little Tokyos' here in a land with a troubled history with Japan and awe of China. I am suddenly seeing Japanese workers, restaurants and corners in malls where it was all Chinese before! And I live in a MAJOR trading center so this does reflect trading in Indonesia.

If Indonesia is turning away from China the rest of SE Asia most certainly will be. Crushing Hong Kong will cause such a reaction other nations will suffer whiplash in the the speed of their pivot!