The protests in Hong Kong show that the world has changed. From the stability of the rule of law and international cooperation, we are now in an era of antagonism that many hoped belonged to the past. Instead of cooperation, it’s competition – for resources, for ideas and for values.

Despite the violence, the protests in Hong Kong are not the frontline. Further west, the values of human rights and the rule of law are really being challenged by the Chinese Communist Party. The detention of perhaps a million Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, the re-education camps around Urumchi, and the use of technology to identify, track and control are the cutting edge of autocracy in the information age.

But Hong Kong still matters because this isn’t just about China. This isn’t about a foreign country we can ignore or avoid, but a struggle for the rule of law and the shape of the new world we are building. Hong Kong, Xinjiang and the roll-out of Huawei in UK mobile networks are all connected. They all point to a changing world and raise the question of what really matters to us.

Like Beijing, we want the violence in Hong Kong to stop. We all recognise that Hong Kong is part of China and know the protestors should not have resorted to violence, but we also recognise their fears. The New York Times revealed a stash of secret Chinese documents last weekend about the treatment of Uighurs which had echoes of a dark past. In the camps they are receiving “concentrated education” to cleanse them.