With Hong Kong protests exploding to new levels, President Xi Jinping of China is likely to deploy Peoples Liberation Army forces onto the former British colony’s streets. And that means a slaughter of some degree.

Xi’s problem is simple. Hong Kong police and their Chinese Ministry of State Security intelligence service masters are proving unable to stem the mass disorder. In so, painting a picture of political incompetence and security impotence, Hong Kong’s street battles are an existential threat to Xi’s regime. The protests degrade the Chinese Communist Party’s claim to a divine right of power and weaken Xi’s global narrative of a China that is destined to lead.