As pro-democracy protests continue in Hong Kong, will the former colony's declining economic influence play a part in what happens next?

Tens of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong are continuing their protest, despite appeals from Hong Kong's chief executive, C Y Leung to call it off.

Since the weekend, the streets of the financial district have been filled by protestors who style themselves as Occupy Central. They oppose China's plan to choose the candidates for Hong Kong's next election.

We discuss the standoff with one protester, playwright Jingan Young, and the journalist Martin Jacques, a former editor of the British Communist Party journal, Marxism Today. He's since written a book called "When China Rules the World".