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China strangles its world city For decades, Hong Kong styled itself as Asia’s preeminent metropolis, a bustling former British colony at the center of the continent’s trade and logistics networks and the main international gateway to the booming Chinese market. Expats waltzed into Hong Kong as if it was an analogue of London or New York City. Local Hong Kongers exercised civil liberties unthinkable on the other side of the border with the mainland. But those freedoms seemed to come under constant threat since Britain handed over Hong Kong to China’s authoritarian regime in 1997. Moves, large and small, by local authorities and their masters in Beijing to curtail Hong Kong’s special liberties sparked repeated rounds of protests, including the wave of demonstrations that paralyzed the city last year. And then, in one fell swoop, China dropped the hammer. In what the Economist dubbed “one of the biggest assaults on a liberal society since the Second World War,” China implemented a sweeping, new national security law for Hong Kong on midnight Tuesday. “Overnight, Hong Kong’s 7.5 million residents were put under the same speech restrictions as the mainland, with possible life imprisonment for those deemed guilty of subversion — a standard charge used to jail political dissidents and human rights activists in China,” my colleagues reported. To many observers, the law marks the definitive end to an era. It’s the latest and perhaps most emphatic demonstration of the draconian grip of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has shrunk the space for civil society throughout China, steadily squeezed political dissent in Hong Kong and erected a dystopia of mass detention camps for persecuted ethnic minorities in the far-western region of Xinjiang. “Hong Kong is a great world city, not a remote area like Xinjiang. But the government of Xi Jinping is now clearly determined to bring it into line,” wrote the editorial board of the Financial Times. “The formula of ‘one country, two systems’ applied to Hong Kong since 1997 and sanctified in international agreements seems in effect to be over — a point underlined by the way the national security legislation was written and imposed from Beijing, without any participation by the Hong Kong government or legislature.” Thousands of Hong Kongers still took to the streets in a show of defiance this week. Hundreds were arrested. The fear is that the breadth of the new law — which apparently also extends to people living outside of China’s legal jurisdiction — could break the popular will to stand against Beijing. This week’s events can be interpreted as “a bloodless version” of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Steve Tsang, a historian of Hong Kong at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, told the Atlantic. “People tend to focus on the killing [at Tiananmen], but the killing was an instrument,” he said. “The objective was to intimidate and terrify the people so that people don’t even think about [protesting] again.” Not long ago, Hong Kong was seen as the city that would prefigure a more liberal, prosperous future for China. Now, its protesters are the canaries in the coal mine, left to voice the final cries of a society whose democratic aspirations are withering on the vine. Rather than seeing a metropolis of the future, analysts point to Hungary in 1956 or Prague in 1968. Chinese officials seem unmoved by the torrent of Western criticism and sanctions coming their way. “The era when the Chinese cared what others thought and looked up to others is in the past, never to return,” Zhang Xiaoming, the executive director of China’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, told reporters. Nor do they seem much bothered by the news this week that a host of foreign governments — including Australia, Taiwan, the United States and, most importantly, Britain — are considering fast-tracking permits for potentially millions of Hong Kong refugees seeking to quit their home city. That exodus may take place alongside a flight of Western capital and business — especially if the United States decides to scrap its special trade relationship with the territory, as President Trump has pledged to do. Hong Kong’s diminishment may be worth the cost for Beijing, which can count on global business regardless and attract investors to gleaming megacities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai. But it may also serve the interests of the more radical set of Hong Kong’s protesters, who see the impossible odds of confronting the leviathan in Beijing yet still want to intensify the showdown. “If we burn, you burn with us,” a catchphrase from the Hunger Games series, has become a popular refrain. “The choice is between dying quietly without the world noticing, or dying with dignity with the world noticing, and at the same time creating the chance of causing some damage to the people who kill Hong Kong,” Ho-Fung Hung, a professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University, told Quartz. “Hong Kong’s people have continually shown an ability to defy impossible odds and create beauty even in the harshest settings,” wrote Jeffrey Wasserstrom, the author of “Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink.” But he laments the creeping nihilism of the times.  Honesty is the best policy. |
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To all respectful Hongkongers, if you are a BNO - British National Overseas, please pack your stuffs and leave Hong Kong to England. There is no need to sacrifice anyone over CCP. I understand you are honorable and brave Hong Kong citizens and can't tolerate CCP irrational cruelty. CCP can't match *p with your level, it is waste of your time and life over a bunch of gangsters. We will be the eyewitnesses what China would be a year from now. Xi is facing lots of difficulties. The 26 provinces flooding, the shortage of food, the Swine Flu, swarm of locusts, will bring famine to China. The lawsuits from all the countries got coronavirus, the trade deal signed with Trump in January, the battle with India at border, the Hong Kong protestors, North Korea, Russia, .... can bring China down. HongKongers go abroad to a country that accepts you, England, USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, ... You were British colony and speak English and educated Democracy, just give a year of time, you will see the differences. No need to fight and sacrifice your precious lives. I have left Taiwan for 40 yrs because I couldn't risk my life over communists. I have survived and done well in USA. Honesty is the best policy.
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Do you remember my blog I posted on Feb 7 about a "whistleblower" Dr. Li Wen-Liang 李文亮 who was an ophthalmologist MD. He sent out message to his colleagues by Weibo on Dec 30, last year to warn them there was a virus spreading in Wuhan city, 7 patients needed to isolate from other patients. He meant "human to human transmitted disease", but he was not sure at that time. He had been called to the police station to sign a paper NOT TO SPREAD RUMOR. We all know CCP censorship of coronavirus or any bad news about China. We know Dr. Li died in coronavirus that now spread to the world and still going on. There are no Google search engine, Facebook, Instigram, Twitter, ... because CCP don't let their people know "Tienanmen Square massacre" (The Tank Man) and "Organ Harvesting" on Falun Gong practitioners. I was in Beijing city in May 20'08 and asked Chinese about that Tank Man, but nobody knew "Tienanmen Square massacre" in 19'89 in Beijing. I am bilingual in Mandarin and English. I am a retired pharmacist, a Healthcare professional for most of my life. I got the news fast because I have both language skill. If you read my blog on Feb 7, you would immediately put on a facial mask to protect yourself. However, many Asia Friendfinder bloggers attacked me that I was panic for something won't happen. I am not to brag about my profession, but I feel I have the responsibility to let the world know in advance before the coronavirus spread to the world. I knew SARS in 20'03 that is very similar to coronavirus. Some bloggers said I am an uneducated, schizophrenia. I meant well to people but been accused for what the opposite. Recently, I posted a Chinese blog on June 23, about Three Gorge Dam might cause huge disaster from XiChun province to Wuhan, to Nanjiang, to Shanghai. I warned Chinese to run away fast. There are 600 million people are living in that area, I even showed the map. I warned Chinese so I posted in Chinese in good intention. But all I got was attacked by a Chinese woman who lives in Canada and an Aussie Old Ghost to attack me that I am spreading rumors. Both of them didn't believe what I have warned. Look the China now by Google "Three Gorge Dam". I don't lie. CCP don't want the truth and don't warn people until it is too late. As the Hongkongers, I warned them to escape from CCP. I care about people's lives and know the news fast. Again, nobody cares. I know what is CCP, so I emigrated to USA since 19'80 when Jimmy Carter abandoned Taiwan to establish diplomatic relationship with China for m*ney (trade). I knew CCP true face 40 yrs ago. Hong Kong was an Oriental Pearl during the British colony for 156 yrs. Please Google it, I don't lie. I have many Hongkonger friends in USA who escaped before June 30 of 19'97. If you ask them, "are you a Chinese", their answer is "I am a Hongkonger". You are maybe an American and don't care about Chinese and ignored the Chinese history in the past 71 yrs. Although I am not old but I know the history of Taiwan, my ancestors had been in Taiwan for 400+ yrs. At my age, I know what is right, what is wrong. I have never been brainwashed by CCP. I believed in Democracy and freedom of speech, religion and press. No matter how the Asia Friendfinder bloggers attach me, I still persist on the truth. I am an environmentalist, don't like Air Pollution, Water Pollution or Plastic Pollution. We live in the Earth, we need to clean *p the junk. Honesty is the best policy.
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Since the first day of July when Xi implemented "Hong Kong new National Security Laws", CCP arrested 300+ Hongkongers. Those protestors including a 15 y/o girl who raised her hand with a plain white paper can be arrested. In this national security laws said any nationality (any expat, foreigner) who arrived in Hong Kong or Mainland China who had criticized in the past or current or had the thought of against China can be arrested that including Donald J. Trump, Mike Pompeo, Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, .... anybody who had criticized China. Xi thinks that he is the tyranny leader, a dictator of the world. Xi doesn't have any time for the flooding in 26 provinces in China, no news about the flooding on official newspaper, TV, medias, until recent few days with only few words without voice or video about the flooding. The censorship is very tight. Those videos we saw are from local citizens. It is a natural disaster but they seem it as a shame. There was a battle at the border between China and India. India said they lost 20 soldiers but China didn't admit any soldier died. According to India, China lost 43 soldiers. No news on Chinese official media. CCP think it is a shame. But when USA had "White cop brutality", CCP put the news on the front page. CCP officials call Mike Pompeo is the world enemy. CCP don't want their people to know the truth of China's flooding, but celebrate the bad news of the USA. CCP think they can cover the Sun with one hand. I don't know how long this regime can be exist. Honesty is the best policy.
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