Links - 1st October 2019 (1) (Hong Kong Protests)

Donald Low - "I'm quite astonished by seemingly intelligent people saying that the demonstrators in Hong Kong were instigated by foreigners and foreign agents to oppose the extradition bill.My response to these people is a very simple one. If you were asked by the Chinese authorities to demonstrate on the streets (in unpleasant weather) for a cause you don't really believe in, would you do so? If your answer is no, why would you think that hundreds of thousands Hongkongers would do so at the behest of American or whatever foreign agents? Because Hongkongers are unusually naive or stupid?Maybe your argument is a bit more sophisticated: that foreigners created a ideological, media, and cultural environment in Hong Kong that, in turn, made its people instinctively suspicious of China and distrustful of its authorities. The argument here is that the demonstrators were misled or overly influenced by American or liberal "western" values. If that's the argument, isn't the real problem the fact that the Chinese system and its authoritarian proclivities are so unattractive to Hongkongers that even an America (or the west more generally) in supposed decline can wield more cultural and political influence in a predominantly Chinese society? If so, the problem doesn't lie with imagined foreign agents. It lies with you and the authoritarian system you have in China, and which Hongkongers fear will increasingly be imposed here. Whatever one thinks of the extradition bill (it's a complex problem that has no easy solutions), the idea that close to a million Hongkongers would demonstrate against it because of western propaganda is the sort of paranoid conspiratorial thinking that cognitive psychologists warn people against. And for the nationalistic Chinese press to even suggest it belies a deep insecurity and an instinctive tendency (honed over several decades of blaming the West when things don't go China's way) of scapegoating and demonizing foreign devils."

BBC World Service - The World This Week, Hong Kong protesters storm parliament - "‘Let's look to that joint declaration made between the UK government and China back in 1984. Part of that was about guaranteeing an ongoing and incremental move to more democracy here and eventually universal suffrage. Beijing didn't deliver on that. It was willing to give people the vote, but they wanted them to choose their representatives from a raft that they wanted to approve’...
‘Do the protesters have any real way to protect the freedoms that were enshrined in the Basic Law signed by China and the UK during the hand back of Hong Kong?’
‘Well, essentially, no. And much of what is driving them according to some of the people BBC has spoken to is the sense that they've got nothing else left to lose. They believe this is all signs of an increased ongoing attempt to row back on those promises that were made. And to make Hong Kong a fully fledged member of the People's Republic of China. Normalize essentially the provisions they have here and to essentially bring it into the fold.’"

BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Hong Kong Protests (1 Jul 2019) - "[Chris Patten] ‘It's not what everybody signed up to in the Joint Declaration, which is an international treaty. And I think it's fair to say that in the years between 1997 and Xi Jinping’s arrival on the scene, things in Hong Kong didn't go too, too badly. There was a, there was a throttling back on the promises of democracy which China had made. But apart from that, things still went pretty well. Hong Kong was still one of the safest, most free cities in Asia. I think what what happened in 2014, was that the democracy demonstrations spooked the communist leadership in China. They'd been cracking down on everywhere else, on Xinjiang, taking a tougher line on Taiwan, cracking down on dissidents, human rights lawyers and so on. And I think they've been increasing their grip, strengthening their grip on Hong Kong and people have reacted against that'
‘Has Britain done enough to to stand up to the Chinese government to make clear which side they're on?’
‘No, I mean, we bang on about a golden age in relation, in relations with China, even while the Chinese calmy say that the Joint Declaration doesn't exist anymore. Now we should take a much firmer line… We shouldn't forget there is such a thing as honor. And where we are honour bound to stand up for freedom in Hong Kong, the freedoms we promised people for years.’"

BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Hong Kong protests (2 Jul 2019) - "‘All of those violence behavior will not be tolerance, like what will be tolerance and how how can we have a normal Hong Kong back? Really, we can kiss goodbye, we can kiss goodbye to the, before we can kiss goodbye to the current administration, we can kiss goodbye to Hong Kong.’
‘Understood. Let me ask you, probably for the fourth time, what do you think the chief executive of Hong Kong should do to address the concerns of the one to 2 million protesters who peacefully, week in week out, have called for political change?’
‘She, she came out and say that she will stop doing work. But with those kind of behavior what can, like she can't change everything flab out. Like from one night, right? One night, you cannot do anything. But then the government already says they’re trying to do things. Maybe we can start telling her what are the ways? Alright?’
‘Well, what are the ways Dixie Lam? Because I'm asking you repeatedly about peaceful demonstrators. And you're only interested it seems to me, in talking about the violence. Is this because you're not comfortable talking about the calls for democratic change in Hong Kong as a party that supports Beijing?’
‘I'm very comfortable. And I know well enough, what they're doing right now. Alright? What happen is they’re using what like well, well the peaceful protesters, what they are requesting right now, some of them are very rational, but some of them are not. If they’re asking the government to drop all the prosecution over those violent, violent behavior-’
‘Ok, I think once again we’re going back over the same territory about the violence. Dixie Lam, of the pro Beijing Democratic Alliance, thank you.’...
‘I must congratulate them for having succeeded in planning and executing a very good ploy. They scored a victory against the students. They deliberately set up a trap for them. I mean, those of us who have been watching the television would know that police actually were actually stationed inside the Legislative Council building, just back behind a glass door, which was reinforced, and bulletproof to know that, and then the picture show very clearly, three or four guys using some iron rod and hitting at the door very aggressively for four hours. And the police did nothing to stop them.’
‘So it was deliberate. You're saying that they wanted the protesters to do exactly what they did.’
‘Yeah. And then after four hours, they succeeded to break the door. And then when the protesters entered, the police just suddenly dispersed. Now, have you ever seen this, in any country in any city, where an important building like the Legislative Council building was attacked, and the police was actually present? And they didn't think to stop it to begin with?’...
‘Now the fear must be that China will use that as an excuse, to the extent that they need an excuse, to clamp down.’
‘Yes, you're absolutely right. And of course, those people attacking the door that way. They are not students. I asked the students, they didn't, didn't know them. Having broken the door, they disappeared. But the students walked into a trap. They walked into the building...The police… so easy for them to have arrested them. They were sitting there for four hours.’
‘But could they, could they have been? Were they perhaps some sort of agent provocateur who were put in place by the authorities?’...
‘They could well be. And we know the communist do things like this. They always put agents provocateur whenever there's a big movement, they always do that. But of course, I have no proof. But why didn’t they arrest them? That will be the proof either way’...
‘There are two possibilities, the more likely one is that they would actually up the antes. They would squeeze, they will suppress Hong Kong even more, to exercise their comprehensive jurisdiction over Hong Kong, which was what they said in a white paper published in 2014, which is completely contradictory with the promises made to England, make to the UK Government, at the time of the Joint Declaration. To give us Hong Kong people a high degree of autonomy, means apart from defense and foreign affairs, we are going to be masters of our own house… Hong Kong would then become just any other Chinese city. So that is a price. They can’t have their cake and eat it. They want the goose to continue to lay them golden eggs, and yet completely be under their thumb. I mean, that's what they want. But there you see that it cannot. It doesn't work out like that. Each of the four chief executives we have including this one was carefully selected by Beijing. Didn't work because it is not to do with their nature or the character. But the system. The system doesn't give Hong Kong people the vote, although it was promised. So the holder of office will always listen to Beijing instead of Hong Kong people. That's why things are happening like this... As far as China's concerned, the joint declaration has outlived its usefulness, because they already got Hong Kong back. That's the attitude’"

BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, China warns UK - "‘It's interesting that you always go back to this violence, which did take place, but it was a tiny, tiny proportion of those who've been on the streets of, of China. It feels like a sort of deplaced, displacement, you want to talk about something that is not the essence of the problem.’
‘Allow me to be very simple and very straightforward. Violence and rioting committed by any single person is by any single person too many’"
Presumably any minor violation by China of the joint declaration is any violation too many

Beijing Is Shooting Its Own Foot in Hong Kong – Foreign Policy - "Hong Kong just celebrated its first tear gas-free weekend in a month. Vast crowds—police estimated 128,000 protesters within Victoria Park alone, while organizers said a total of 1.7 million people marched on the day—braved tropical downpours in an entirely incident-free and peaceful march that demonstrated that enthusiasm for the movement has not waned.This proved inconvenient for Beijing, as the official propaganda machine has continued to portray the protesters as violent rioters unrepresentative of the wider Hong Kong community. Beijing’s official media is becoming increasingly shrill and unhinged, with the state news agency Xinhua and tabloid the Global Times adopting Cultural Revolution rhetoric in depicting four key Hong Kong pro-democracy figures as a “‘Gang of Four’ endangering Hong Kong.” During the same weekend, Hong Kong protest supporters—and their pro-China opponents—were making news elsewhere around the world, and the result was not flattering for Beijing. In London, a pro-China protester standing in front of a Chinese flag held up a poster reading, “Kneel down and lick your master’s ass.” In Vancouver and Toronto, Canada, Chinese flags were waved from revving Ferraris by pro-China supporters who mocked Hong Kong protesters for being “poor.” In Melbourne, Australia, as pro-China supporters sang the national anthem and clashed with demonstrators supporting the Hong Kong protests, one of their number attacked a television camera crew. Meanwhile, university campuses in Australia and New Zealand have been forced to post security guards to prevent vandalism of “Lennon walls,” hosting pro-Hong Kong and pro-democracy posters and slogans, by pro-China students. Through a propaganda push in official state media as well as by taking the shackles off social media inside the Great Firewall, Beijing appears to be intent on whipping up vitriol against Hong Kong. Now this hostility fomented by Beijing is spilling out of the mainland and onto streets globally, often egged on by Chinese diplomatic representatives abroad who laud the patriotism of the pro-China demonstrators, much to the alarm of governments and communities around the world... This growing tide of sentiment was summed up when U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wrote in a Wall Street Journal column this week, “[T]his crisis didn’t begin in Hong Kong and won’t end there. The turmoil is the result of Beijing’s systematic ratcheting up of its domestic oppression and its pursuit of hegemony abroad.” But it’s not just a matter of sentiment—or sentimentality. Beijing’s attempts to bring Hong Kong to heel are having a real and direct impact on international companies and executives, and their perception of doing business with China... mainland border officials have been demanding travelers entering China from Hong Kong surrender their mobile phones for inspection. Those with photographs or messages relating to the protests have been detained for questioning.The practice is already so widespread that Bloomberg reported businesspeople traveling to China are carrying only “burner” or clean phones to avoid trouble; one professional I spoke to was quizzed precisely because her phone was “suspiciously” clean. The practice is an astonishingly retrograde step, calling to mind travel to North Korea or China of the early 1990s, when flight attendants scoured the aisles of incoming flights to collect all foreign newspapers before landing in Beijing... alarming was the comment made by one anonymous source to the South China Morning Post regarding the appointment of the replacement CEO, Augustus Tang, that Cathay’s largest shareholder Swire Group needed to “show Beijing they’ve got a Chinese face.” (Imagine the—rightful—outrage if a multinational company announced it had removed a person of color and installed a “white face” at the top to please President Donald Trump White House.) Meanwhile, following the publication of a crowdfunded advertisement supporting the demonstrations in the name of “A Group of Big 4 Accounting Firms Employees,” the Global Times called upon the firms to “fire employees found to have the wrong stance on the current Hong Kong situation.”... Some Western businesses will struggle in good conscience to do that. Others will face serious reputational or business consequences if it seems they’re bending to the Chinese Communist Party’s demands.This may accelerate the process of decoupling already much-discussed in U.S. policy circles. This couldn’t come at a worse time for China as its economy slows, the trade war with the United States continues to grind on with no apparent resolution in sight, and President Xi Jinping continues to pursue the long-term goal of winning China acceptance as a global player and emerging superpower."

BBC World Service - The World This Week, Hong Kong revolts against extradition bill - "‘Do you feel that the anti Beijing sentiment is growing?’
‘Very, very clearly, over and over. I've been told in the last few days by young activists and also just ordinary people that they feel colonized by Beijing in all sorts of different ways. So this isn't just an erosion of their rights, and erosion of their democracy. It's not just about these laws. It's also about the large number of mainlanders who now get residency here, rich people who come in and buy a property and push up property prices. It's about the huge numbers of Chinese students who are coming into Hong Kong universities, and then saying, well, we want to be taught in Mandarin. The national language of China is Mandarin not Cantonese. And this sense of people have actually described it to me as a new colonization, we got rid of the British, and now we've got the Chinese. And they described themselves increasingly as not being Chinese, but of being Hong Kongnese or Hong Kongers, and that is a new identity that you didn't hear 15 years ago. And you hear it all the time from young people now.’"

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent Podcast, Ebola spreads to Uganda - "You might say that the protest itself was testament to the fact that Hong Kongers still enjoy those rights and freedoms promised them in 1997 and due to last for 50 years… But you might also interpret events differently. That the heavy handed police response indicates that the bigger more powerful cousin in Beijing is getting impatient, and that in the long run, little cousin Hong Kong may struggle to resist"

BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Friday's business with Katie Prescott - "[On Hong Kong’s extradition law] In public, a lot of the companies are trying not to say very much. But if you talk to some of them, especially some of the banks in private, they're saying they are very worried about this. Hong Kong is a great place to do business in the rest of China. In some ways you can think of it, it's almost like a gated community, that business people can live in Hong Kong and expect Western style rule of law and they'll be treated well and there's not much corrupt, there’s virtually no corruption and so on. And that if this law is passed, and it really weakens those walls, weakens that protection. I mean, Hong Kong is still very important to China. And about two thirds of the foreign direct investment, the money involved in building factories, and so on, rather than share investment, flowed through Hong Kong last year...
‘Hong Kong is very attractive to international businesses, partly because it's a fantastic place to do business. But more importantly, Hong Kong is where British common law prevails. So if you are running a international business in Hong Kong, you get into a dispute, you know that you can take it to court. And you will face a very high standard of independent judiciary’
‘And companies watching the protest must be feeling quite nervous about how the authorities have reacted, because it's been pretty heavy handed.’
‘You are absolutely right. I think companies are probably more concerned with the way, how the government is handling it than with the scale of demonstrations. Hong Kong has a tradition of very peaceful demonstrations. They turned violent, because the police changed the methods of policing and used force against the demonstration. That's the problem for most people in Hong Kong. You also have the situation that the companies are probably more concerned with the law passing... they would be concerned with the extradition treaty passing because if that happens, people in Hong Kong, including foreigners, could potentially be extradited to face a court in China, which does not apply the common law… Hong Kong is a place where they can do business and feel very, very safe.’"

2 million protesters on Hong Kong streets, not just 1.44 million - "Hong Kong has a population of 7.48 million. Two million protesters on the streets would mean more than one in four Hongkongers took part... Hong Kong’s biggest protest to date was a massive rally in support of Tiananmen protesters in May 1989, before Beijing’s deadly crackdown.The 1989 demonstrations brought out roughly 1.5 million people, sources said at the time."
Looks like the malicious Westerners have a huge budget for paid protesters
Amusingly some people used this to 'prove' that the majority of Hong Kongers supported the extradition bill, since less than half of Hong Kongers protested

Telegram blames China for ‘powerful DDoS attack’ during Hong Kong protests - "Durov noted that the attack coincided with the ongoing protests in Hong Kong, where people are using encrypted messaging apps like Telegram to avoid detection while coordinating their protests.The attack raises questions about whether the Chinese government is attempting to disrupt the encrypted messaging service and limit its effectiveness as an organizing tool for the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators taking part in the protests. Bloomberg reports that encrypted messaging apps like Telegram and FireChat are currently trending in Apple’s Hong Kong App Store, as demonstrators attempt to conceal their identities from Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed government. As well as using encrypted messaging apps, Bloomberg notes that protesters in Hong Kong are also covering their faces to avoid facial recognition systems. They’re also avoiding the use of public transit cards that can link location to identities."

Exclusive: Hong Kong tycoons start moving assets offshore as fears rise over new extradition law - "“The fear is that the bar is coming right down on Beijing’s ability to get your assets in Hong Kong. Singapore is the favored destination.”... Professor Simon Young, of the University of Hong Kong’s law school, told Reuters that it was understandable that some Hong Kong residents might be considering moving assets out of the city given the little-noticed financial reach of the bill.If the bill becomes law, it will be possible for mainland Chinese courts to request Hong Kong courts to freeze and confiscate assets related to crimes committed on the mainland, beyond an existing provision covering the proceeds of drug offences.“This has been largely overlooked in the public debate but it is really a significant part of the proposed amendments,” Young said. “It may not have been overlooked, of course, by the tycoons and those giving them legal advice.” The head of the private banking operations of an international bank in Hong Kong, who declined to be named, said clients have been moving money out of Hong Kong to Singapore.“These aren’t mainland Chinese clients who might be politically exposed, but wealthy Hong Kong clients,” the banker said. “The situation in Hong Kong is out of control. They can’t believe that Carrie Lam or Beijing leaders are so stupid that they don’t realize the economic damage from this.”... Prominent commercial lawyer Kevin Yam... said few expected the bill to be widely exploited by Beijing overnight if passed, but it was creating a climate of deep unease, with the fear it could be used more liberally in coming years"
Of course China shills will just automatically blame the protesters. Or maybe they will say the tycoons are naive, stupid and have fallen to Western propaganda, like the protesters

Extradition bill protests: why have Hong Kong’s business elite and tycoons abandoned Carrie Lam? - "Not a single tycoon or senior business leader has come out in public to offer words of support or comfort, in the midst of mass protests against her and the unpopular extradition bill since June, and even after violent clashes between protesters and police... the reluctance of the business elite this time had to do with their own stance on the bill: they saw their ilk as being potential targets of the legislation. Hence, apart from the chambers, local businessmen were also vocal in expressing their concerns. They included the likes of former No 2 city official Henry Tang Ying-yen, and the incoming chairman of the Trade Development Council Peter Lam Kin-ngok. Tang, now a standing committee member of China’s top advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said the business sector’s worries over the bill were understandable... Aside from the tycoons, there were other voices of reason during Occupy calling for calm and dialogue. During the early days of the movement, university chiefs, retired judges, as well as religious leaders weighed in... This time around, university chiefs took their time speaking up. After violent clashes on June 12, a statement was issued by 10 tertiary institution heads, urging all sides to be rational and calm.But their calls only became stronger after protesters stormed and vandalised the legislature on July 1.Most urged the government to hold talks with young people to find out the roots of their discontent"

Outraged Hong Kong's civil servants voice rare dissent - "Growing ranks of Hong Kong's typically conservative and publicity-shy bureaucrats have begun an unprecedented online dissent campaign against the city's pro-Beijing leaders over their response to weeks of violent pro-democracy protests... Civil servants interviewed by AFP said they felt compelled to speak out after nearly two months of chaos that shows no signs of abating, with Lam seemingly unable - or unwilling - to find a solution and Beijing continuing to back her government.Many decided to break their silence after a vicious attack on protesters by pro-government thugs and suspected triad members that left 45 people in hospital... One of the letters published online focused on allegations that the police were too slow to respond to the suspected triad attacks and colluded with the assailants who were filmed leaving the scene unhindered."
Of course, according to China shills, the only violence has been on the part of the protesters.

Hong Kong police made no arrests after mob assaulted commuters, protesters, journalists in Yuen Long

Hong Kong: why thugs may be doing the government’s work - "A video showed the pro-Beijing legislator Junius Ho meeting the men in white in Yuen Long, shaking their hands, and giving them a thumbs-up. When one praised Ho, he responded: “You are all my heroes.”... “This is not the first time thugs have been sent in to beat up protesters,” said Lynette Ong, a political scientist at the University of Toronto who has been studying organised crime in China. “This is more organised, suggesting they are becoming more daring, and the Hong Kong government or pro-Beijing officials are becoming more desperate to put the protests to rest.”The method has precedent in mainland China, where local authorities are known to hire thugs to intimidate residents unwilling to give up their land, or to silence troublesome petitioners... Unlike the attacks in 2014, the assailants appeared to be from Hong Kong, cursing fluently in Cantonese"

Commentary: Why it’s not in Beijing’s interest to rock the Hong Kong boat - "In early July, despite the massive anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong, Moody’s affirmed the city’s Aa2 credit rating, which remains two notches higher than China’s A1.The rating incorporates Moody’s assessment of political risk for Hong Kong, which takes into account challenges to the government’s policies in recent years and particularly visible currently in large-scale protests by the population.In fact, large-scale protests are regarded as “part of the checks and balances in place in Hong Kong, that support institutional strength,” said Moody’s. “Signs that checks and balances weaken would be a negative for Hong Kong’s credit profile.” Moody’s also took pains to highlight the risk of the potential erosion of Hong Kong’s political and economic independence, and a change to its status as an independent entity from China in international settings, like the WTO and in bilateral trade arrangements... This perceived loss of autonomy is also exactly why the Extradition Bill has triggered some degree of capital flight from Hong Kong to Singapore."
Of since Moody's is Western, China shills will just dismiss its assessment

Hong Kong's 1 million strong protest is unlikely to make Beijing budge - "On the face of it, the people turned out in such force to oppose a proposed law to allow Beijing to take people across the border to stand trial in Chinese mainland courts. The people marched under the banner "No extradition to China". But in reality their concern is bigger. It is that this will be the "last fight" for Hong Kong's remaining freedoms, in the words of the former legislator Martin Lee, nicknamed Hong Kong's "father of democracy". Because mainland China does not have an independent judiciary and citizens have no rights. China's courts are simply political. Anyone can be tried at the will of the authorities, and inevitably found guilty if that is the wish of the political leadership. If this law is passed in Hong Kong, Beijing could concoct trumped-up charges against anyone it chose. Dissenters could disappear across the border. Permanently... Hong Kong Chief executive Carrie Lam is "well known as a kind of stooge for Beijing and basically takes orders from [China's president] Xi Jinping", says a leading scholar of the Chinese Communist Party, Willy Lam of the Chinese Hong Kong University... Hong Kong's so called "Iron Lady", Anson Chan, was the chief secretary of Hong Kong from 1993 to 2001. She served under British rule and then Beijing's rule, too. Three years ago she said that Hong Kong's fate under the Basic Law was a vital concern to the whole world: "Because if China can, with impunity, walk away from its treaty obligations to Hong Kong, what does that say about China's attitude to its treaty obligations to other countries?""

The End of Hong Kong Is Almost Here – Foreign Policy - "Besides the huge protest on April 28, the bill is coming under fire from politicians, the legal sector, and, most tellingly, the local and foreign business sectors... If it is passed, this extradition bill will signal the virtual end of Hong Kong not just as a distinct city under One Country, Two Systems but also as an international business hub, because nobody in Hong Kong would be safe from the reach of China’s legal system. Most potently for Hong Kongers, it will mean the erasure of the sense of the city as something different and special—a threat to the values that the regions’ residents have come to hold dear... The Hong Kong government claims that extraditions to China would take part on a case-by-case basis, with hearings held.But would any Hong Kong court really rule against an extradition request from Chinese authorities and would China actually put up with such a denial? Given how pliable the Hong Kong authorities have been in recent years in matters favoring China, not a chance. By banning a Financial Times journalist, disqualifying legislators, putting Occupy Central leaders on trial, and criminalizing “insulting” the Chinese national anthem, the Hong Kong government has shown it is willing to cut back on Hong Kong’s freedoms to suit Beijing... Normally, the business sector is supportive of the Hong Kong government as well as Beijing initiatives such as the Greater Bay Area plan, and it often ignores or condemns local political causes.But even for them, the extradition bill is a step too far. Foreign businesses have also been alarmed... Doing business under Hong Kong law and having recourse to justice in its courts is a key it still remains attractive despite the growth of Shenzhen and other Chinese hubs. If the management and personnel of these firms are suddenly vulnerable to the reach of the Chinese state, then there is little difference between Hong Kong and any other mainland city. There are numerous examples of foreign businessmen who have imprisoned in China on dubious charges and closed trials. The Australian Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu was jailed for nine years for allegedly stealing commercial secrets before being released last year. Much of his trial was held behind closed doors, and Australian consulate officials were banned from attending. Another Australian-Chinese executive, Matthew Ng, was arrested in 2010 after he refused to sell a stake in his million-dollar company to a local Chinese government. He was charged with bribery and fraud and jailed for four years before being sent back to Australia... Not surprisingly, Hong Kong’s legal sector has also spoken out"

China says Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong no longer has meaning - "China said on Friday the joint declaration with Britain over Hong Kong, which laid the blueprint over how the city would be ruled after its return to China in 1997, was a historical document that no longer had any practical significance.In response, Britain said the declaration remained in force and was a legally valid treaty to which it was committed to upholding.The stark announcement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, that is sure to raise questions over Beijing’s commitment to Hong Kong’s core freedoms"
It's amazing that there're China shills who claim that this doesn't show China has admitted it can't be trusted

Why This Time Was Different for Hong Kong - "In 2014, the police also used tear gas against demonstrators, prompting an occupation that paralyzed the central business district for more than two months. Yet the government refused to budge, and the protest was eventually cleared by force. It’s worth asking what was different this time.The most obvious answer is the role of business. Occupy Central had limited support from companies, and what sympathy there was clearly waned as the weeks wore on and the costs to business mounted. By contrast, opposition to the extradition bill has united various strands of Hong Kong society, from civic and trade groups to religious organizations and the legal profession. That’s even more evident after Sunday’s monumental protest, which organizers said drew almost 2 million people... The erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy has been well documented. Many have cited the city’s declining relative importance to China's economy for the change to a more hard-line, interventionist policy... International bankers trust Hong Kong as a base to conclude deals with Chinese companies because of its independent legal system, relatively clean administration and civic freedoms, including the free flow of information. Anything that detracts from these advantages and encourages businesses and financiers to relocate – even if that begins only as a trickle – is a long-term threat to the viability of Hong Kong's role as a global financial center.There's a message here for the protesters – and for Beijing. It’s easier to preserve the status quo than it is to enact change. The common link between 2014 and 2019 is that the status quo has won in both cases. It was also the result in 2003 – probably the closest direct parallel with today – when a proposed security law was shelved after an estimated 500,000 marched in opposition. This means protesters have a better chance of success when fighting to preserve freedoms that already exist than when agitating for change. For Beijing, the lesson is that Hong Kong became successful precisely because it has a different system from the mainland. Tampering carries risks. It’s still possible to kill the golden goose."

Many in Hong Kong, fearful of China's grasp, flee to Taiwan - ""Without freedom and democracy, it's like being put in jail, like living in a concentration camp ... without freedom, (I) would rather die," said Yung, as she waved a Taiwan flag at a massive protest in Hong Kong on Sunday... Many accuse China of extensive meddling, including obstruction of democratic reforms, interference with elections and of being behind the disappearance of five Hong Kong-based booksellers, starting in 2015, who specialised in works critical of Chinese leaders.Chan, 30, who declined to give his full name, said the rapid pace of Beijing's encroachment on Hong Kong's civil liberties had taken him by surprise."It's like there's a burglar in my house and I'm the one who's forced to leave because I couldn't defeat him," said Chan, who moved to Taiwan in 2016 and is planning to arrange for his parents to retire there.The number of people granted Taiwan residency from Hong Kong and neighboring Macau, a former Portuguese-run enclave also given special autonomy under Chinese rule, had more than doubled to 1,267 in 2018 from a decade ago, official data shows... Some Hong Kong youth are so desperate to leave they have opted to join Taiwan's compulsory military service for men under 36 in a bid to get residency, which comes at a price tag of HK$1.5 million (US$191,600)."
China shill logic: the protesters did not explicitly mention the booksellers' kidnapping as one of their worries, so we cannot conclude that this motivated them. Yet though the protesters are not explicitly mentioning housing prices as a grievance, this must be the true motivation for the protests

Canadian police escort worshippers as ‘bullying’ pro-China protesters surround church holding prayers for Hong Kong

Nury Vittachi - "VERY MAJOR NEWS outlet in the world is reporting that two million people, well over a quarter of our population, joined a single protest..It’s an astonishing thought that filled an enthusiastic old marcher like me with pride. Unfortunately, it’s almost certainly not true..A march of two million people would fill a street that was 58 kilometers long, starting at Victoria Park in Hong Kong and ending in Tanglangshan Country Park in Guangdong, according to one standard crowd estimation technique... headcounts by social scientists and police were close or even impressively confirmed the other—but were ignored by the agenda-driven international media, who usually printed only the organizers’ claims... police estimates rise and fall with those of independent researchers, suggesting that they function correctly: they are not invented. Many are slightly lower, but some match closely and others are slightly higher. This suggests that the police simply have a different counting method... police sources explain that live estimates of attendance are used for “effective deployment” of staff. The number of police assigned to work on the scene is a direct reflection of the number of marchers counted. Thus officers have strong motivation to avoid deliberately under-estimating numbers... Friends, colleagues, fellow journalists—what happened to fact-checking? What happened to healthy skepticism? What happened to attempts at balance?"

If Beijing wants an extradition law with Hong Kong – and elsewhere – it should reform its judicial process - "the personal experiences of many Hong Kong citizens, and those of many other countries, have shown that even though 70 years have passed since the People’s Republic’s establishment and much relevant legislation has been promulgated, its criminal justice system can still not assure alleged offenders a fair trial. Despite the Chinese system’s legendary non-transparency, its failures to meet international standards of due process are well known. Arbitrary, often lengthy, secret and incommunicado detention, widespread existence of tortureand frequent denial of the effective help of defence counsel are hallmarks of the process.The police, more powerful than prosecutors and judges, dominate China’s criminal justice officialdom, and all three departments operate subject to the dictates of the Communist Party political-legal committee and the new National Supervision Commission that control them. A single party leader’s brief instruction can determine guilt or innocence, the duration of a sentence or even the death penalty. This is true in cases not only of those perceived to be political opponents of the party-state but also those suspected of bribery and related offences in the context of an economy, government and society where corruption is endemic. Even more distorting to the legal system is the impact of guanxi, the network of interpersonal relationships that exercises far more influence over the administration of justice than even politics and corruption. In my own experience practising law relating to China for over 20 years, I often encountered situations where powerful local interests procured police cooperation in detaining and charging business personnel, foreign as well as Chinese, to compel hapless detainees to surrender their property or suffer serious punishment. Key performance indicators also drive prosecutors and judges to fear the damage that not-guilty verdicts will do to their careers.In these circumstances, is it any wonder that independent, democratic and knowledgeable foreign governments and legal experts resist extradition agreements with Beijing?... The argument that the proposed legislative amendment is required to extradite an alleged murdererto Taiwan for trial is specious. That issue can be negotiated without changing arrangements relating to the mainland, and Taiwan does not supportthe proposed amendment.Once the amendment goes into effect, it will be easy for mainland authorities to extract from Hong Kong those who have drawn their ire. There will be no further incentive for kidnappingand its costly consequences for social stability and Beijing’s reputation... Some of the affidavits filed in support of extradition may well be false. A regime willing to use kidnapping to arrest its prey will not cavil at lying to do so. As too many cases on the mainland – involving foreigners as well as Chinese – attest, long, incommunicado detentions marked by torture often yield false confessions, and the multiple pressures exerted on mainland witnesses and lawyers often produce false testimony. Perhaps the most frightening aspect of the impending amendment is its application, not only to all SAR citizens and foreign and Chinese residents of the SAR, but also to anyone who passes through Hong Kong... Beijing may seek to punish Americans and others for alleged violations of Chinese law while even outside China. At least Huawei’s chief financial officer, if extradited, will be tried by an American judicial system that, while flawed, nevertheless merits international confidence. This cannot be said of Chinese justice... Given the increasingly repressivedirection of the Xi Jinping government, such a profound change in its criminal process is very unlikely."
Presumably, due process is a foreign, imperialist, white concept

Lynn Lee - "Putting this here because friends outside HK have been messaging to ask about the "violence" on July 1.Yes, the protestors stormed Legco. Yes, they rammed a cart into a glass panel, took apart metal barriers, broke windows and vandalised public property. Were they "violent"? I suppose so. But did I feel unsafe? No.The truth is - and I am sure many of my fellow journalists will agree - I have never felt unsafe among these young protestors. If anything, they go out of their way to take care of each other, and of us...  These young protestors are not the irrational mob Carrie Lam would have you think they are. Yes, they are angry. But their rage is aimed at a government that won't listen, at heavily armed police, and yesterday, at a building. And even then, they were careful in deciding what to destroy and vandalise - putting up signs to remind people not to touch antiques, or steal from the cafeteria.If Monday's events were "violent", then what happened on June 12 was many times worse. Yes, some protestors were trying to storm Legco, and yes, police were justified in trying to stop them. But they did way more than that. Teargas, rubber bullets, bean bag rounds, pepper spray. The rest of us - journalists, church groups singing hymns, students who were nowhere near the Legco forecourt, academics on a hunger strike, medics manning first aid stations - were all seen as fair game. Police beat up protestors, fired at a crowd with literally nowhere to run, threw a teargas canister into a train station, caused a man's heart to stop beating. Want to know what other time I've felt unsafe? At the pro-police rally on Sunday. Supporters, who'd presumably shown up to condemn "violence", attacked a lawmaker, harassed journalists and accused anyone foreign of being "CIA agents". I was shoved and verbally abused by a woman and an older man who insisted on following me around with his phone. A photographer had to be escorted away by police after a crowd surrounded him and a man poured water on his camera... Some people are calling the break-in a miscalculation, a stupid misstep. Maybe so, maybe not. But it is more important to ask why it happened. And after that, to ask if vandalising a building is worse than attacking unarmed human beings. Because if it's not, Carrie Lam should also be holding press conferences condemning the police and their supporters."
Hilariously, I saw one China shill share the story of violence at the pro-China rally, claiming this showed the anti-China protesters were hooligans

Lynn Lee - "Good lord, why is Singapore so full of know-it-all unkers mouthing off about how best to fix the problems in HK? Please lah, stop embarrassing us, can? Not a single protestor I've spoken to says they're out on the streets because of property prices. They say they're appalled at the steady erosion of the one-country-two-systems framework, they say they don't want to lose their freedoms, they say they don't trust the CCP, they say they owe it to themselves to say something now even if they're sure China and the HK government won't listen.Also, the tired trope that some dark evil outside force must be inciting people to "riot" is pure stupidity. How much money, Mr Fong, can I pay you to stand on Harcourt Road, in the sun, in the rain, in the humidity, in front of lines of riot police, amid clouds of teargas?Leslie Fong isn't writing this because he's interested in analysing the situation in Hong Kong. He's writing this because he sees a. "teaching moment" for a domestic audience. He's betting on the likelihood that Singaporeans lack the imagination to understand why anyone would risk so much to stand up for freedoms such as democracy and free speech. And so in Fong's world - in the world he believes Singaporeans inhabit. - those who do are "rioters" who must surely be someone else's puppets. This kind of rhetoric is tiresome. But the fact that so much space in Singapore's MSM has been devoted to faux-analyses like Fong's says much about the insecurities of my government. A people who can organise - as the young protestors in HK have organised - is a frightening thing for authoritarian regimes."

How Hong Kong people standing up for their freedoms can leave some in Singapore puzzled - "Leslie Fong has professed deep concern for Hong Kong, which is apparently flagellating and tearing itself apart (“The View from Singapore: Hong Kong is a ciLy tearing itself apart”, June 22). It is deeply touching how he shrouds moral judgment on Hong Kong and its people in a garb of how protests in Hong Kong have served to reinforce the pride among “thoughtful” Singaporeans about their utopian city.  Such praise, for a city ranked 151st out of 180 nations in the World Press Freedom Index, is rich indeed... Like most democracies, Singapore’s constitution promises freedom of speech. Unlike most, it allows the government to limit that freedom by imposing restrictions as it considers necessary or appropriate to maintain national security, public order and morality, to prevent contempt of court or incitement of any offence or to preserve parliamentary privileges. It is exactly this kind of authoritarianism and autocracy — which “thoughtful” people like Mr Fong have decided to accept, tolerate, allow and preach about — that Hong Kong is protesting against.  The manner in which the People’s Action Party dealt with opposition to the Pofma bill (Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation) would probably be regarded by “thoughtful” people as a lesson to other nations on how to stifle dissent.  People in Hong Kong voiced their opposition towards the proposed extradition law amendments because, as things stand now, we have freedom of speech and expression. Can Mr Fong, who proudly claims to call “a spade a spade”, say the same about Singapore?"

Accountability of Hong Kong leaders at stake - "At the start of the debate on the Bill to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance (“Bill” or “the amendment”), Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR government Carrie Lam stressed that the proposed amendment stemmed primarily from the murder of Poon Hiu-wing, and was not a mandate from the central government.Ms Lam mentioned that she received five letters from the victim’s parents. Out of a sense of justice, she hoped that the Bill would help resolve extradition issues.However, a subsequent fact-finding mission to Taiwan by pro-democracy members revealed a different version from that of Ms Lam. Even without the amendment, cases such as this could be resolved eventually... Pressure from the business sector led to some concessions in the Bill in the past. Both the Central and local governments would not concede on this. This acknowledged the interests and orientation of the Central government behind the scenes... both Hong Kong and the mainland governments lack evidence to prove that Hong Kong is a “haven for fugitives”. The pro-government lawmakers in Hong Kong continuously emphasise that the amendment of the extradition bill is associated with the fact that Hong Kong is a haven for fugitives; however, it is not a solid statement... If the Bill were passed (The Bill has been on hold due to massive protests in the city in mid-June 2019), Hong Kong would most likely experience the following changes.Major developed nations would re-examine their extradition treaties with Hong Kong. The US, Germany and others will very likely abolish theirs with Hong Kong. The governments of these nations are concerned that Hong Kong would become a bridge for the mainland Chinese government to extradite relevant persons... After the passage of the Bill, Hong Kong’s rule of law ranking would decline sharply. Hongkongers are also proud of their press freedom.However, the indicators associated with freedom of press reveal that Hong Kong is declining in this aspect. A reason for a decline in the press freedom index is the political intervention of the Central government... Hong Kong, which is “neither the East nor the West” (or both the East and the West), should be prudent when it comes to handling its relations with the outside world. Discussions about Hong Kong as a separate customs territory are already well known in the English-speaking world. Recently, I have been told, during a conversation with a senior Chinese studies expert in Washington DC, that many in DC believe that Hong Kong is increasingly losing its autonomy, and its neutral position is being challenged. Once the turning point is reached, Hong Kong will lose its separate customs territory status."

What will be left of Hong Kong's autonomy in 2047? - "Hong Kongers have been obliged to learn-by-doing that the Basic Law’s words do not necessarily mean what they seem to say.Or at least, they do not mean the same thing to all the players in this political scenario, including people here and ruling central government officials in Beijing.Among the words that have caused the greatest confusion are ‘universal suffrage elections’. Hong Kongers learned during the long electoral reform campaign that was allowed to carry on without a conclusion from the 1980s until 2015, that the Basic Law’s promises in this respect can actually be interpreted in many different ways. Basic Law Articles 45 and 68 promise that Hong Kong’s Chief Executive and all the members of its legislature can be chosen by universal suffrage elections, but no one knew until 2014-15 how Beijing would interpret those promises. Another lesson, currently being learned, is that the Basic Law’s promises about all the rights and freedoms… speaking, publishing, demonstrating, associating, contesting elections… also do not mean all that everyone originally thought.It follows that if Beijing officials can impose their own definitions on so many aspects of public life, then other even more fundamental promises might also not turn out to mean what they were initially thought to imply... The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) familiar “unity of contradictions” phraseology left room for all kinds of anomalies and variations on the theme… variations of the kind that now seem to be making a mockery of the original autonomy pledge... the Greater Bay Area publicity campaign is focusing on opportunities that await Hong Kong’s younger generation… if only they will abandon their stubborn ill-advised resistance and allow themselves to contemplate the careers that beckon across the border in Guangdong province.This appeal to the younger generation follows from Beijing’s strategy for dealing with its own dissident pro-democracy activists. It seems to be based on the assumption that, like China’s 1980s democracy movement after the 1989 crackdown, Hong Kong pro-democracy partisans can be subdued by a combination of carrots and sticks, economic rewards combined with zero tolerances for dissent… neatly summed up by one local commentator as the “purge and merge” strategy for Hong Kong’s future.... No one talks about the Basic Law’s Article 5 any more. Article 5 promises that Hong Kong’s existing, as of 1997, way of life will remain unchanged for 50 years."
Some China shills are asking what right the UK had to want to give Hong Kong democracy. But it's in the Basic Law. Of course if the CCP gets to define black as white, anything goes

Protests show no sign of foreign interference Hong Kong police say, contradicting Beijing - "The remarks from Hong Kong police directly contradict Beijing’s claims that unidentified foreign forces, deemed “black hands,” are fomenting protests in the city that form the most serious political crisis since the former British colony was returned to Chinese rule in 1997."
Sounds like a purge is incoming

The Secret History of Hong Kong's Democratic Stalemate - "what British Lieutenant-Colonel Kenneth Cantlie relayed to British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan about his conversation with Premier Zhou Enlai in early 1958. In it, Zhou says Beijing would regard allowing Hong Kong’s people to govern themselves as a “very unfriendly act,” says Cantlie. Not long thereafter, in 1960, Liao Chengzhi, China’s director of “overseas Chinese affairs,” told Hong Kong union representatives that China’s leaders would “not hesitate to take positive action to have Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories liberated” if the Brits allowed self-governance. These documents—which, perhaps unbeknownst to the People’s Daily, Hong Kong journalists have been busily mining—show that not only were the Brits mulling granting Hong Kong self-governance in the 1950s, it was the Chinese government under Mao Zedong who quashed these plans, threatening invasion. And the very reason Mao didn’t seize Hong Kong in the first place was so that the People’s Republic could enjoy the economic fruits of Britain’s colonial governance. This revelation suggests that the Chinese government’s current claims of democratic largesse are somewhat disingenuous... this showdown—Brits floating democracy, Chinese leaders threatening to invade—had been going on since the 1950s, three decades before we previously knew... China’s leaders explicitly wanted to “preserve the colonial status of Hong Kong” so that the People’s Republic could “trade and contact people of other countries and obtain materials” it badly needed."
Hilariously, one China shill simultaneously criticised the UK for being hypocritical in not giving Hong Kong democracy, while asking what right it had to do that. Apparently in whitewashing China, logic is irrelevant
Notably, this predates Thatcher's similar anecdote about Deng

Hong Kong police admit 'disguising' themselves in protest - "One reporter said officers were filmed planting evidence in the bags of protesters and asked if the public could ever trust the police again"

Is China waging a disinformation war against Hong Kong protesters? - "This narrative almost certainly reflects that of the country’s leaders, including Xi Jinping, and it is fueling misunderstanding — and, increasingly, anger — among the Chinese public. That could, in turn, raise pressure on the government, increasing the risk of an overreaction or miscalculation based on limited or inaccurate information... When large protests erupted in June over the Hong Kong government’s proposed law allowing the extradition of criminal suspects to the mainland, China’s state media — and officials — largely ignored them.That changed on July 1, when protesters stormed Hong Kong’s Legislative Council building after a day of peaceful demonstrations. A flurry of articles and editorials in China’s state media followed, condemning the vandalism and violence — without explaining what the protesters were protesting about.Since then, the state media have vigourously defended the police in Hong Kong, belittled the protesters and accused Westerners of orchestrating the turmoil. Efforts to contextualise the situation or express sympathy for the protesters were swiftly purged from social media... Other media reports have been outright deceptive. A video appeared on Monday showing a protester with a toy weapon used in Airsoft — a Paintball-like game that is popular in Hong Kong. The China Daily, a newspaper of the Communist Party, circulated it widely as evidence that the protesters had taken up arms, identifying the toy as an M320 grenade launcher used by the U.S. Army... During a peaceful sit-in at Hong Kong’s airport late last month, protesters sought to explain their demands to arriving passengers, including travelers from the mainland. But the Chinese media promoted a video of a few protesters harassing a white-haired traveller who had ripped a poster out of a demonstrator’s hands."
Amusingly, one China shill professed to be disappointed that Today had fallen prey to Western lies

Blindsided: why does Beijing keep getting Hong Kong wrong? - "Just a month before the protests began, Vice—Premier Han Zheng — China’s top man in charge of Hong Kong affairs — told the city’s delegates to the national congress that “the political atmosphere in Hong Kong is changing for the better” and “Hong Kong has set on to the right path of ’ development”. What happened next must have come as a huge embarrassment for Beijing. In response, it dispatched “a record number of people” to the city to collect information and opinions... The opposition to the extradition bill quickly morphed into a broader, deep—seated discontent against Lam’s administration and what many see as the steady encroachment by Beijing on Hong Kong’s autonomy.  “Beijing could not have guessed all that pent—up anger and deep-rooted disaffection would explode all at once,” Lee said. “Nor could they have guessed that the public would continue to support the protesters after some of them resorted to more radical actions, such as storming Legco.”  Part of the reason may lie in a pro—establishment bias in the information received by Beijing. According to Tian, information collection and reporting is slanted towards the pro-establishment camp while the voices of pan—democrats and young localists are marginalised."
At least China is not buying its own narrative anymore, unlike the China shills

Hong Kong Shows the Flaws in China’s Zero-Sum Worldview - "“The Chinese do not look to themselves to explain mistakes or the deteriorating strategic environment,” Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told me. “They generally don’t have a sense that they need to engage in self-reflection. They tend to blame the outside world.”... Beijing officials have painted the unrest as the handiwork of malevolent foreign intrigue—what they call the “black hand.” In recent days, Chinese state media have specifically targeted an American diplomat in Hong Kong as the evil schemer, prompting a State Department spokesperson to label Beijing a “thuggish regime.” In June, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed the finger at “some Western forces” for stirring up opposition in Hong Kong: “We want to say this loudly: Pull back the black hand you have shown … Hong Kong isn’t a place for you to run amok.”The story is the same in the trade dispute with the United States. Donald Trump bears the brunt of the blame for starting the trade war by imposing tariffs on Chinese imports. But a strong case can be made that the president is merely reacting to Beijing’s unwillingness to address long-standing American complaints about its unfair trade policies, from closing markets to U.S. companies to subsidizing favored Chinese champions. Yet throughout the negotiations between the two powers—which have dragged on for well over a year—China’s leaders have avoided taking responsibility for their role in the dispute, instead characterizing China as a victim of a Washington gone rogue... As an authoritarian regime—and one that is more and more centered on a personal cult surrounding Xi Jinping—admitting fault is perceived as a threat to credibility. Nor is it clear how much bad news filters up to top decision makers through a bureaucracy fearful that policy disagreements could be mistaken for disloyalty. Compounding matters is the historical narrative marketed domestically by Beijing, in which the party stars as the defender of the Chinese nation against foreign imperialists who have preyed upon the country for more than a century. “They haven’t been treated well; now they have a right to stand up and be a great power,” Glaser said of the thinking. “All of this leads the Chinese to believe that their interests are more important than others.” So instead of compromising, Beijing trots out a couple of standard tactics to try to get its way. First, it throws money at the problem. Since the beginning of trade negotiations with the United States, the Chinese have tried, in essence, to buy off the Trump administration with large purchases of American agricultural, energy, and other products. Then, Beijing mixes in coercion... global opinions of China have soured. In 2018, 43 percent of respondents around the world held an unfavorable view of China, an increase from 32 percent in 2014."

Harvard China expert examines what’s behind the Hong Kong protests - "Right now, it’s around this extradition treaty. There have been other causes before around a security bill, the question of introduction of patriotic education, and all those events have set off strong protests and demonstrations in Hong Kong by locals who feel these actions are really beginning to infringe on the agreement and that Beijing is moving toward tightening the constraints... Their strategy essentially was to work with the elites in Hong Kong and help Hong Kong millionaires become billionaires and give them honorary positions in the National People’s Congress or in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. I think they felt that knotting and tying together Hong Kong’s economic fortunes with those of the mainland would be sufficient to ensure that Hong Kong could be well managed.But I think what we have seen with continued annual protests about Tiananmen on June 4, the events that I mentioned earlier, and then this question around the extradition treaty, is that for many in Hong Kong, identity is important and overrides the question of simple economic self-interest. What we have seen is that the number of people, particularly young people, who identify themselves as Hong Kongers and do not see themselves as being Chinese has really grown as they perceive Beijing instituting more constraints. One opinion poll from 2018 conducted by Hong Kong University shows that of those living in Hong Kong between the ages of 18 and 29, only 3 percent identified themselves as Chinese... some people, admittedly not the most senior leaders, have already floated the idea that the 1997 agreement is already a historic document and doesn’t really match the current situation. Now, if that atmosphere becomes more pervasive from the mainland, you might see the autonomy getting squeezed earlier."

Emigrating Hongkongers seek stability elsewhere, heading to Australia, Canada, Singapore - "The top three destinations for the past five years were Australia, the United States and Canada. Last year, 2,400 Hong Kong residents moved to Australia, 1,600 moved to the United States and 1,100 headed to Canada.Most Hongkongers qualify to emigrate by making investments in their new country, being business innovators, finding jobs as skilled workers, or marrying foreigners. Three Hong Kong-based migration agencies — Midland Immigration Consultancy, John Hu Migration Consulting and Anlex — report an increase in inquiries from Hongkongers in recent weeks. They say Singapore appears to be a top choice, along with Taiwan, Thailand and Malaysia... Hong Kong had two major waves of emigration in recent decades, the first in the wake of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing in 1989, the second just before Britain returned the city to China in 1997... A survey of people intending to emigrate, conducted by Chinese University’s Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies last December, shows that the top three push factors are political dispute or social cleavage, overcrowded living conditions, and dissatisfaction with political institutions... Taiwan has also emerged as a popular destination. According to Taiwan’s immigration department, 1,267 people from Hong Kong and Macau emigrated there last year, almost double the 697 who moved there in 2014... While applications to countries like Australia, the US and Canada can take years, migration agents say it takes just six to nine months to secure permanent residency in Taiwan and the investment required is relatively low, at NT$6 million (HK$1.5 million)... many Hongkongers who go through the emigration process end up keeping their new passports in reserve while continuing to live in Hong Kong.Entertainment industry employee Ho, 47, who asked to be identified only by his surname, emigrated with his family to Canada in the 1990s, but returned to Hong Kong after getting Canadian citizenship.Concerned with the political situation now, he and his wife are preparing to return to Canada.“Hong Kong is no longer the place we are familiar with,” he says. “Hongkongers can no longer decide their city’s fate.”"
Some Singaporeans claim that it's all about bread and butter issues, but the fact that 2 of the top 3 reasons for emigration are socio-political refutes that

Canadian police laugh as Chinese nationalists shout ‘Free China!’ at pro-Hong Kong side
Free China from the CCP

China orders airspace ban on Cathay staff who support HK protests - "China's aviation regulator on Friday demanded that Cathay Pacific prevent airline staff who have shown support for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong from working on flights to the mainland or routed through Chinese airspace.The regulator also ordered the city's flag carrier to handover identity information of staff on mainland-bound flights starting Sunday -- declaring unapproved flights would not be allowed in."

Taiwan media: Ex-Cathay Pacific CEO refused to give up names of staff involved in HK protests - "Taiwan News, citing “local Hong Kong media reports”, said that Hogg was asked by China’s Civil Aviation Administration to hand over a list of Cathay Pacific employees who had participated in the protests.But Hogg allegedly wrote down just one name on the list and sent it to them — his own."

More Chinese Police cars spotted in Australian cities amid pro-Hong Kong protests - "More fake Chinese police cars have been spotted in major cities as the number of rallies in support of Hong Kong democracy protests grows across Australia.Police are investigating sightings of cars that have a Chinese Police logo and the word 'police' written on them in Mandarin, similar to the police cars stationed in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.The sightings have been confirmed by authorities in South Australia and Western Australia. It is suggested that these vehicles are being used to intimidate pro-democracy protesters... WA police say that replicating a car with another country's police car design is not against Australian law.Mr Ho shared an email from a WA Police sergeant saying using Chinese markings on cars was not illegal."

China's state media compared Hong Kong's protests to the Holocaust - "officials have decried the protests as showing “signs of terrorism,” while state news agency Xinhua has called protesters “cockroaches.” Meanwhile, information control within China has led to the spread of disinformation about the protests... CCTV’s post, parroting Niemöller’s poem, takes on the voice of Hongkongers who have supposedly remained silent throughout this summer’s protests, and exhorts them to be silent no more because they could be the next to be “attacked” by demonstrators. Groups that have been “attacked,” according to the CCTV poem, include police officers, drivers, airport passengers, and journalists... Online, academics and journalists were quick to criticize CCTV’s post as “unsurprisingly fatuous,” “bizarre,” and making Niemöller “[turn] around in his grave—for the comparison between an atrocity in which six million people were murdered, and a movement in which there have been no deaths, and that represents a stand against authoritarianism... CCTV’s global arm struck a very different note of condemnation when it released a rap track in English against Hong Kong’s protesters, criticizing them as “liars” who are backed by “foreign forces.”"

China urges foreign media to ‘help right public opinion wrongs’ on Hong Kong protests - "Beijing has called on foreign media in China for “impartial” and “objective” reporting on the Hong Kong protests, sending letters to dozens of overseas news outlets in its latest effort to sway international opinion... the foreign ministry sent a letter on Tuesday (Aug 20) to more than 30 overseas media outlets in Beijing, calling on them to take their “due social responsibility” to help “protesters ignorant of the truth to get back to the right path”... “China has felt that it is at such disadvantage,” Dr Chin said. “It cannot control the overseas media, and its own media outlets are not trusted by the mainstream Western world.”"
When you're used to controlling the media...

Hong Kong Residents Identifying as Chinese Hits Record Low - "A huge majority of residents said they were not proud of holding Chinese citizenship, with the number soaring to 90 percent among young people...
'53 per cent of the interviewees identified as Hongkongers, while 11 per cent identified as Chinese. 12 per cent identified as “Chinese in Hong Kong”, and 23 per cent identified themselves as “Hongkongers in China.”When asked if they were proud of being a national citizen of China, 71 per cent said “no” and 27 per cent said “yes.” 90 per cent in the age group 18-29 answered “no.”'
"All these indicators are at their record lows since the handover""
So much for the protesters only representing a small minority

The Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association warns that restricting online access would be ruinous for the region - "After Hong Kong’s leader suggested she may invoke emergency powers that could potentially include limiting internet access, one of the city’s biggest industry groups warned that “any such restrictions, however slight originally, would start the end of the open Internet of Hong Kong.”... restricting the internet in Hong Kong would also have implications in the rest of the region, including in mainland China, the HKISPA added. There are currently 18 international cable systems that land, or will land, in Hong Kong, making it a major telecommunications hub. Blocking one application means users will move onto another application, creating a cascading effect that will continue until all of Hong Kong is behind a firewall"

China appeals for freedom of speech after Twitter & Facebook removed accounts spreading disinformation - "The Chinese government has slammed the efforts by Silicon Valley tech companies to limit disinformation, in what it views is an attack on free speech... Tech giants Twitter and and Facebook announced on Aug. 20 that it would take steps to halt the “state-backed” disinformation campaign taking place in Hong Kong.In a blog post, Twitter said it would suspend 936 accounts that were deliberately and specifically attempting to sow political discord in Hong Kong.Facebook also said it removed seven pages, three groups and five accounts, and their investigations revealed links to the Chinese government.
SPOING
Bots, sockpuppets and fake news are good if it helps your government's agenda

After Tiananmen crackdown, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew said 200,000 influential Hongkongers should ‘band together’ and bargain if Beijing interfered in city’s affairs - "Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew had a piece of advice for Hongkongers in the wake of the Tiananmen crackdown: “band together” 200,000 people on whom the city’s success hinged and bargain with China by threatening to leave if Beijing interfered with Hong Kong’s affairs.The Southeast Asian strongman said China would have to listen to the views of Hong Kong if the city adopted a “non-confrontational approach” to dealing with Beijing, rather than “fighting China”... “When China is involved in a power struggle it could not care less about its international reputation”... Lee wrote in his memoir, From Third World to First: The Singapore Story, that there was a “wide and deep gap” between what Hong Kong people wanted for themselves and the expectations of China’s leaders."

Singapore had its own agenda when criticising Britain’s handling of Hong Kong’s early 1990s electoral reform, declassified cables show - "Lee Kuan Yew, then senior minister of Singapore, had consistently criticised the British government’s approach to Beijing on Hong Kong affairs. Smith also suggested that Singapore might have been angling for a greater role in China’s economic development... In December 1992, Lee told an audience at the University of Hong Kong: “Hong Kong deserves democracy, but alas, in the world as it is, we do not often get what we deserve.”"

Wake Up, Singapore - Posts - "Irony: Pro-China protesters using 'Western-style' free speech and democracy in Australia to rally against Hong Kong protesters' demands for democracy"

Kong Tsung-gan / 江松澗 on Twitter - "Whenever police decide to engage in direct contact w protesters, they always come out looking bad. Police disguised as protesters shot their revolvers after they were discovered-a sign of just how dangerous that practice is- &, of course, Police went berserk in Prince Edward MTR. The result is another own goal for police, the night ending in a PR disaster after hours of relatively disciplined violence.
At the library this morning, I looked over the rack of newspapers, SCMP had nonsencial propaganda: a huge half-page image of a fire the protesters set in Hennessy Rd w the hysterical headline, 'A city set ablaze'. All the other papers, not just Apple Daily but also the middle-of-the-road ones, had front-page images of police beating people with batons in MTR trains.
You'd think the police wouldn't constantly fall into this trap of being provoked into over-reaction, but they've always enjoyed impunity & that's been exacerbated by the fact that the #CCP has ordered it to use greater force.
For now, #HK is a city of fortresses: police defending a totally isolated govt at govt HQ, Government House, Liaison Office, police stations, while the rest of the city belongs to citizens fighting for freedom & our rights. Police only venture out to attack & beat citizens."
Of course, China shills just obsess about violence from (alleged) protesters

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says she would 'quit' if she could, fears her ability to resolve crisis now 'very limited' - "Mrs Lam noted, however, that she had few options once an issue had been elevated "to a national level," a reference to the leadership in Beijing, "to a sort of sovereignty and security level, let alone in the midst of this sort of unprecedented tension between the two big economies in the world."In such a situation, she added, "the room, the political room for the chief executive who, unfortunately, has to serve two masters by constitution, that is the central people's government and the people of Hong Kong, that political room for maneuvering is very, very, very limited."... Lam's remarks are consistent with a Reuters report published on Friday (Aug 30) that revealed how leaders in Beijing are effectively calling the shots on handling the crisis in Hong Kong. The Chinese government rejected a recent proposal by Mrs Lam to defuse the conflict that included withdrawing the extradition bill altogether, three people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters... The effective expulsion last year of Financial Times editor Victor Mallet, whose visa wasn't renewed after he hosted an event at the city's Foreign Correspondents' Club with the leader of the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party, also drew condemnation at home and abroad. Mrs Lam and her government later came under fire for banning the party and the disqualification of pro-democracy lawmakers."
Naturally, China shills will just blame Hong Kong's leaders and absolve China of blame, despite this blatant admission that Beijing won't let her quit and China's hand is very present in Hong Kong (even if you pretend the Reuters report is Western disinformation)
Addendum: The Joint Declaration talks about "freedom... of the press". So this is another example - besides the kidnapping of the booksellers - of how China has violated the Joint Declaration

A Letter From Hong Kong - "this feels like a pre-revolutionary situation, except that there is no state to topple and no alternative to it. Rather there is a local government—Carrie Lam’s administration—that has stopped governing and that is now little more than a reed of Beijing. In that sense, the Communist Party has already taken over Hong Kong and is watching it descend into chaos. Perhaps the logic is that the worse it gets here, the greater the rationale is for stepping in and ‘saving’ Hong Kong from itself... can Hong Kong people triumph over the Communist Party? Surely not and they know it. What, then, is the point of their fighting on? Dignity and self-respect. Bystanders are responsible for what they don’t do—in this case push back on a growing tyranny. Years from now, historians will recall that at a time when the West had descended into identity solipsism, there was a place on earth where people cared more for liberty and their city than their lives. They will marvel at what an unsated people can and will do... Nor, sadly, can Hong Kong youth expect solidarity from the most militant of Western university students and faculty. They lost their taste for freedom years ago. Israel is apparently a bigger offense to their sensibilities than Communist China (or Iran). In all significant respects, these Westerners are the opposite of the young people I know. While Hong Kong students detest Communism, many of their Western counterparts embrace Marxism. While Western post-colonialists deride Western civilization, Hong Kongers wish they could have more of it. When Hong Kong students talk of a safe-space they mean a shelter from tear-gas and rubber bullets, not a refuge from offensive words. A trigger warning is not a professor’s presage of a painting by Goya; it is the sound of a revolver shot discharged skywards in the Causeway Bay night."

Hong Kong protests 2019: how China’s repression playbook backfired - "This summer of protest has now become one of the largest protest movements in history.How did China’s leaders make such a mistake?The answer has to do with the lessons they learned from crushing the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy movement and their subsequent decades of successful repression on the mainland. The ruling Chinese Communist Party has one impulse, and one impulse only: repression.By pushing this extradition bill, China was trying to apply the same levers of repression to Hong Kong that it uses in the mainland. Only this time, it backfired.That’s because Chinese party officials fundamentally don’t understand how to effectively govern a free-thinking citizenry. By seeking to quash dissent in an already orderly, prosperous city, the party has turned peace into chaos... the party planted the seeds for a long-term cultural change. They purged hundreds of thousands of reform-minded officials from the party. And in 1992, they instituted a nationwide patriotic education curriculum in schools that played up China’s historic victimization at the hands of foreign powers and presented loyalty to country and party as a primary virtue.These efforts bore fruit over time. Chinese youth today, unlike their peers 30 years ago, are far less likely to admire democracy or Western-style freedoms, and far more likely to say that one-party rule is a better system for China... Hongkongers are committing a cardinal sin: turning the party’s preferred historical narrative of victimization by Western colonial powers on its head. For years now, the people of Hong Kong have been fighting to preserve the political legacy left to them by British colonizers, while rejecting what the Chinese Communist Party wants to replace it with... China’s single-minded obsession with stability through repression is counterproductive in a well-functioning region that cherishes political freedom. It was Beijing’s numerous attempts over the past two decades to “mainlandize” Hong Kong that stirred up unrest in the first place. A primary barrier to Chinese social and political control of Hong Kong is the city’s political system, which protects traditional freedoms such as speech and assembly. Thus, an ongoing goal of China’s has been to recreate the legal conditions present on the mainland.Since as early as 2003, China has attempted to push through legal changes that would allow authorities to crack down on political freedoms in Hong Kong when desired... In 2014, Beijing once again sought to use legal means to assert control over the political system, proposing a legal change that would allow all Hong Kong residents to vote to elect their own leaders, but only from a set of candidates approved by Beijing. Protesters, led by high school and college students, occupied downtown areas to demand that Hong Kong residents be granted the true universal suffrage they had been promised under the Sino-British Joint Declaration... China’s attempts to subdue Hong Kong through legalized repression gained momentum. An unprecedented cascade of prosecutions followed, with the pro-democracy movement’s top leaders arrested and jailed on dubious charges ranging from contempt of court to conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. And in September 2018, the Hong Kong government banned a small pro-independence party, citing national security reasons — the first time a political party had ever been outlawed there.That demoralization is likely what emboldened Beijing to think that they would finally be able to achieve their goal of subverting Hong Kong’s independent judiciary, this time through an extradition treaty. This time, however, city residents aren’t nearly as polarized as before... High school students, stay-at-home mothers, and wealthy financiers all know that the end of Hong Kong’s judicial independence will mean the end of Hong Kong’s special status and their way of life.And China’s response in 2014 means that protesters know this may be their last chance. “They know if they give up, the crackdown is going to be worse than what happened after the Umbrella movement,” Victoria Tin-Bor Hui, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, told me."

How the Hong Kong Protestors’ Tactical Brilliance Backed Beijing into a Corner - "One of the reasons for the effectiveness of the protest movement is the decision to remain leaderless. In an op-ed article in 2017, Nicholas Berggruen, chairman of the Berggruen Institute, suggests that resistance movements need strong and charismatic leaders to succeed. Many resistance movements such as the Civil Rights Movement with Martin Luther King Jr., the resistance to apartheid with Nelson Mandela, and the India Independence Movement with Gandhi benefited greatly from such leadership.But the outcome of Hong Kong’s 2014 pro-democracy movement suggests that the current protests would not be nearly as robust or effective if it did have such leaders. Joshua Wong, the strong and charismatic leader of the Umbrella movement in 2014, was jailed in 2017 for unlawful assembly. With strong leaders present, the authorities can arrest them, fatally weakening a movement... Where a strong leader would make strategic decisions, the protesters are using a Reddit-like forum called LIHKG where ideas can be upvoted, allowing the best ones to rise to the top... The ideas that are most representative of the desires of the participants end up going forward, giving the movement a greater degree of legitimacy and likely winning more support from the Hong Kong populace... Hong Kong protesters are crowdsourcing not only leadership, but every necessary function including delivering supplies (protection, umbrellas, post-it notes, food, roadblocks, cones for controlling the flow of teargas, etc.), getting protesters to particular locations, funding, designing and distributing posters, providing information on risks such as police presence, legal advice, medical attention, and more. Crowdsourcing allows burdens to be distributed much more widely than does formal organizing. Of course, the movement’s leaderless organization could also prove to be a disadvantage... the protesters do not rely on any single communications platform. When Telegram suffered a denial of service attack originating from Mainland China or when the mobile networks were overloaded, protesters turned to Airdrop to send messages over Bluetooth. They are even using Tinder and Pokemon Go to mobilize protesters. Another element to the protesters’ resilience was the decision to abandon the occupation strategy used in Occupy Central protests of the Umbrella Movement in exchange for a highly fluid approach. The protesters package and sell this guerilla approach with the phrase “Be Water” coined by Bruce Lee... Lao Tsu said, “Nothing is softer or more yielding than water. Yet, given time, it can erode even the hardest stone. That’s how the weak can defeat the strong, and the supple can win out over the stiff.”"

Forget Lam’s extradition U-turn, Xi’s channelling of Mao shows he’s about to get tough on Hong Kong - "her announcement on Wednesday suggested she must have sought prior permission from the leadership in Beijing, which has repeatedly said the protests were a threat to national sovereignty. Until this point, Chinese state media reports had long suggested that there was little room for compromise.Apparently, the U-turn is a very sudden – and risky – decision. There had been no sign nor murmurs of the impending announcement even the day before... her U-turn has dismayed and angered pro-government lawmakers and supporters who complained they were not consulted in advance and said their credibility had been dented because of their previous open support for Lam to resist all the protesters’ demands.An even more interesting question is: why did Beijing suddenly agree to allow Lam to make the symbolic move of formally withdrawing the bill after officials and the state media had been taking an increasingly hardline view towards the protesters over the past month, condemning them as “rioters” and warning signs of “terrorism”? Indeed, many Chinese officials and observers involved in Hong Kong affairs were reportedly caught off guard and were not aware of Lam’s decision until a few hours before she made the announcement on television."

Why Postcolonial Theory Is Not Helping Hong Kong - "For those who embrace the ideological frameworks of various forms of “Social Justice” Theory including postcolonialism, decolonialism, critical race theory and intersectional feminism, seeing the Asian inhabitants of a former colony raise its colonial flag simply does not compute. Within this ideological conception of the world there is a very simple understanding of power dynamics in which oppression must always come from people seen as having dominant identities – white, male, western, heterosexual, cisgender, ablebodied and thin – and be inflicted upon those seen as having marginalized identities – people of color, colonized or indigenous people, women, LGBT, disabled and fat people.  When all of these elements are considered together, we get the framework of ‘intersectionality’ and it is through the language and activism of intersectional scholars and activists that most people encounter these ideas.Eastern people who complicate the narrative of Western oppressor and Eastern Oppressed are understood to be speaking into and perpetuating oppressive discourses of colonial power which apply much more broadly than their own situation. From this perspective, by aligning themselves symbolically with the flag or philosophically with the ideas wrought by colonial legacy, the protesters were understood to completely invalidate the legitimacy of their liberation movement. Other criticisms reserved for the protesters include rebukes for lacking sensitivity and solidarity toward other countries with victims of colonialism. The journalist Ben Norton went so far as to say that the British flag was a symbol of “genocide, murder, racism, oppression and robbery,” and that the “pro-democracy” activists in Hong Kong were in effect, pro-colonialist groups, funded and backed by the “Western NGO-Industrial Complex.” This argument perfectly exemplifies how one’s basic reasoning and moral calculus can get muddled when steeped too heavily in this kind of postcolonial theory. To deride the fight against one of the most repressive and autocratic regimes is to completely undermine and disparage Hong Kong’s struggle for democracy and freedom. Semantically equating being “pro-democracy” to being “pro-colonialist”, where the latter is essentialized to “pro-evil,” Norton instantly reveals the moral incongruence of embracing the actual oppressor (China) at the expense of the oppressed (Hong Kong), all in the name of opposing an institution which has become a bogeyman used by progressives to blame only the West for all of the world’s ills. Does it ever occur to him and other like-minded critics that perhaps the vast majority of the protesters simply do not want to live under the tyranny of a surveillance state that censors dissidents and implements dystopian social credit score systems?... The argument goes that, by showing support for the Common Law system and spirit of free expression that were direct products of the colonist’s rule, the Hong Kong protesters are guilty of propping up an evil institution and therefore, must be opposed at all costs... Constructive guilt allows us to critically evaluate various historical injustices and current inequalities that were shaped by European colonialism. Destructive guilt leads to the moral myopia exemplified by some progressive reactions to the plight of the Hong Kong people, which disturbingly echo that of Chinese-run state media. For one, the sight of the British flag among the Hong Kong protests has united intersectional progressives and CCP apologists in calling the massive demonstration a Western-backed uprising and accusing them of, ironically, “internalized colonialism.”... Do we only care about the injustice of colonialism when the respective groups, defined as the “colonizer” versus the “colonized,” harbor differential levels of melanin?... The tepid support of the Hong Kong people among the American left has not gone unnoticed, especially in contrast with Senator Marco Rubio leading the repeated efforts to introduce the Hong Kong Human Rights And Democracy Act in congress and Senator Ted Cruz instigating the campaign to nominate the young pro-democracy activist leaders for the Nobel Peace Prize.The protesters in Hong Kong, much like the women who risk imprisonment and torture by removing their hijabs in theocratic Iran, are demanding the freedoms that we in the West take for granted. Instead of seeing us stand alongside their causes in solidarity, they see us divided by arguments and accusations that are directly hostile to their fight against oppression... The critics intone that Hong Kongers are ethnically Chinese after all, and they should “stay in their lane” and not hanker for values that are deemed “Eurocentric” or “Western.” This concept, happily reinforced by pro-CCP forces and wielded to peg pro-democracy supporters as “race traitors,” denies universal aspirations and interests to those in Hong Kong agitating for the ideals of freedom and human dignity. Cultural essentialism, as it turns out, endorses the divisions of orientalism rather than cures them."

BBC World Service - The World This Week, Hong Kong Protests - "I think the scenes at the airport in particular have caused a lot of shock in Hong Kong. And if you look at opinion, there's a number of different sectors here. But even the protesters themselves have seemed to admit they went too far, because they've been handing out apology leaflets saying we will do better, please forgive us and it;s just that we're really scared, and even amongst the protesters, and a lot of the protesters at the airport, because we must remember at the airport, and most of it was peaceful, it was a peaceful sit-in for many days. So when the clashes happened, and there were protesters at the airport, tried to tell others to stop as well. On the other hand, there is still a quite a lot of sympathy for some of the younger protesters, because there is a sense that there are many in a situation where they feel quite hopeless. And a lot of people feel the government and the police haven't responded very well or calmed things down either... Some have also been surprised at how supportive their parents have been, perhaps not of the law breaking or the violent aspects of the protests. But there was a lot of sympathy, because they felt that the young people did feel trapped. And a lot of young people have argued that it's come to this stage because peaceful protest hasn't worked. They said it didn't work in 2014. And they point out even with the extradition bill… what really made the government blink was when there were violent clashes with police that changed public opinion"

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent Podcast, Lost Innocence - "The Hong Kong Police have been playing catch up with these nimble hit and run protests. The strain is beginning to show on the officers’ faces. Last weekend, some of them lost control, pulverizing protesters they'd already restrained on the ground, and piling into one group they'd corralled at the top of an underground station escalator, firing tear gas and driving terrified passengers out coughing into the street. Outrage over these tactics fueled the anger of the protesters at the airport. Some wore bloody eyepatchs in solidarity with the injured woman. Real fear of police infiltrators, and of China, which has issued increasingly stern warnings of punishment and retribution does help explain the violence we witnessed on Tuesday inside the terminal. But it's also gifted China a propaganda coup… occupying and shutting down one of the world's busiest airports is a surefire way of getting attention. It was also near impossible for the police to retake it by force. And it had the added benefit of air conditioning in Hong Kong’s stifling summer heat, toilets and a guaranteed audience of international travelers. But it's a trick you can't really try more than once. Security has now been tightened and chastened by the negative publicity they received, the protesters were back in only small numbers on Wednesday, handing out chocolate and notes of apology to passengers"
One violent incident by protesters means they're all violent. But police brutality doesn't exist

Young girls offering sex to protesters: Fanny Law - "Executive councillor Fanny Law said on RTHK's "Backchat" programme on Monday that there are confirmed reports of young girls offering free sex to frontline protesters.Reacting to a listener's email which alleged that some girls are being tasked to provide "comfort" to frontline protesters, Law said: "I think we have confirmed that this is a true case. I am so sad for these young girls who have been misled into offering free sex."Another guest on the programme, League of Social Democrats chairman Avery Ng, countered Law, saying he thinks sex should always be free and out of love. He said protesters don't have to risk police tear gas and bullets to get sex, which they can get without such danger elsewhere.Law's claim prompted an angry listener to call into the show, accusing her of spreading rumours and disrespecting people."There is evidence. That is the daughter of a friend's friend. That's second-hand knowledge, but it's direct, it's real. Okay? Direct and it's real. And the girl actually wrote a piece," Law said.But the caller, who gave his name as Matthew, was not satisfied with the response: "This is outrageous. It's just too much, Fanny"."Where are these emails coming from, Fanny? You know as well as I do how the United Front machine works," he said.After the programme, Ng told RTHK that Law had confirmed to him that the allegation she was referring to had been made in pro-Beijing social media groups.He said she told him that she had fact-checked the information and it was true, and she had also heard the claim from a "cruise buddy"."

BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Thursday's business with Dominic O'Connell - "Hong Kong definitely is in chaos. And I have seen those people who came out to the streets, most of them, they are either high school students or university students. And I talked to one of them, who was in the fifth year. Medical school student, final year. At first, he was just acting as a paramedic. But when police you know, crazily fired so many tear gas canisters, he became like a defender, more like a masked vigilante. So it's not just one of them. You're talking about thousands, and then there're close to 200,000 university students, and I think at least 70% of the people, they don't trust the Hong Kong government slash Beij-...
This is quite different from the Deng Xiaoping version of one country two systems that Mr. Deng promised. Like, even after the Tiananmen. You know, of course, it was a big mistake, but at least we took the leap of faith, some people came back to Hong Kong, and contribute. And they don't really see a future. That's why they do come out and fight. So this is, I was so surprised to I mean, after five years of the Umbrella Movement, I thought, you know, the, the fight for democracy is dead. But I'm really inspired by the new generation of kids. They still call Hong Kong home. They might not be moving to other countries... They really think that Hong Kong is the place and they have to defend Hong Kong. That's why they say the five demands, no one less"

The High School Course Beijing Accuses of Radicalizing Hong Kong - The New York Times - "as they debate the merits of democracy and civil rights, Hong Kong high school students are prompting Beijing to worry that they are increasingly out of control.The mandatory civics course known here as liberal studies has been a hallmark of the curriculum in Hong Kong for years, and students and teachers say the point is to make better citizens who are more engaged with society... China’s ruling Communist Party has long seen education as a crucial ideological tool for nurturing loyal citizens. Under Xi Jinping, the country’s authoritarian leader, the party has ramped up patriotic education on the mainland, helping shape one of the most nationalistic generations of youth that the country has seen in years... “Passionately loving the country and passionately loving the motherland should be taught in the first class in school.”To the party, what is at stake is no less than Beijing’s legitimacy in the eyes of Hong Kong’s next generation. It wants to draw Hong Kong closer to Beijing by fostering patriotism that plays up the party’s achievements and whitewashes its tumultuous history... Many educators and democracy advocates in Hong Kong say the course teaches students to be analytical and objective, even when it comes to examining the party’s flaws. To present a distorted version of history, they argue, is to undermine the intellectual rigor of a system that has consistently ranked among the top in global education indexes.“They want to make young people dumber and less aware,” said Hoi Wai-hang, 38, who has taught liberal studies for 10 years... the renewed focus on the subject this time reflects a hardening belief among leaders in Hong Kong and Beijing that change is needed. It has also brought to the fore the increasingly untenable contradiction between these two systems: one that holds academic freedom as a core value and another that emphasizes ideological control above all else... Nothing like it exists in schools on the mainland. There, Mr. Xi has presided over a vigorous campaign to recenter Chinese society around ideology, specifically “Xi Jinping Thought,” his self-branded philosophy, which was written into China’s Constitution. In classrooms, children as young as 7 are taught to love the Chinese Communist Party and recite party slogans. New guidelines on ideological education were released by the party authorities as recently as last month."
When party, state and country are conflated, you to oppose a party that has lost the Mandate of Heaven is to hate your country
Addendum: This is about liberal studies

Hong Kong: Arbitrary arrests, brutal beatings and torture in police detention revealed - "A new Amnesty International field investigation has documented an alarming pattern of the Hong Kong Police Force deploying reckless and indiscriminate tactics, including while arresting people at protests, as well as exclusive evidence of torture and other ill-treatment in detention... Amnesty International also documented a clear pattern of police officers using unnecessary and excessive force during arrests of protesters, with anti-riot police and a Special Tactical Squad (STS), commonly known as “raptors”, responsible for the worst violence. Almost every arrested person interviewed described being beaten with batons and fists during their arrest, even when they posed no resistance."
One country, one system

Hong Kong Is Winning the Global Public-Opinion War With Beijing - "These latest worldwide, pro–Hong Kong rallies are the most recent iteration of what supporters of repressed groups in Xinjiang and Tibet, as well as those who back Taiwan’s sovereignty, have all struggled to do: Mobilize large communities internationally to denounce the Chinese Communist Party.The relative success of Hong Kong’s protest movement is all the more significant because it’s occurring alongside Beijing expanding its propaganda efforts globally, as state-owned outlets trumpet China’s vision of the world in multiple languages. This global campaign is the biggest challenge to China’s rulers by the territory since 1989, when, still a British colony, its residents took part in demonstrations in solidarity with protesters in Tiananmen Square, while also providing financial and material support... In June, a crowdfunding drive raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from more than 20,000 donors, paying for full-page ads in more than 10 major international newspapers, urging the G20 summit in Osaka to raise Hong Kong’s plight... the tendency of Chinese nationalism to backfire on the foreign stage has hampered the Communist cause. Among these incidents are violent Chinese-student reactions to pro–Hong Kong demonstrations at Australian universities, with the Chinese embassy expressing support for the students’ actions on social media afterward. Debate in Australia regarding the ability of China to control public speech there has since intensified. Elsewhere, Montreal’s Pride parade excluded Hong Kong participants after receiving threats from “pro-Communists.” At the parade, many onlookers were aghast when, during the moment of silence for those who have died from HIV/AIDS, Chinese participants sang their national anthem. “The most basic weakness of the external communications of the Chinese party-state is the fact that foreign audiences, and their values and interests, are never truly considered,” David Bandurski, co-director of the China Media Project, told me. “Sure, the messages are directed at foreigners, but the language is still the internal and insular language of the party-state.”In this sense, Bandurski said, these propaganda efforts are not really external at all. “Try as it might to raise the volume on China's singular, restrained voice, the party-state is still talking to itself, or shouting at its own wall,” Bandurski said. “The louder that voice becomes, the more uncompromising and aggressive it sounds.”"

Police Dressed as Protesters: How Undercover Police in Hong Kong Severely Injured People - The New York Times - "Protesters have accused the Hong Kong police of using excessive force throughout the demonstrations that have gripped the city for the past four months. But on the night of Aug. 11, a major shift occurred. For the first time, officers disguised as demonstrators were seen beating protesters and conducting arrests. Videos of the night went viral. They showed undercover officers hitting protesters with batons and pinning them to the ground, leaving some bleeding profusely. We analyzed footage of the night and spoke to more than a dozen witnesses and protesters who were detained. Lawyers and human rights advocates who watched the images say the police used excessive force to conduct arbitrary arrests.The Hong Kong police said they had conducted a “decoy operation” targeting a “core group of violent rioters.” But three of the men arrested said they did not know one another, and protests in the area had ended hours before the clash. One man says he suffered a brain hemorrhage; others had serious bone fractures. Doctors described one injury, a broken arm, as caused by assault. The episode became one more example of police tactics that have infuriated citizens, driving calls for an independent investigation into police misconduct."... Demonstrators said that undercover officers didn’t identify themselves as police, adding to fears that the men had been part of gangs that had attacked demonstrators in recent weeks. According to the Hong Kong police’s guidelines, officers are required to identify themselves before exercising their duties."
According to China shills, not just is the only violence on the part of the protesters, allegations of false flags are all conspiracy theories

Hong Kong: First Line of Defence against a Rising Fascist Power - "a young man from China crossed the border into Hong Kong, found the nearest KFC, and locked himself in the bathroom. He took out a pen and a paper sign, trembling at the thought of how his life was about to change. “I come from the mainland,” he wrote. “Thank you, Hongkongers! Don’t give up, fight for freedom!” Then he joined the protesters marching from Tsim Sha Tsui to West Kowloon, and held up his sign. When he returned to China the police arrested him, stripped him naked, forced him to sing “There is no new China without the Communist Party,” and held him in a room with forty other prisoners. They threatened to beat him to death for betraying the Chinese “race.”... “Actually a lot of young people on the mainland support Hong Kong,” he told Lily Kuo at The Guardian. “But because of the suppression, the constant monitoring, they dare not speak out loudly.” They know that it is not possible to defy the Communist Party and get away with it. One mainlander who called Xi Jinping a “coward” in a private message on WeChat was sent to prison for two years, while another activist was jailed in July for suggesting Xi step down as president, and was dead within weeks. The dissident Dong Yaoqiong went further than these two: she dared to film herself splashing ink on a poster of Xi. Police took her from her home and forcibly admitted her to a psychiatric hospital, where the website Boxun reports that staff were given instructions to slowly poison her to death... All summer long, the Chinese people have watched Hongkongers defy the central government, and after nearly four months the expected massacre has still not come. Of course, state media makes sure that the population is fed a steady diet of lies. A significant number of young Chinese may privately support Hong Kong, as Lu suggests, but most mainlanders have obediently swallowed the propaganda. They believe the protesters to be rioters or even terrorists. And yet the success of this brainwashing may prove to be one of Xi Jinping’s biggest mistakes. By exaggerating the chaos and painting a picture of lawless insurrection, he has unknowingly introduced a new idea to Chinese citizens: the weakness of the central government. More than a billion people now imagine that so-called “terrorists” can stand up to the Communist Party and survive. No doubt the seeds of sedition are sprouting already—in Shenzhen, in Shenyang, in Shanghai... more than 60 percent of China’s outward investment actually goes through Hong Kong... If Xi manages to break the will of Hong Kong, there can be little doubt that he will cast his gaze across the Taiwan Strait for his next target. Two Chinese acquaintances of mine have even suggested that Xi’s real reason for abolishing two-term limits was that he “needs” an extra decade in which to conquer Taiwan. They told me this independently of one another, and they both claimed to have the information from senior Party officials known to them back home. Xi’s own statements provide supporting evidence: he has said in public that the absorption of Taiwan must not be delayed for another generation. Previous Chinese leaders all bleated the Party mantra that Taiwan “belongs” to China, but none of them went so far as to provide a specific timeframe in which the island was to be forcibly conquered. It is possible, then, that Xi views the Hong Kong situation as a dry run for Taiwan. The Party has used a variety of tactics in Hong Kong—training local police to use brutal force, creating scores of fake social media accounts to spread misinformation, and so on. Perhaps we will see the same tactics redeployed over the Strait in a few years’ time... Hongkongers have come to understand just how important their role is. They see themselves “on the front line to fight against Communist China for the rest of the liberal world,” in the words of the political group Hong Kong Autonomous Action. Pro-democracy lawmaker Ray Chan uses the same image, but he puts two participants into the combat zone: “Hong Kong and Taiwan are both at the front line of the global fight to stop Beijing’s creeping authoritarianism and control,” he says. “Our cooperation and mutual support will be key to defending our freedom.”"