China Passes Hong Kong Security Law
China made good on its intention to increase its control over Hong Kong. One of the West’s biggest concerns is the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy. This article is short so it’s quoted here in its entirety.
From Reuters:
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly approved directly imposing national security legislation on Hong Kong to tackle secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in a city roiled last year by months of anti-government protests.
The National People’s Congress voted 2,878 to 1 in favour of the decision to empower its standing committee to draft the legislation, with six abstentions. The legislators gathered in the Great Hall of the People burst into sustained applause when the vote tally was projected onto screens.
Reuters has the link here.
The Trump Administration is considering some moves in response. One response includes removing Hong Kong’s status with regards to tariffs. If Hong Kong does not have its autonomy, as promised by the one country two systems policy, then what applies to China also applies to Hong Kong. China insists that these measures don’t infringe on Hong Kong’s self-rule status quo. They just want to address calls for independence, sedition, etc.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s government is working on legislation to penalize criticisms of the Chinese national anthem.
From Reuters:
“No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground,” he said.
He said he certified to Congress that Hong Kong no longer warrants treatment under U.S. laws “in the same manner as U.S. laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1997,” when Britain ended its administration of the territory and returned it to China.
“It is now clear that China is modeling Hong Kong after itself,” Pompeo said.
The “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act” approved by Trump last year requires the State Department to certify at least annually that Hong Kong retains enough autonomy to justify the favorable U.S. trading terms that have helped it remain a world financial center.
The United States, the European Union, Britain and others have expressed concern about the legislation, widely seen as a possible turning point for China’s freest city.
The second Reuters article has more details surrounding this topic.
Category: China
I think China is going to regret losing the business that Hong Kong enjoyed. I doubt that anything really good for the country and certainly not for Hong Kong will result from this. The folks wanting to be free had better flee now before the blockade starts.
China fornicated Fido here. They can’t have it both ways and will be a net loser, economically. It also unmasks them for what they are- a communist kleptocracy.
Larsie boi showing up to screech that China is NOT Communist in 5.4.3.2…
Who DIDN’T see this coming when the Brits FIRST turned Hong Kong back over to the Chinese Communist Government? I’ll wait right here.
You right Bro, and the Chinese Communists didn’t even have the common courtesy to give Fido a reach around.
Lost that bet with a Taiwanese friend years ago… I bet it would only take China 15 years and they took over 20.
China is obviously a democracy now:
“The National People’s Congress voted 2,878 to 1 in favour of the decision to empower its standing committee to draft the legislation, with six abstentions.”
The 6 abstentions and 1 “no” vote were unavailable for comment.
It’s a show vote, nothing more. The decision was already made, this was just a halfass smoke & mirrors farce to pretend (poorly) that they’re not a totalitarian shithole.
I forgot the /sarc/ tag.
Democracy is a form of government,
Communism is an economic model.
The notion that someone arguing something is not communist is the same as someone arguing something is a democracy is nonsense.
You can be not communist and not a democracy at the same time. And you can theoretically be a communist democracy, and a capitalist authoritarian state.
In fact China is far closer to being a capitalist authoritarian state than it is to being any other 18th or 19th century economic model.
And I find it interesting you reject the CCP claim that China is a democracy but are willing to promote their propaganda that they are communist.
If you are going to be a stooge for the CCP why half ass it?
Communism is a form of government. It enforces pseudo-economics.
I think it matters that it is not a communist country.
They use the communist label as propaganda to keep rural areas and older generations in line. And the communist label, coupled with a half century of “communism=good of the people” propaganda means they can claim what is good for the CCP is good for the Chinese people.
It is purely propaganda at this point and has been for more than 20 years.
They are not communist.
They are a technocratic authoritarian klepto-oligarchy that sells the labor of its citizens on the international market… disproportionally for the benefit of party members, their allies, and their families.
I think it is ridiculous so many people on this board are on such a personal mission to promote and spread CCP propaganda.
It is weird.
Why do so many of you keep doing this?
At best you are merely acting as useful fools for the CCP.
“They are a technocratic authoritarian klepto-oligarchy that sells the labor of its citizens on the international market… disproportionally for the benefit of party members, their allies, and their families.”
Which is exactly what every communist regime in history has been. Technically, you are correct, they (along with all the others) do NOT adhere to the stated goals of communism. The likely reason that people on this board and elsewhere still refer to them as communist despite this fact is because they are practicing “communism” as it has been practiced from the beginning. Anyone that actually believes that Marx, Lenin and Stalin (or anyone else that has ever followed the ideology) EVER had the welfare of the masses at heart is the real fool.
That is not even close to what a communist regime has been. Not even close.
What the fuck?
Seriously.
Where the hell do you get this bullshit?
It is like you have no idea whatsoever what the communist economic model says and just label anything you don’t understand or agree with as “communist”.
Please explain to me which communist regime has NOT followed that route. Where the ruling classes shared the trials and victories of the peasant class, or, to be true to communism, actually did away with classes, and made everyone equal.
As to where i get this “bullshit”, from an in-depth study of history over the last 40 years, thanks for asking.
Ooh, and I do understand what a communist economic model says, and with that study of history, I also understand that it’s ALWAYS been pure propaganda bullshit that has never been followed, only used to gain absolute power over those being ruled.
Again, I’d be more than happy to hear of any examples you can offer that have not followed this pattern.
Name a single communist country that sold their labor on the international marketplace for profit.
When exactly was the west using Soviet Bloc labor to produce our goods?
North Korean labor?
North Vietnamese?
Communist Cuban?
Communist Congo?
I can list every single communist state that ever existed….
Not a single one sold theirmlabor on international markets.
Not a single one was a global producer of goods.
Or even remotely close.
The reason why China’s economy is such a massive producer of goods globally and why it is the leading global trading partner…
Is….
Wait for it…
Because it is not fucking communist.
I assume your error is deliberate. They routinely sold their (slave) labor elsewhere.
All of them.
They are not practicing communism as it was practiced in the Soviet Union or anywhere else.
They simply are not. Period.
They abandoned communism under Deng XioaPing.
There is no debate about that.
Deng XioaPing utterly transformed the economy and they have ONLY moved further away from communism in the decades since Deng stepped down.
It is a maddening discussion since there is almost nothing you could point to in their economic model that is communist.
Other than authoritarianism. Which is not unique to communism nor is it even communist.
Hell, they don’t even have universal healthcare. Which most capitalist countries already have.
While nearly 95% of their country has healthcare, those unlucky enough to have to use the government healthcare system essentially have 50% copays.
50% copays for government insurance higher than we see anywhere in the industrial capitalist world.
They use a payroll contribution system for social security. If you are lucky enough to have it. In most of the country there is no social security because non payroll/subsistence wages are not tracked. So most of the rural communities fend for themselves from cradle to grave. And have since the 1980s.
As for housing? Most housing is distributed entirely through a market system. Though being disloyal to the government can cause you to be blacklisted from having your rental leases approved. But that is authoritarianism, not communism.
You continue to falsely claim that such corruption is not typical of communism.
It is.
Why do I keep doing this? Because I truly enjoy jerking your chain. And it’s especially enjoyable when you don’t even know it’s being yanked. Like now.
Thanks for playing, what do we have for our contestant, Johnny?
He is the sort of self-made “useful idiot” that refuses to see the inevitable result of that inherently dysfunctional and corrupt system known as “communism”, as well as any other label for Marxism.
He is a “they are not doing it right” type. He is invested heavily in that Marx-Ponzi scheme, and like a Multi-level-marketing cultist, has to keep trying to sell it or admit he was conned.
This is going to be interesting. When Xi Qinping took office after Deng Xiaopeng stepped down, he said, essentially that you could choose politics, or you could choose “money”.
And China is just as deeply divided socially and economically now as it always has been. This should be very, very interesting.
I assume you are talking about a Xi JinPing. Since Xi QinPing is not a party leader.
But, honestly it is hard to tell what the hell you are talking about since Deng XioaPing stepped down two decades before Xi took power.
Except, in the PRC ChiCom, politics leads to a great deal of money for party leaders.
Hong Kong never had a chance once the Brits physically departed in 1997. HK was at the mercy of the chicoms, and the chicoms were always going to be the final decider and determiner of how and when HK was going to be absorbed and assimilated into the chicom body, international agreements and timelines be damned. Anyone who thought the chicoms were going to follow International agreements and conventions are fooling themselves. The chicoms were willing to keep HK on a loose leash only if it benefited the chicoms; the chicoms have now made the calculation it is of more benefit to the chicoms to crush and assimilate HK, so it will be done. The PR disadvantages and financial losses of losing HK as an international business and financial hub is acceptable collateral damage to the chicoms. This is why Taiwan should NEVER EVER agree or be forced into some kind of unification agreement or timeline with the chicoms. The chicoms’ solemn agreement and promise to respect international agreements in regard to matters like HK and Taiwan sovereignty and autonomy is not worth the paper they’re printed on…
It’s China’s territory
Why should we give a crap
It was only a matter of time before
They tokeover what was there’s to begin with
I suppose you think we should abandon North America to the Indians, too.
Per the deal with the U.K.
it was only a matter of time before
China had a free hand to fuk everything up at least they followed what some
Out here knew what was going to happen anyways
False similarity.
Regardless of the reason it came to be, HK was a bastion of freedom and the economic benefits that come with it. After the ChiComs took over control, they have exerted more and more control over them. This means that the people have HK have lost their freedom. This is something that should concern us. Some sort of diplomatic action is a starting point.
Hong Kong was an awesome place to visit. Not sure if it is as much any more. . .
2012
https://photos.app.goo.gl/sDEZQBhhxkXERg5b6
2013
https://goo.gl/photos/pULvovdvi54Qmiyx6
2014
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5DLpQ5ab2pUj9LWM6
Port visit to Hong Kong in ’05 was one of my best memories of WestPac. Feel terrible for the people there.
I spent six days there on I&I in 1971. It was where I did all my shopping for tailor made uni’s (sets of TW’s and Greens) and civies, plus stereo gear. Did some serious drinking with a couple of Royal Navy officers whose ship was in port. The border with China back then was manned with a Gurkha regiment with seconded British Army officers.
I hope this doesn’t screw up my Ebay order of 20 mercury tilt switches from Hong Kong.
BHWHAHAHAHA !!!!
“China insists that these measures don’t infringe on Hong Kong’s self-rule status quo. They just want to address calls for independence, sedition, etc.”
Okay, sure, and I have a some Kitchen Aid products I’d like to sell you really, really dirt cheap.
Well, that’s that, then. I doubt anything short of war will free Hong Kong now. The ChiComs know it, and are pretty much giving us and everybody else the finger with this. They will never relinquish a shred of power once gained. Hong Kong is screwed.
On the other hand, HK was the only thing propping up China’s economy.
Oopsie. The Golden Goose just got cooked. Or, not, and China will have permanent indigestion.
If the HK firms are now basicly mainland corruptocracies, de-list and exclude them. While we are at it, any ChoCom firm not meeting US standards of accounting and transparency ought to be bounced out of our game.
I hope that Ling Ting Tong by Rudy West and The Five Keys on Capital, 1954 doesn’t get banned by the chicom’s.
Congratulations to whoever had ’23’ in the pool!
(The pool being how many years from 1997 until the Chinese broke their word and took over Hong Kong)
I don’t see how China is going to be able to actually seize control of Hong Kong without killing people in the streets.
I just do not see Hong Kong submitting without being forced to submit through overwhelming force.
This is not like Mainland China circa 1989 . The public had less access to information then, there was far less support for democratization among the general population, the public outside of the protest areas were largely unaware of what was happening, and China was essentially already implementing reforms so many government apologists could simply argue that the students were being impatient (though a primary catalyst for the protests was essentially anger at corruption – not the lack of progress toward democracy).
Hong Kong however is very different.
The older generations have the institutional memory of living with significant autonomy during the last decades of British rule.
The people have significantly more access to information and have had that access for a very long time so ideas of democracy and liberty are well diffused throughout society in Hong Kong.
The people are much more aware of what is happening compared to the fact that most of Mainland China was oblivious to the 1989 protests.
Argument that people are being impatient or unreasonable simply will go nowhere since China has not only been implementing retrograde policies with respect to democracy and lib try in Hong Kong; Mainland China has been subjected to retrograde policies under Xi JinPing as well. So there is no progressive agenda being implemented for the public to “wait for”…
Finally, while those in the 1989 protests all regarded themselves as Chinese.., most Hong Kong residents to do not. This is particularly true for Hong Kong citizens under 35.
So, there will almost certainly be bloodshed.
China is about to face a very tumultuous time. And some of the regions who have secessionist movements will be watching very closely.
I think Xi JinPing is too much of a tyrant to recognize that he needs to back the fuck off.
Now,
Probably a lot of,typos. But it is too damn long to scroll though.
For some reason my browser makes it very difficult to scroll up within and open text box on this site.
“I don’t see how China is going to be able to actually seize control of Hong Kong without killing people in the streets.”
When has that ever stopped the bastards? They’ve slaughtered so many of their own people since 1948 that they make Hitler’s body count look like a rounding error! The only question will be whether they bother to shut the cameras off first.
They will go the bloody massacre route. It may be blatant, or quiet. But the 21st century Communism Corpse Count will likely be worse than the 20th.
End-state communism: Dysfunctional corrupt dictatorship meets “the bastards won’t obey”.
Watch who says “they had it coming”, dressed up in pseudo-concern, when the body count rises as the streets run Red.
Or, folks are just going to start disappearing in job lots. No bodies to count.
Time to exclude the ChiComs from the civilized world economy. Propping up the CCP and it’s corruptocracy is just helping pile up higher the inevitable corpses.
It’s all for the “revolution”… they need more blood and bodies to justify their actions.