Hong Kong

[Boac]

It appears the USA has washed its hands of HK, despite promising doom and destruction if China persisted in its imposition of Chinese rule.

The handover by the UK stipulated that nothing should change in the way HK is run until 2047. So, for our UK eyes only - do we send a gunboat? PS Have we actually got a spare gunboat?

[TheGreenGoblin]

The Taiwanese must be watching all this with some trepidation. The UK can't do anything but bluster! Thus passes the trappings of power and world influence sadly.

The US policy under the command of Commander Dickwad is similarly moribund for different reasons!

[TheGreenGoblin]

Chickenhawk Raab's promises of extended visas draw little water!

The government has appeared to invite hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents to make UK citizenship bids amid concerns over China’s planned national security law, which critics warn would eviscerate the notion of “one country, two systems”.

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said the UK would allow the roughly 300,000 people in Hong Kong who hold British national overseas (BNO) passports to stay in the country for 12 months, instead of the current six, unless China scraps the proposed law.

He added that by allowing BNO passport holders to apply to work and study for extendable periods of 12 months, this would “provide a pathway to future citizenship” – stopping short of pledging definite amnesty.

The diplomatic gambit came as Mr Raab and his counterparts in the US, Canada and Australia published a joint statement warning the law “would curtail the Hong Kong people’s liberties, and in doing so, dramatically erode Hong Kong’s autonomy and the system that made it so prosperous”.

Noting that “Hong Kong has flourished as a bastion of freedom”, they emphasised their “deep concerns” and warned China’s planned law was “in direct conflict” its obligations under the principles of the Sino-British declaration, agreed when Britain returned the former colony to China in 1997.

Pro-democracy protesters return to Hong Kong streets
The foreign ministers warned the unprecedented move risked undermining trust in Beijing during the coronavirus pandemic, when governments should be striving to enhance it, with Mr Raab adding: “We urge China to step back from the brink.”

However, 2,878 members of China’s mostly rubber-stamp parliament voted in favour of the law on Thursday. One delegate voted against, and six abstained.

The legislation will make “any act of treason, secession, sedition or subversion” in Hong Kong a criminal offence, and will allow China’s national intelligence agencies to set up bureaux in the city.

Communist Party officials will now draft the new legislation and it could be in force before the end of the summer.

The violent protests that rocked the city for much of 2019 after a proposed extradition bill quickly reignited with the new proposals, with tear gas once again stinging streets pounded by thousands of masked demonstrators and armed police.​

Activist Joshua Wong called Beijing’s decision “a direct assault on the will of Hong Kongers”, cautioning that it could kill democratic movements.

It came after the US declared it would no longer treat Hong Kong as autonomous from China as a result – a move that could have major ramifications for the city’s designated special trading status by the US, which has, until now, underpinned the city’s role as a global financial powerhouse

Asked if a tightening of control had been inevitable post-handover, the last British governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, said: “No. What has changed is Xi Jinping: Xi Jinping is a very different sort of dictator and he is one who wants to export what he thinks is China’s power.”

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said on Sunday that Hong Kong affairs were an internal matter for China, and “no external interference will be tolerated”.

“Excessive unlawful foreign meddling in Hong Kong affairs has placed China’s national security in serious jeopardy,” he said.

“[The proposed legislation] does not affect the rights and freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong residents. And it does not affect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors in Hong Kong.”

While Beijing has not yet reacted to the UK’s threat to extend visa rights, some insisted Mr Raab had fallen short of pledging sufficient protection for Hong Kongers, with the Lib Dems calling for all the city’s residents to receive extended visa rights.

Bob Seeley, a Tory MP at the forefront of calls to help Hong Kong citizens, said: “It’s a good start, but more is needed, such as the right to work in the UK and fast-track to UK citizenship.”

Hong Kong-born playwright and King’s College London academic Dr Jingan Young said: “I can’t even begin. I am shaking with anger right now. This is the best they can come up with?

“Extending a f***ing worthless document for Hong Kongers (who can pay for themselves to be here for longer than 6 months). They are already here, Raab.

“This is a worthless 12 month tourist visa unless he is saying if you live here for a year, UK will give you citizenship.

“I have had every UK visa under the bloody sun. I’ve worked and studied here for 10 years (as a Hong Konger). I have no recourse to public funding. My life under Covid-19 is f***ed. Telling China you’re [going to] let a chosen few with BNO fuel your economy for 12 months is infuriating.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... tMQAvD_BwE

[Dushan]

It appears the USA has washed its hands of HK, despite promising doom and destruction if China persisted in its imposition of Chinese rule.

The handover by the UK stipulated that nothing should change in the way HK is run until 2047. So, for our UK eyes only - do we send a gunboat? PS Have we actually got a spare gunboat?

But, god forbid, USA got involved. There'd be no end to "warmongering USA starts another war".

And, no you probably don't have a gunboat. The only gunboats on all seas are USN.

[Boac]

But, god forbid, USA got involved.

Yes - we are all mighty relieved.

Have your gunboats stopped bumping into each other and catching flu?

[BenThere]

Have your gunboats stopped bumping into each other and catching flu?

No.

The Hong Kong situation has a ways to play out. Hong Kong is a huge economic element and has a large part of China's economy. The people of Hong Kong seem to want as little of China as they have to tolerate. I'm hoping they have the strength to continue to resist, and can wrest control of their robust economic engine from China one day.

[brickhistory]

Spent my honeymoon in Hong Kong - six month prior to the abandonment.

Frankly, the UK isn't going to do anything about it.

Neither is the US.

Is it in our vital national interest and therefore worthy of blood and treasure?

Sadly, no.

Neither is Taiwan which is the next to be gobbled up formally.

We won't trade Taipei for Los Angeles. We know it and Winnie the Pooh knows it.

Growing, flexing muscles on the other side of the Pacific. Gonna be a bumpy ride. Hopefully, no mushrooms involved...

[Capetonian]

What horrors await Hong Kong under full Chinese rule?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/20 ... Yj9XY9l1t4

[G-CPTN]

Dozens held as 'anti-protest' law kicks in.

[G-CPTN]

UK asylum for ex-consulate worker 'tortured in China'.

[prospector]

Was not the original decree from China to Hong Kong only to have any Chinese national criminals who were hiding out in Hong Kong, to be returned to China for trial? nothing about Hong Kong citizens being taken to China for any sort of punishment. But the same sort of response from somebody in the background as the so called peaceful protests over Black lives matter.

[TheGreenGoblin]

Post Trump, I see trouble ahead...



And the clock clicks one minute closer to midnight...

[PHXPhlyer]

You probably shouldn't read Bolton's book then.

PP

[TheGreenGoblin]

Was not the original decree from China to Hong Kong only to have any Chinese national criminals who were hiding out in Hong Kong, to be returned to China for trial? nothing about Hong Kong citizens being taken to China for any sort of punishment. But the same sort of response from somebody in the background as the so called peaceful protests over Black lives matter.

I agree with your comment, mostly (Jeez I sound like fecking Trump) but tell me, what was your latter point?

But the same sort of response from somebody in the background as the so called peaceful protests over Black lives matter.

I don't understand. Maybe I am just being slow.

[prospector]

It is only a surmise. The BLM protests were supposed to be very peaceful, the Hong Kong protests started out peaceful, but some element managed to turn it into a wholesale riot.;

Could it be that the same element in Hong Kong is the same element behind BLM, their end result to be overthrow of established chains of command and political establishment??

[Seenenough]

"Could it be that the same element in Hong Kong is the same element behind BLM, their end result to be overthrow of established chains of command and political establishment??"

Many here are asking the same as there would only be one winner in both circumstances.

Paralize the US and then they will just go in and take whatever they want wherever they want.

I think Taiwan will be next.

[Undried Plum]

Unlike scores of other places, HK never became an American imperial possession. The British period lasted for 99 years, but eventually came to an end.

It's time for us gweilos to accept the Chineseness of Kong Kong. The American-style police brutality when peaceful protests turn to riots is one for the local authorities to deal with, not for us to interfere.

The latest crazy scheme to get up the noses of the Chinese by fetching three million more immigrants to British shores is just nuts! Where are they going to find work? How are we going to fund the extra burden on the NHS and social services? Where is the surplus housing stock?

Let's face it: HK has been Americanised, but not by the Americans.

[barkingmad]

How very gallant of BoJo to offer 3,000,000 HK citizens the right to whizz across here and to take refuge and residency.

That increases the UK population, at a stroke by approx 4.5%, into an already overcrowded under-resourced and almost bankrupt country whose population will be swollen by another mass migration of ethnically different folk.

But in fairness and in contrast with others who shall be nameless, at least this ethnic group seem historically to be of more benefit and less hassle than those others who must remain nameless.

Ah ha, I’ve just twigged! BoJo and the Downing Street Triad are looking forwards to receipt of a willing and very often well-qualified workforce, just the formula we need to get us out of the current mire. Brilliant scheme, I wish I’d thought of that one...

[G-CPTN]

It would be interesting to see where previous immigrants from Hong Kong have ended up and what occupations they have embraced and what they have contributed to British society.

Do we really need more restaurants and takeaways?

[BenThere]

My hunch is that Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong would be an asset, unlike the recently favored ethnicity fond of UK welfare and hostile to UK culture.

I've spent significant time in Hong Kong and always marveled at the energy and work ethic wherever you go. They don't all work in Mom and Pop Chinese restaurants. Many are quite astute at the highest levels of achievement.