The Odyssey - Democracy in Hong Kong

[Randy W]

. . . and the Global Times

 

NPC says decision on HK universal suffrage to stand despite veto

Source:Xinhua Published: 2015-6-18 16:54:58

Chinese top legislature on Thursday said its decision on Hong Kong's electoral reforms last August will remain in force in the future, despite Hong Kong Legislative Council's veto of the universal suffrage motion.

 

[Randy W]

"What we have here, is 'failure to communicate'"

Why Did Pro-Beijing Lawmakers Walk Out of the Hong Kong Vote?

Quote

Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers display a banner after a vote at the city’s legislature in Hong Kong on June 18, 2015. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

 

 

 

Quote

Amid chaotic scenes outside the chamber afterwards, pro-Beijing lawmakers with long faces sought to explain to reporters what had just occurred. Mr. Lam, who had earlier requested the 15-minute recess, explained that the pro-Beijing side wanted to delay the vote to give one more lawmaker, Lau Wong-fat, time to arrive.

“He has been sick the past few days,” explained Mr. Lam – although he did not address the fact that Mr. Lau’s vote would not have swayed the final outcome.

“It wasn’t that we didn’t want to vote, but we encountered some issues,” said Regina Ip, a member of the New People’s Party.

. . .

Quote

Had all of the lawmakers voted, the final count would have recorded 42 “yeas” and 28 “nays” – still short of the two-thirds necessary for passage, but a tad more favorable to Beijing in the eyes of history than Thursday’s stinging 28-8 defeat.

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

In the Shanghaiist . . .

 

'Hong Kong is not China': Artist's illustrations go viral

 

Quote

A collection of illustrations created by a Hong Kong designer has gone viral since being published to the Facebook page of Local Studio HK (本土工作室).

The collection features 24 illustrations depicting the difference between mainland China and Hong Kong, covering topics including cultural habits, discipline, language and socio-political issues such as judicial structures, food safety and censorship.

Edited June 25, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

in the SCMP - views on Democracy

 

Democracy is no silver bullet

 

On June 29, looking relaxed and smiling, Zhang Xiaoming, the head of Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong, told the media that enough had been said on political reform in the past two years and that, from now on, he would "shut up" about it.

 

The message cannot be clearer to pan-democrats still clamouring to reopen a dialogue on constitutional reform with Beijing, or retiring politicians planning to set up new think tanks to do the same. Hong Kong politicians can talk about politics until they are blue in the face, but Beijing officials are sending clear signals they won't be there as interlocutors.

 

. . .

 

Addressing all these problems requires much more than a popular mandate. In fact, lifting Hong Kong out of the current political impasse, economic decline and social division requires a massive feat of social and economic re-engineering.

 

A popular mandate no doubt helps. But recent events around the world show that playing a game of chicken with a popular mandate, as in Greece, could take a country and its people into disaster. An exercise in direct democracy to fathom the will of the people, as in the referendum in Britain on Scottish independence, does not necessarily settle political differences. Quite the contrary: such direct appeals to the people could stoke passions and sow the seeds of even greater divisions.

 

Commenting in 1942 on the classical doctrine of democracy, Joseph Schumpeter pointed out the fallacy of assuming that there is a "common will of the people" that signifies "the common good or interest or welfare or happiness". The will of the people is never simple or easy to define. It could be highly changeable, fraught with disparate opinions and not always rational. Blindly following the will of the people or deftly manipulating it for short-term gains could produce disastrous consequences.

 

As Chinese leaders have urged, Hong Kong people should fashion a political system which fits their unique political, social and economic circumstances, rather than hankering after a Utopian system which may not fit. Just as a man cannot walk comfortably in shoes that do not fit, we cannot go forward without building a political system which truly fits our characteristics and needs.

 

Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee is a legislator and chair of the New People's Party

 

[Greg.D.]

Well, she's a Beijing apologist, after all.

 

I thought SCMP was supposed to be the bad boy, thumb in the eye of Beijing paper. But, I see lots of supplicative stuff like that any more. Kiss, kiss.

 

Then there's this:

 

China market blow-out has Hong Kong basking in financial hub glow

HONG KONG Reuters) - Less than a year after huge street protests prompted a re-think about Hong Kong as a financial center, a wild four-week ride in mainland China's stock markets makes the city's investment hub look like a beacon of seasoned stability.

[Randy W]

They're just not moving fast enough for the CCP - from the SCMP

 

Hong Kong's failure to 'implement de-colonialisation' has caused serious problems, says former Beijing handover official

Chen Zuoer ties social and economic strife to 1980s 'de-sinofication' and 'de-colonisation' failings - but local minister urges tolerance

 

http://cdn3.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/486x302/public/2015/09/15/9dc26470589f05774fd54cfff8fd0610.jpg?itok=tGgXl9wt

 

A failure to carry out "de-colonisation" is the root cause of internal strife and economic woe in Hong Kong, a former Beijing official says - but the city's constitutional affairs chief swiftly played down those remarks, calling for "tolerance and trust" from the central government.

 

Speaking at a forum in Hong Kong, Chen Zuoer also criticised the city for allowing a "revival of de-sinofication". He was referring to a belief in Beijing that British colonialists started a movement to reject and eliminate the mainland's influence in the city as talks on its future began in the early 1980s.

 

His tough words came a week after Beijing's top official in the city, liaison office boss Zhang Xiaoming , sparked intense debate by describing the position of chief executive as "transcendent" over the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.

 

Click here to read Chen Zuoer's full speech in Chinese.

Read more: Hong Kong 'separation of powers': Why Beijing is laying down the law on who's in charge

 

Edited September 21, 2015 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

I think they (the SCMP) may be over-reacting a little, but, then again, it probably DOES represent another step in the assimilation of Hong Kong into mainland China

Xi shows who’s boss: Hong Kong’s Leung Chun-ying knocked off his perch to smaller seat

Quote

The method of delivery may have been oblique but the message was unequivocal.

Etiquette took centre stage yesterday when in a carefully calibrated act of political choreography, Beijing put the SAR firmly in its place.

The occasion was Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s annual duty visit to the capital , a path well trodden by his predecessors, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and Tung Chee-hwa.

. . .

At previous annual meetings, Hong Kong’s chief executive sat side-by-side with state leaders on identical grand chairs, an ornate table between them, much like the arrangement for overseas leaders visiting Beijing. But this time things were different.

Last year

 

This year

Edited June 25, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

in the SCMP - booksellers missing in Hong Kong

Quote

A Hong Kong lawmaker believes the five booksellers have been detained by Beijing authorities over a book about a former girlfriend of Chinese President Xi

 

President Xi's love life may be behind missing booksellers says Hong Kong lawmaker

January 4, 2016

A Hong Kong lawmaker believes that five employees from a publishing house have been detained by Beijing authorities, likely over a book about a former girlfriend of Chinese President Xi.

Edited June 25, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Again from the SCMP

Why the case of the Hong Kong booksellers is more of a worry than China’s market woes

Tom Plate says while the economy will surely recover, the same cannot be said of ‘one country, two systems’ unless Beijing moves to clear up the mystery

Quote

Beijing officials need to clean up this mystery, and ensure “one country, two systems” is seen as an example of very smart international politics.

 

 

Quote

My worry is not so much the mayhem of the markets and the attendant gangling neuroticism of the gigantic mainland economy. While reports in the world media have been fulsome with negative detail, the fact is that an expanding, multifaceted economy such as China’s was never going to unfold as daintily as a blooming rose or as harmoniously as a Mozart symphony. It was always going to jerk this way and that – imagine an especially neurotic octopus suddenly with even with more legs than normal and a central brain system constantly struggling just to keep count of them all.

. . .

Beijing does not wholly trust Hong Kong. Note that Article 23 of the mutually agreed Basic Law says: “The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People’s Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organisations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organisations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organisations or bodies.” Beijing, for its part, takes notice of the fact that, almost two decades after the historic handover, Hong Kong has not done this.

On the other hand, if the allegedly subversive bookstore gang, in whole or part, was spirited or somehow lured over the border by nefarious methods, as many in characteristically suspicious Hong Kong suspect, then this is of course a serious violation of the spirit of “one country, two systems”. Although perhaps not on the same elevated philosophical shelf as the Magna Carta, “one country, two systems” has a lot going for it; for sheer practical ingenuity, it is often underestimated.

. . .

But Beijing cannot behave as the beastly bull in the greater China shop, especially if it wants smooth sailing in Hong Kong and prays, some day, for the historic mainland docking by Taiwan. . . . Exercising the force option would set back China more than any number of market corrections – and launch a thousand unfriendly new books, on sale almost everywhere.

Columnist Tom Plate, Loyola Marymount University’s Distinguished Scholar of Asian and Pacific Studies, is the author of the “Giants of Asia” series

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

. . . and another "little" step

 

Beijing signals less tolerant approach in branding instigators of Mong Kok riot as Hong Kong ‘separatists’

China-watcher says it is unprecedented for Beijing to identify separatists in the city, calling it a “wrong” categorisation that will lead to unnecessary escalation of anti-mainland sentiment

 

The classification appears to place the rioters in the same category as separatists from the Tibet and Xinjiang regions, who are seen as a serious threat to national security

 

. . .

 

China-watcher Johnny Lau Yui-siu said it was unprecedented for Beijing to identify separatists in the city. He called it a “wrong” categorisation that would lead to unnecessary escalation of anti-mainland sentiment.

The separatist label is “one level less serious” than “secessionist”, and the use of the former is a sign that Beijing could “conclude secessionist elements exist in the city, should the situation worsen”, Lau warned.

Secession, terrorism and extreme religious forces form the three core threats China’s Communist Party has pledged to eradicate. Offenders face the death penalty, which does not exist in Hong Kong.

 

 

 

CNN coverage of the riots, which began over a police crackdown on unlicensed food stalls - http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/08/asia/hong-kong-riots-shots-fired/

 

Traditionally, authorities have turned a blind eye to unlicensed food stalls during the festive period, but authorities took a stronger line against them this year, fencing off areas which had previously been used by the hawkers.

Dozens of protesters hurled bricks and bottles at police who responded with pepper spray and batons. Police also reportedly fired two warning shots during the clashes.

 

[Randy W]

from the Hong Kong Free Press

 

Seven banned books: Published in Hong Kong, censored in China

The recent disappearances of five Hong Kong residents connected to the Causeway Bay Bookstore and Mighty Current publishing house have caused a storm in the Chinese special administrative region. Under “One Country Two Systems”, Hong Kong was guaranteed freedom, including freedom of publication and freedom of speech, which people in mainland China are deprived of. For this reason, the city has served as a publishing and trading hub for books banned in China.

[Randy W]

On 10/6/2014 at 12:01 AM, Randy W said:

 

On 10/5/2014 at 9:42 PM, Mick said:

Randy, when we lived in Guangdong, there were two Hong Kong TV stations on our cable system. Anytime a "sensitive" news item came on the local news, the item was displaced by a public service ad or just some peaceful music and pictures of a meadow with flowers. I wonder to what extent these demonstrations are being shown on Mainland TV. Do you get Hong Kong stations and if so, what do they show?

Jiaying used to watch the Hong Kong news (ATV) as her favorite, even after she moved to the U.S. When we moved back to China, it had disappeared from the lineup, and hasn't been seen since. She's talked about getting satellite TV a couple of times, but never followed through on it.

I showed her pictures of the people in the street. At first she thought they were a LOT of vacationers for the National Holiday. I had some explaining to do to explain what was going on.

But it IS in the news more in the past few days (just saw it on CCTV-NEWS a few minutes ago) - just not in an exactly objective light.

in the SCMP

It’s curtains for ATV: liquidators to shut down ailing broadcaster after Hong Kong court decision cleared the way

Accounting firm Deloitte to close station and fire remaining staff after failure to work out viable plan to save the company

Quote

Six decades of Hong Kong television history will come to an end today when court-appointed liquidators finally pull the plug on ATV after its mainland investor failed to come up with the cash to save the dying station.

Following months of uncertainty, turmoil, and litigation, accounting firm Deloitte China said last night the HK$8 million cash injection needed to keep the world’s first Chinese-language TV station alive had not been forthcoming and all remaining staff would be laid off.

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Another interesting twist - in the SCMP. Yet ANOTHER additional twist is that the SCMP account has been BANNED from Weibo. I have no doubt that this is due in part to their coverage of the booksellers case.

 

 

Booksellers slipped back to mainland China after requesting Hong Kong police drop missing persons cases

Lui Por and Cheung Chi-ping both returned to mainland on the same day they arrived at Lo Wu checkpoint, sources reveal

 

 

The two missing booksellers who were allowed by mainland authorities to return to Hong Kong on separate days last week both quietly crossed the border back to the mainland hours later, sources have told the Post.

That was soon after they both asked Hong Kong police to drop their “missing person” cases.

The mystery deepened yesterday, even as it looked like the end the road for Causeway Bay Books, the store at the centre of the storm.

Woo Chih-wai, who worked at the shop until five of his associates disappeared last year, quoted bookseller Lee Po’s wife, Sophie Choi Ka-ping, as saying she was willing to give up the store in May.

Lui Por came back to Hong Kong on Friday, followed by Cheung Chi-ping on Sunday. Both surfaced on the mainland after disappearing last year, accused of delivering banned books across the border on the instructions of associate Gui Minhai.

They raised eyebrows by declaring they did not need any help from the Hong Kong government or police.

Yesterday, a source with knowledge of the case said the two crossed the border back to the mainland the same day they returned to Hong Kong.

In a brief meeting with police at the Lo Wu checkpoint, Cheung told immigration officers he was in a hurry, the source added. Cheung refused to do a formal interview with police and give an official statement.

 

The SCMP, as an English-language newspaper, has a fairly limited circulation. Hopefully, Jack Ma, their new owner, will be able to keep them going in spite of losing access to the Chinese market. They also seem to be the best source for non-CCP coverage of China's affairs, even though they are viewed by many as being pro-Beijing.

 

Beijing's Weibo ban hits close to home

Suspension of accounts after the July 1 protest a worrying sign of threat to innovation, freedom

 

 

Hong Kong is apparently becoming the next Tibet or Xinjiang on Sina Weibo, China's answer to Twitter, in terms of the level of political sensitivity these days.

Politics and business can never be completely separated in this world. If someday Sina Weibo, already listed on the technology-heavy Nasdaq stock market in the United States, fails, then Beijing should be blamed for how the central government indirectly helped to kill one of the country's biggest business innovations in recent decades.

It is believed that at least 500 Sina Weibo accounts, mostly Hong Kong-based Weibo users, were suspended following the massive pro-democracy July 1 march in the city, which some foreign media described as the worst political crisis in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover from British colonial control to Chinese rule. My colleague William Zheng, the chief editor ofSCMPChinese.com and I were among the suspended Weibo users last week.

Both William and I were given no reason for why our accounts were suddenly suspended. Our account suspensions happened shortly after we posted reports and photos about the July 1 march.

Other Hong Kong Weibo users whose accounts were also suspended included many local celebrities, such as singer Anthony Wong Yiu-ming.

 

George Chen is the financial editor and a columnist at the Post.

[Randy W]

Some generic grousing about the future of Hong Kong re their integration with the Mainland - not that they don't have a LOT to grouse about or anything.

 

in the SCMP

 

There is a doomsday machine on the horizon that could destroy Hong Kong home prices

Low-quality living in Hong Kong won’t be worth a premium once the border with China comes down

 

The Basic Law expires in 2047. Like any vital government agreement, a long lead time is needed for renegotiation. Consultations need to start now in order to announce new arrangements around 2020.

Markets hate uncertainty and the longer that Hong Kong and Beijing don’t deal with the principal arrangements the more risk of business and social instability.

. . .

The expiry of the Basic Law doesn’t mean that it ceases to function, but rather that changes are possible. And with no British government negotiating on the other side, the Hong Kong government can only consult with Beijing.

 

 

 

 

ATV’s collapse exposes Hong Kong-China cultural divide of the type that breeds localism

Yonden Lhatoo says mainland investors drove the city’s oldest television station into the ground because of management styles that just don’t work on this side of the border

 

 

 

We watched, incredulous, as Jan He, Si’s point woman at ATV, put on a bizarre show for the media featuring a cheque and a briefcase full of cash – HK$10 million in all, if she was telling the truth – that were brought out on stage.

I had to pick my jaw off the floor when she calmly announced that the money was not for settling outstanding wages owed to staff for January and February, but would instead be offered to those willing to sign a new contract only for March so the station wouldn’t have to close down early.

This from the same woman who, in early February, sparked a mass walkout when she informed unpaid staff they would have to work for a third month without getting a cent, and that their salaries were not as important as the survival of the station. She had the temerity to say this to a bunch of long-suffering employees who were counting on the new investor she represented to keep his promise to pump billions of dollars into the ailing company.

[Randy W]

Yahoo news

 

 

Thousands flock to screening of provocative Hong Kong film

 

 

Thousands of moviegoers on Friday flocked to mass screenings of Hong Kong film "Ten Years", a provocative futuristic portrayal of the city that has riled China.

Released at the end of last year, it has been a box office hit locally -- despite only getting a short run in cinemas -- and has raised hackles on the mainland amid increasing fears in Hong Kong over Beijing's tightening grip.

The series of five short films, each by a different Hong Kong director, depicts the city in 2025 where young children in military uniform prowl the streets, the local language of Cantonese is disappearing and one protester goes as far as self-immolation.

The filmmakers say they feel it was only given short sporadic runs at cinemas across Hong Kong after its release in December due to political reasons, as it was commercially a runaway hit, selling out at the cinemas where it was shown.

 

. . .

 

China's state-run Global Times newspaper has hit out at the film as "totally absurd" and a "virus of the mind".

Hong Kong's freedoms are protected by a deal made with Britain when the city was handed back to China in 1997, but there is growing anxiety that Beijing is eroding that autonomy.

 

. . .

 

"People are concerned about the future of Hong Kong and I think they treasure the opportunity to watch this film in their local community," Choi said.

Edited April 2, 2016 by Randy W (see edit history)