05-21-2020, 08:42 PM
*** 22-May-20 World View -- China to pass law threaening full control of Hong Kong
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** China to pass law threaening full control of Hong Kong
****
![[Image: g200521b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g200521b.jpg)
Annual Hong Kong vigil on June 4, 2019, to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. (Hong Kong Free Press)
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has run "out of patience" with the
repeated pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in the last year, and
will pass laws on "Establishing and Improving the Legal System and
Enforcement Mechanisms for Hong Kong to Safeguard National Security."
The law will be discussed on Friday by the National People's Congress
(NPC), and the rubber-stamp NPC is expected to pass it.
Depending on the details, the new laws could mean the complete
repudiation of the "one country, two systems" formula that the CCP
committed to honor in its 1984 agreement with the United Kingdom. The
net of all the new laws is that the CCP is ending any pretense of
meeting its commitments under the agreement.
The laws for Hong Kong will cover secession, foreign interference,
terrorism and subversion against the central government.
Even talking about "secession" is already illegal, and presumably the
new laws will specify even harsher punishment for speaking out.
"Foreign interference" refers to American support of pro-democracy
activists' free speech in Hong Kong, but also refers to Britain's
insistence that the CCP abide by the commitments it made in the 1984
joint declaration treaty to allow freedom of speech and assembly in
Hong Kong and a free press. The treaty is now part of international
law, but the CCP considers itself superior to international law and
not bound by it, although it demands that everyone else be bound by
it. "Terrorism" is the catch-all phrase that dictators and war
criminals use to justify mass arrests or mass slaughter. "Subversion"
refers to any speech or act that the CCP feels threatens it. For
example, even showing a Winnie the Pooh cartoon is considered
subversive, since Xi Jinping looks like Winnie the Pooh.
A top CCP official, Wang Yang, in a speech on Thursday that free
speech in Hong Kong was only permitted to "stop violence and curb
disorder." In describing the new laws, Wang pointedly omitted phrases
frequently used in the past, like "Hong Kong people administering Hong
Kong," nor the city’s "high degree of autonomy."
The CCP has already been cracking down on Hong Kong's pro-democracy
movement since January, by arresting a number of people under vaguely
specified charges. It's believed that the CCP is taking advantage of
the worldwide distraction from the Wuhan Coronavirus (Covid-19)
pandemic crisis to get away with passing this law without any
international reaction.
In addition, the CCP is hoping that the strict enforcement of
social distancing regulations will prevent the large public
demonstrations and riots that occurred last year.
However, the CCP may be underestimating the anger of the Hong Kong
activists, or the support that the international community may be
willing to provide them.
****
**** Mike Pompeo harshly criticizes the CCP as a 'brutal, authoritarian regime'
****
Even before Thursday's announcement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
threatened to end America's special economic treatment of Hong Kong,
if the CCP did not meet the requirements of the "Hong Kong Human
Rights and Democracy Act of 2019," passed by the US Congress in
November of last year.
That threat was part of an extremely harsh set of criticisms of the
CCP related to the pandemic handling, and CCP threats against
Australia, Taiwan and Hong Kong:
<QUOTE>"I want to begin today with a few observations on
China, because the media’s focus on the current pandemic risks
missing the bigger picture of the challenge that’s presented by
the Chinese Communist Party. First, basic facts. China’s been
ruled by a brutal, authoritarian regime, a communist regime since
1949.
For several decades, we thought the regime would become more like
us through trade, scientific exchanges, diplomatic outreach,
letting them in the WTO as a developing nation. That didn’t
happen.
We greatly underestimated the degree to which Beijing is
ideologically and politically hostile to free nations. The whole
world is waking up to that fact. ...
Second point on the bigger picture: The Chinese Communist Party’s
response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan have accelerated our
more realistic understanding of communist China.
The Party chose to destroy live virus samples instead of sharing
them or asking us to help secure them.
The People’s Liberation Army has claimed more features in the
South China Sea’s international waters, sank a Vietnamese fishing
boat, threatened a Malaysian energy prospector, and declared a
unilateral fishing ban. The United States condemns these unlawful
acts.
The Chinese Communist Party chose to threaten Australia with
economic retribution for the simple act of asking for an
independent inquiry into the origins of the virus. It’s not right.
We stand with Australia and the more than 120 nations now who have
taken up the American call for an inquiry into the origins of the
virus, so we can understand what went wrong and save lives now,
and in the future.
The Chinese Communist Party also chose to pressure the World
Health Organization’s director-general into excluding Taiwan from
this week’s World Health Assembly in Geneva. ...
Turning for a moment to Taiwan: I want to say congratulations to
President Tsai on her inauguration. The democratic process in
Taiwan has matured into a model for the world. Despite great
pressure from the outside, Taiwan has demonstrated the wisdom of
giving people a voice and a choice.
In Hong Kong, our decision on whether or not to certify Hong Kong
as having “a high degree of autonomy” from China is still pending.
We’re closely watching what’s going on there.
This week pro-democracy legislators were man-handled while trying
to stop a procedural irregularity by pro-Beijing legislators.
Leading Hong Kong activists like Martin Lee and Jimmy Lai were
hauled into court. Actions like these make it more difficult to
assess that Hong Kong remains highly autonomous from mainland
China."<END QUOTE>
With regarding to Hong Kong, Pompeo was threatening to end America's
special economic treatment of Hong Kong, if the CCP did not meet the
requirements of the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of
2019," passed by Congress in November of last year.
The law requires that "Hong Kong must remain sufficiently autonomous
from the People's Republic of China to justify treatment under a
particular law of the United States, or any provision thereof,
different from that accorded the People's Republic of China."
The law requires that the CCP support free elections and "the robust
exercise by residents of Hong Kong of the rights to free speech, the
press, and other fundamental freedoms," and "freedom from arbitrary or
unlawful arrest, detention, or imprisonment for all Hong Kong
residents."
The special economic treatment of Hong Kong grants such things as
tariff-free special access to US markets and easier visa approval,
things are not granted to mainland China. If that treatment is
withdrawn, then Hong Kong will be treated the same as mainland China.
Needless to say, the CCP was infuriated by Pompeo's statements, and
went into their usual acting out expressions of outrage, this
time accusing Pompeo of "blackmailing" the Hong Kong government,
and of blatantly interfering in China's internal affairs.
So it's worth pointing out that Pompeo is only demanding that the CCP
honor commitments that it already made which, or course, is a
laughable concept to the CCP, leaders of the Master Race.
Still, it's hard to overstate how harsh Pompeo's criticisms of the CCP
were. The point is that we're continuing on a long-term trend of
growing hostility between China and the US, with no end in sight.
Chinese and Americans are becoming increasingly xenophobic toward each
other, and this has increased substantially since the pandemic crisis
began.
Long-time Generational Dynamics readers will be aware that this is the
path to war. Due to the mutual belligerence and hostility, a small
military confrontation in the South China Sea or elsewhere could
spiral into a larger and larger war, and engulf other nations. That's
the path that China and the US are on. This will not end well.
****
**** China puts 100 million people under lockdown, as possible virus mutation emerges
****
China has put over 100 million people into renewed lockdown, as major
new virus outbreak clusters have appeared, in a feared "second wave."
The outbreaks are occurring in China's Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces
(the former Manchuria in China's northeast), on the borders with
Russia and North Korea. There are also new outbreaks in Wuhan.
According to one Chinese expert, those infections in Jilin and
Heilongjiang provinces are presenting slightly different symptoms,
suggesting that there may have been a mutation. In the 1917-1919
Spanish Flu pandemic, a mutation occurred in the summer of 1918 that
made the second wave in fall 1918 much worse than the first wave.
That doesn't mean that the same thing will happen with Covid-19,
but there are fears that it might.
Sources:
Related Articles:
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, China, Hong Kong,
Chinese Communist Party, CCP, Tiananmen Square,
Wang Yang, Australia, Taiwan,
Jilin, Heilongjiang, Russia, North Korea, Wuhan
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- China to pass law threaening full control of Hong Kong
- Mike Pompeo harshly criticizes the CCP as a 'brutal, authoritarian regime'
- China puts 100 million people under lockdown, as possible virus mutation emerges
****
**** China to pass law threaening full control of Hong Kong
****
Annual Hong Kong vigil on June 4, 2019, to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. (Hong Kong Free Press)
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has run "out of patience" with the
repeated pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in the last year, and
will pass laws on "Establishing and Improving the Legal System and
Enforcement Mechanisms for Hong Kong to Safeguard National Security."
The law will be discussed on Friday by the National People's Congress
(NPC), and the rubber-stamp NPC is expected to pass it.
Depending on the details, the new laws could mean the complete
repudiation of the "one country, two systems" formula that the CCP
committed to honor in its 1984 agreement with the United Kingdom. The
net of all the new laws is that the CCP is ending any pretense of
meeting its commitments under the agreement.
The laws for Hong Kong will cover secession, foreign interference,
terrorism and subversion against the central government.
Even talking about "secession" is already illegal, and presumably the
new laws will specify even harsher punishment for speaking out.
"Foreign interference" refers to American support of pro-democracy
activists' free speech in Hong Kong, but also refers to Britain's
insistence that the CCP abide by the commitments it made in the 1984
joint declaration treaty to allow freedom of speech and assembly in
Hong Kong and a free press. The treaty is now part of international
law, but the CCP considers itself superior to international law and
not bound by it, although it demands that everyone else be bound by
it. "Terrorism" is the catch-all phrase that dictators and war
criminals use to justify mass arrests or mass slaughter. "Subversion"
refers to any speech or act that the CCP feels threatens it. For
example, even showing a Winnie the Pooh cartoon is considered
subversive, since Xi Jinping looks like Winnie the Pooh.
A top CCP official, Wang Yang, in a speech on Thursday that free
speech in Hong Kong was only permitted to "stop violence and curb
disorder." In describing the new laws, Wang pointedly omitted phrases
frequently used in the past, like "Hong Kong people administering Hong
Kong," nor the city’s "high degree of autonomy."
The CCP has already been cracking down on Hong Kong's pro-democracy
movement since January, by arresting a number of people under vaguely
specified charges. It's believed that the CCP is taking advantage of
the worldwide distraction from the Wuhan Coronavirus (Covid-19)
pandemic crisis to get away with passing this law without any
international reaction.
In addition, the CCP is hoping that the strict enforcement of
social distancing regulations will prevent the large public
demonstrations and riots that occurred last year.
However, the CCP may be underestimating the anger of the Hong Kong
activists, or the support that the international community may be
willing to provide them.
****
**** Mike Pompeo harshly criticizes the CCP as a 'brutal, authoritarian regime'
****
Even before Thursday's announcement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
threatened to end America's special economic treatment of Hong Kong,
if the CCP did not meet the requirements of the "Hong Kong Human
Rights and Democracy Act of 2019," passed by the US Congress in
November of last year.
That threat was part of an extremely harsh set of criticisms of the
CCP related to the pandemic handling, and CCP threats against
Australia, Taiwan and Hong Kong:
<QUOTE>"I want to begin today with a few observations on
China, because the media’s focus on the current pandemic risks
missing the bigger picture of the challenge that’s presented by
the Chinese Communist Party. First, basic facts. China’s been
ruled by a brutal, authoritarian regime, a communist regime since
1949.
For several decades, we thought the regime would become more like
us through trade, scientific exchanges, diplomatic outreach,
letting them in the WTO as a developing nation. That didn’t
happen.
We greatly underestimated the degree to which Beijing is
ideologically and politically hostile to free nations. The whole
world is waking up to that fact. ...
Second point on the bigger picture: The Chinese Communist Party’s
response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan have accelerated our
more realistic understanding of communist China.
The Party chose to destroy live virus samples instead of sharing
them or asking us to help secure them.
The People’s Liberation Army has claimed more features in the
South China Sea’s international waters, sank a Vietnamese fishing
boat, threatened a Malaysian energy prospector, and declared a
unilateral fishing ban. The United States condemns these unlawful
acts.
The Chinese Communist Party chose to threaten Australia with
economic retribution for the simple act of asking for an
independent inquiry into the origins of the virus. It’s not right.
We stand with Australia and the more than 120 nations now who have
taken up the American call for an inquiry into the origins of the
virus, so we can understand what went wrong and save lives now,
and in the future.
The Chinese Communist Party also chose to pressure the World
Health Organization’s director-general into excluding Taiwan from
this week’s World Health Assembly in Geneva. ...
Turning for a moment to Taiwan: I want to say congratulations to
President Tsai on her inauguration. The democratic process in
Taiwan has matured into a model for the world. Despite great
pressure from the outside, Taiwan has demonstrated the wisdom of
giving people a voice and a choice.
In Hong Kong, our decision on whether or not to certify Hong Kong
as having “a high degree of autonomy” from China is still pending.
We’re closely watching what’s going on there.
This week pro-democracy legislators were man-handled while trying
to stop a procedural irregularity by pro-Beijing legislators.
Leading Hong Kong activists like Martin Lee and Jimmy Lai were
hauled into court. Actions like these make it more difficult to
assess that Hong Kong remains highly autonomous from mainland
China."<END QUOTE>
With regarding to Hong Kong, Pompeo was threatening to end America's
special economic treatment of Hong Kong, if the CCP did not meet the
requirements of the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of
2019," passed by Congress in November of last year.
The law requires that "Hong Kong must remain sufficiently autonomous
from the People's Republic of China to justify treatment under a
particular law of the United States, or any provision thereof,
different from that accorded the People's Republic of China."
The law requires that the CCP support free elections and "the robust
exercise by residents of Hong Kong of the rights to free speech, the
press, and other fundamental freedoms," and "freedom from arbitrary or
unlawful arrest, detention, or imprisonment for all Hong Kong
residents."
The special economic treatment of Hong Kong grants such things as
tariff-free special access to US markets and easier visa approval,
things are not granted to mainland China. If that treatment is
withdrawn, then Hong Kong will be treated the same as mainland China.
Needless to say, the CCP was infuriated by Pompeo's statements, and
went into their usual acting out expressions of outrage, this
time accusing Pompeo of "blackmailing" the Hong Kong government,
and of blatantly interfering in China's internal affairs.
So it's worth pointing out that Pompeo is only demanding that the CCP
honor commitments that it already made which, or course, is a
laughable concept to the CCP, leaders of the Master Race.
Still, it's hard to overstate how harsh Pompeo's criticisms of the CCP
were. The point is that we're continuing on a long-term trend of
growing hostility between China and the US, with no end in sight.
Chinese and Americans are becoming increasingly xenophobic toward each
other, and this has increased substantially since the pandemic crisis
began.
Long-time Generational Dynamics readers will be aware that this is the
path to war. Due to the mutual belligerence and hostility, a small
military confrontation in the South China Sea or elsewhere could
spiral into a larger and larger war, and engulf other nations. That's
the path that China and the US are on. This will not end well.
****
**** China puts 100 million people under lockdown, as possible virus mutation emerges
****
China has put over 100 million people into renewed lockdown, as major
new virus outbreak clusters have appeared, in a feared "second wave."
The outbreaks are occurring in China's Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces
(the former Manchuria in China's northeast), on the borders with
Russia and North Korea. There are also new outbreaks in Wuhan.
According to one Chinese expert, those infections in Jilin and
Heilongjiang provinces are presenting slightly different symptoms,
suggesting that there may have been a mutation. In the 1917-1919
Spanish Flu pandemic, a mutation occurred in the summer of 1918 that
made the second wave in fall 1918 much worse than the first wave.
That doesn't mean that the same thing will happen with Covid-19,
but there are fears that it might.
Sources:
- Hong Kong’s security laws: what are they and why are they so controversial? (Guardian, London, 21-May-2020)
- China says U.S.'s Pompeo 'blackmailing' Hong Kong government (Reuters, 21-May-2020)
- China Moves to Impose Hong Kong Security Law, Stirring Outrage (Bloomberg, 21-May-2020)
- China plans national security laws for Hong Kong after last year's unrest (CNBC, 21-May-2020)
- China proposes controversial Hong Kong security law (BBC, 21-May-2020)
- Annual Hong Kong Tiananmen massacre vigil to become city-wide tribute amid Covid-19, as museum reopens (Hong Kong Free Press, 21-May-2020)
- ‘Highly necessary’: Beijing to discuss enacting national security law in Hong Kong following months of protest (Hong Kong Free Press, 21-May-2020)
- Beijing supports ‘improvement’ of Hong Kong’s Basic Law; usual mention of ‘high degree of autonomy’ absent (Hong Kong Free Press, 21-May-2020)
- Two Sessions 2020: Beijing runs ‘out of patience’ after long wait for Hong Kong national security law, resolves to proscribe secession, foreign interference and terrorism in city (South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 21-May-2020)
- Hong Kong’s dollar tumbles on market jitters about Beijing’s plan to impose national security legislation (South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 21-May-2020)
- Two Sessions 2020: head of China’s political advisory body stresses Hong Kong delegates’ political responsibility, but no mention of local governance principles (South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 21-May-2020)
- 'We stand with Australia': Mike Pompeo hits out at China threats (Sydney Morning Herald, 21-May-2020)
- Jilin / Wuhan / More than 100 million people in China face new lockdown as second wave of COVID-19 cases emerge (Fox News, 19-May-2020)
- NE China COVID-19 cases have longer incubation and show different symptoms to Wuhan cases: expert (GlobalTimes, 20-May-2020)
- Zhong Nanshan / Exclusive: Lack of immunity means China is vulnerable to another wave of coronavirus, top adviser warns (CNN, 17-May-2020)
- Pompeo Considers Hong Kong's Autonomy After Crackdown on Pro-Democracy Activists (Time, 21-May-2020)
- S.1838 - Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 (US Congress, 19-Nov-2019)
- Secretary Michael R. Pompeo at a Press Availability (US State Dept., 20-May-2020)
Related Articles:
- Trump administration will block chip shipments to China's Huawei (17-May-2020)
- Milk-Tea twitter war links Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines against China (08-May-2020)
- CNBC's Jim Cramer: Hostility to China grows in America (27-Apr-2020)
- Hong Kong holds massive peaceful pro-democracy demonstration (09-Dec-2019)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, China, Hong Kong,
Chinese Communist Party, CCP, Tiananmen Square,
Wang Yang, Australia, Taiwan,
Jilin, Heilongjiang, Russia, North Korea, Wuhan
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
