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Hong Kong ‘will be done’ if China deploys troops, media tycoon warns

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https://twitter.com/next_china/status/1169797076441427969?s=20

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2 August 2019

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https://twitter.com/e1tHy0nZRqlw5oI/status/1156203637430865921?s=20

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https://twitter.com/IlariaMariaSala/status/1155827033068277760?s=20

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29 July 2019

The Global Times is a daily Chinese tabloid newspaper under the auspices of the People’s Daily newspaper, focusing on international issues from the Chinese government’s perspective. Wikipedia

Excerpts from a Global Times article:

https://twitter.com/BabetteMartel/status/1156988998675390467?s=20

Protest against the Hong Kong extradition bill has been used by the opposition to create a violent movement, evident in a series of violent attacks against the Legislative Council, national emblem and innocent civilians, bringing chaos and disruption to Hong Kong’s public order and affecting its economy.

It is obvious that what the opposition to the extradition bill opposes is not a simple amendment, but the rule of law in Hong Kong. It seeks to challenge the central government and make Hong Kong “independent.”

As demonstrations by extremist forces in Hong Kong grow increasingly violent, the intervention of foreign forces has become more apparent. However, such intervention cannot grow in Hong Kong society without the cooperation and assistance of a group of traitors. Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and Martin Lee Chu-ming are representatives of this group of traitors.

From last year to this year, these so-called democratic leaders have had unprecedented levels of contacts with the US government and Western parliaments, forming increasingly brazen collusion that has fueled the expansion of street politics in Hong Kong.

Since past centuries, traitors have always played a special role in conflict between China and foreign powers. In addition to directly serving external forces that invade and suppress China, their role usually includes destroying the internal solidarity of the Chinese people and helping external forces brainwash the Chinese people. Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and Martin Lee Chu-ming are typical examples of modern traitors.

US intervention

In March and May, major representatives of the Hong Kong rebellion, including Anson Chan Fang On-sang and Martin Lee Chu-ming, both of whom received donations from Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, led the Civic Party in Hong Kong to meet with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and US Vice President Mike Pence, starting an international war of public opinion against the extradition bill.

In a provocative move by the Apple Daily, a Hong Kong-based newspaper founded in 1995 by Jimmy Lai Chee Ying, a leaflet that could be used as a protest sign for rioters in the field was published in the paper.

Hong Kong is fighting for the US, according to a US media report published within a week after Lai’s meeting with senior US officials.

“Lai did not elaborate what kind of support US officials have committed, instead, he said that the US officials well understand Hong Kong is fighting for the US in the new cold war,” said Voice of America on July 12 in its Chinese version.

“Mike Pence and Michael Pompeo met Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, in some way that is a symbol that the US’ strategy in Hong Kong has succeeded, Lai was there to claim an award from the US,” Chan Man-hung, director of the One Belt One Road Research Institute at the Chu Hai College of Higher Education in Hong Kong, was quoted as saying in an interview with Hong Kong-based media outlet takungpao.com on July 24.

Chan said that the US has been proactively intervening in protests against an extradition bill that would allow criminal suspects to be extradited to the Chinese mainland, Macao, and the island of Taiwan, and that Lai was overseeing implementation of the protests.

Taking a close look at the protests and aftermath in Hong Kong, people will notice all approaches match a typical color revolution such as gaining sponsorship from the US, fostering leaders, establishing political parties and organizations aimed at subverting the government, brainwashing Hong Kong society with extreme “Western values,” leveraging emergencies to carry out street-level political activities, leveraging media to create fake news, forging so-called public opinion and coercing the government, Chan pointed out.

A color revolution is planned after long-term preparation, and it takes a while to make sure it can be used to deal with China, Chan said in another interview with takungpao.com on July 6.

Now with trade tensions have increased between the US and China, it is obvious that the US regards China as its No.1 enemy. Therefore, the US has launched a comprehensive attack on Hong Kong at both the international level and the internal level, Chan pointed out.

Besides local people in Hong Kong initiating protests, foreign consulates have participated with the cooperation of foreign media, Chan said.

Chan also confirmed that the US has accumulated forces by training a group of people who are directly engaged in demonstrations.

Since the Occupy Central Movement in 2014, batches of people have received training in the US and local media staffs have undergone dedicated training by the US in Southeast Asia.

Since then, some young people have played a major role, and the US is leveraging large-scale social demonstrations as a cover to promote a color revolution, he said.

The best way out for Hong Kong is offense rather than retreat, Chan stressed.

Collusion with Western politicians

It is an open secret in Hong Kong that the forces protesting the extradition bill have been sponsored by the US. The activist, also the founder of the Next Digital Group, Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, was exposed by WikiLeaks to be closely related to US intelligence personnel, according to Hong Kong-based newspaper Wen Wei Po.
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Financer behind the opposition
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In October 2011, records of Lai’s sponsorship to Hong Kong’s pan-democrats and religious figures were leaked. The records indicated that from 2006 to 2010, he donated more than HK$10 million ($1.28 million) to the Democratic Party in Hong Kong and the Citizens Party, respectively, plus HK$20 million to former Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun.

In 2009, Lai’s donation accounted for 99 percent of non-member donations to the Democratic Party and 68.2 percent to the Citizens Party. Lai’s role as a main sponsor thus emerged.

Some commentators believe that his aim was to manipulate Hong Kong politics behind the scenes.

Global Times

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1159595.shtml

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https://twitter.com/SHADUCK007/status/1155657695183212544?s=20

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https://twitter.com/e1tHy0nZRqlw5oI/status/1155526393649696768?s=20

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https://twitter.com/simonwhthong/status/1157272082096328705?s=20

A ‘Troublemaker’ Faces Hong Kong’s Future

As Beijing cracks down, Jimmy Lai, the publisher of Apple Daily, explains why he’s determined not to leave and why he thinks Xi Jinping is overreaching.

ILLUSTRATION: KEN FALLIN

Hong Kong

Residents of this city love their home and their freedom. China’s latest intrusion threatens both, forcing Hong Kong residents to contemplate an imminent future when they’ll have to abandon one to cling to the other. Jimmy Lai, a media tycoon who’s been called “the Rupert Murdoch of Asia,” seems almost hurt when I ask which he will choose.

“I’ve been one of the troublemakers. I can’t just make trouble and then leave,” he says. “No, we will stay. Our media will stay until the last day—until they either close me or close our business, or arrest me or whatever.”

Mr. Lai, 71, has been making trouble for the Chinese government since the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 1989. He’s financially supported Hong Kong’s pro-democracy political parties and founded the pro-democracy Next magazine in 1990 and Apple Daily in 1995. The publications have criticized the Chinese Communist Party and its influence over Hong Kong politics. When Britain handed the territory’s sovereignty to Beijing in 1997, Hong Kong was designated a special administrative region, supposedly governed under the principle “one country, two systems.” But since President Xi Jinping assumed power in 2012, Beijing has grown even less tolerant of Hong Kong’s independence.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam is now pushing a bill through the Legislative Council that would authorize the local government to extradite to mainland China persons deemed fugitives by Beijing, including Hong Kong residents and foreigners. “If she can do it, she can actually hand over Hong Kong to Xi Jinping, in a cage,” Mr. Lai says. “There will be a big reward for her.”

The fugitive law would mean “that the Chinese so-called judiciary system is going to replace Hong Kong’s,” Mr. Lai says. Beijing could “nab anybody from here to put in a Chinese jail” and subject him to unfair trial, arbitrary detention, and worse. Chinese officials could use the power to shake down businessmen. Pro-democracy activists, religious practitioners, lawyers, journalists and booksellers would visit or live in Hong Kong at their own risk.

Mr. Lai would be an obvious target, but he doesn’t want to talk about that: “Why should I think about this? Why should I fear before the fear comes?” Already he has been conspicuously followed, targeted by hackers, and threatened by Hong Kong’s criminal gangs. In 2009 he was the target of a thwarted assassination plot. In 2013 someone left a hatchet and a knife outside his doorstep. In 2015 his house was firebombed. He still gets death threats.

If Mr. Lai has reason to feel vulnerable, so do thousands of Hong Kong people who lack his status, wealth and international mobility. Last Sunday more than a million people, roughly 1 in 7 residents, turned out to protest the extradition bill. On Wednesday thousands braved tear gas and rubber bullets to protest. The manicured streets and upscale shopping malls near the Legislative Council building resembled a war zone.

Ms. Lam has refused to withdraw the bill. Beijing has doubled down in its support, and Hong Kong’s protesters have doubled down in opposition. Is another Tiananmen Square in the offing?

Mr. Lai weighs the question. On the one hand, China’s rulers don’t care about human rights: “To them, Hong Kong is just a percentage of the total population in China, which is just 0.5%. They don’t look at us as a people.” On the other hand, a brutal televised crackdown would look bad: “When you’re sure that the whole world is watching, you have to think twice.” Still, “it’s not totally impossible.”

Mr. Lai believes Mr. Xi is more vulnerable than he looks. Since 1949 the Chinese Communist Party has been a game of thrones, with the toughest political operators prevailing. But Mr. Xi abolished presidential term limits, concentrating power like no leader since Mao. Mr. Lai likens him to a king or emperor presiding over a feudal system: “The government becomes a court government, the same as in the old times.” That makes enemies of those shut out of power: “Whenever they see opportunity, they will fight back.”

Mr. Lai describes Mr. Xi as “definitely a hard-core Communist” who looks especially strong because technology gives him “a power of controlling the people unprecedented in human history.” China is creating a surveillance state, using high-tech to track faces, movement and associations.

But Mr. Lai believes Mr. Xi is overreaching: “When you have concentrated all the power on yourself, you’re also concentrating all the responsibility on yourself. Every mistake becomes your mistake. When you have shared power, you have shared responsibility.” Mr. Lai doesn’t rule out an internal coup because Mr. Xi is holding “an impossible job.”
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Mr. Lai speaks admiringly of Christians who stood between protesters and police on Sunday, singing hymns to ease tension. On Wednesday younger protesters stockpiled bricks, which older activists sat on to prevent the youngsters from hurling them at police. “We have nothing except our moral power, which is exactly what the Chinese government doesn’t have,” Mr. Lai says. “That’s exactly where we can win.”

Yet his mood shifts from optimistic to bleak as he admits that unless Mr. Xi is ousted, the best possible outcome is delay. “Beijing obviously intends “to take total control of our freedom,” Mr. Lai says. Even if the extradition bill is somehow stopped, “Hong Kong is doomed, because the intention is there.”

Hong Kong nonetheless presents more than one dilemma for Mr. Xi. A reputation for the rule of law made it a global financial capital. “So if our rule of law is undermined, our financial center status would be sickened,” Mr. Lai says. The extradition bill has also created a new generation of activists committed to Hong Kong’s self-government. Given the booming business between China and Hong Kong, it’s harder for Beijing to control information about the protests from spreading inside China.
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He has a British passport, but he says he would never flee Hong Kong. “If I do that, my kids, my grandkids would despise me. My wife will despise me.” Fighting for Hong Kong has become his life’s work. “How many years do I have to live, 20 years?” he asks. “Whatever happens, I will be here.”

Ms. Melchior is a Journal editorial page writer.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-troublemaker-faces-hong-kongs-future-11560551717

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