Nightcrawler whistles | Lee Yee
High-ranking officials who have been sanctioned by the US and those who have not yet made it on the list have each responded, one after another, in a “One Country, One System” tone of voice. Apart from "resolutely opposed" and "severely condemned," they have not addressed the reasons behind the US’ decision for the sanctions. They say it is an honor to be sanctioned for the cause of the nation. Some simply issued statements in simplified Chinese characters, clearly not targeted at the Hong Kong people. The most ludicrous is that Carrie Lam said she was planning to proactively cancel her US visa that expires in 2026 anyways. It turns out that she cannot enter the US border because she “voluntarily canceled” it herself. Her Ah-Q-style, self-consoling spirit does not die!
An honor or a disgrace, it really depends on who issued the sanction. To be sanctioned by North Korea, Cuba, Russia or China is not the same as being sanctioned by the US. As such, feelings of glory or humiliation should be the opposite too. Some international experts and finance experts analyzed that the strictest clause is to “prohibit all transactions by US persons or within (or transiting) the US that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.” If genuinely implemented, it would mean that the bank accounts and credit cards of sanctioned individuals will be canceled, their Facebook accounts will be shut down, McDonald’s cannot sell them Happy Meals, they cannot buy iPhones from Apple and cannot enjoy original factory maintenance services, etc. It is said that even China-funded banks will be black-listed because China-funded banks also have branches in the US. It is still uncertain whether these will be the case because never before have sanctioned individuals come from an international finance center such as Hong Kong. Although it is undetermined, the concerned parties cannot but consider the implications and countermeasures if confirmed. It is embarrassing enough just not to be able to use a credit card.
In 1969, the Soviet Union wanted to carry out a “surgical strike” on China’s nuclear base. It tried to gauge the reaction of the US, but the US halted them to stop. Why did not the Soviet Union test the water with other nuclear-weapon states such as the UK and France? This is because the US military power is strong enough to contain reckless military actions by other countries.
In 1971, Henry Kissinger made a secret visit to China and the Sino-US relations achieved a major breakthrough. That year, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly passed a motion to admit the entry of China in the UN. How is it that China had struggled for more than two decades to join the UN but managed to win the resolution this round? This is because the US had changed its China policy.
In 2000, the US granted China permanent normal trade relations status. The following year, China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) and has since found prospering opportunities to become the World’s Factory in the global market. Why had China not been able to enter the WTO for so many years? This is because the US did not grant China this permanent normal trade status until this time.
When China and the US commenced diplomatic relations in 1979, Deng Xiaoping visited the US and said to his accompanying associate on the plane: “Looking back over the past few decades, all countries that have good relations with the US have prospered.” China has indeed thrived. What Deng did not say was that the countries that have unfriendly relations with the US have pauperized, such as Cuba, China before 1976, and even the Soviet Union, which had only strategic weapons, and its people had to line up to buy bread.
The Cold War after the Second World War was led by the US, and other Western countries followed. The US has always been the trending global leader with its national power, system, technology, dollar hegemony, pop culture, and free spirit. It is not that the US does not make mistakes, but its system and the spirit of freedom make it capable of correcting its mistakes. The US began the wave of diplomatic relations between Western countries and China in the 1970s, and the trend of investing in China in the 21st century. Without the US, China would still be isolated and impoverished. The US is now making amends and starting an ultra-cold war with China, which seems to have also shown a trend-setting momentum.
So, are sanctions the new direction? At least the Five Eyes Alliance will follow subsequently. Stop deceiving yourself with “I have no assets in the US” and “I do not want to go to the US.”
Therefore, not only eleven individuals and their families suffered insomnia last Friday night, but also some followers and those who did things against their conscience. Returning officers responsible for disqualifying nominees, wicked police officers, 18 members of the Council of the University of Hong Kong, and those who claimed not patriotic enough to make it to the first sanction list and not able to enjoy the honor. I’m afraid they did not get a wink of sleep either or at least suffered anxiety because only an idiot cannot see the true powers and the direction of the world trends.
The humiliation brought about by being cut off from US companies, the immediate considerations of various inconveniences, the spread of sanction from the US to other civilized countries, the devastating impact on the will to govern subordinates and the entire ruling team, and many more. These will not just happen overnight but will come one after another and very soon. The responses of the sanctioned high-level officials are really just nightcrawlers whistling.
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經濟學人的封面,圖片是龍的嘴咬向香港,爪子伸向台灣
中國在香港用恐懼來統治
全世界應該感到擔憂
https://www.economist.com/…/china-has-launched-rule-by-fear…
Dragon strike
China has launched rule by fear in Hong Kong
The rest of the world should worry, too
The people of Hong Kong want two things: to choose how they are governed, and to be subject to the rule of law. The Chinese Communist Party finds both ideas so frightening that many expected it to send troops to crush last year’s vast protests in Hong Kong. Instead, it bided its time. Now, with the world distracted by covid-19 and mass protests difficult because of social distancing, it has chosen a quieter way to show who’s boss. That threatens a broader reckoning with the world—and not just over Hong Kong, but also over the South China Sea and Taiwan.
On May 21st China declared, in effect, that Hong Kongers deemed to pose a threat to the party will become subject to the party’s wrath. A new security law, written in Beijing, will create still-to-be defined crimes of subversion and secession, terms used elsewhere in China to lock up dissidents, including Uighurs and Tibetans. Hong Kong will have no say in drafting the law, which will let China station its secret police there. The message is clear. Rule by fear is about to begin.
This is the most flagrant violation yet of the principle of “one country, two systems”. When the British colony was handed back to China in 1997, China agreed that Hong Kong would enjoy a “high degree of autonomy”, including impartial courts and free speech. Many Hong Kongers are outraged (see article). Some investors are scared, too. The territory’s stockmarket fell by 5.6% on May 22nd, its biggest drop in five years. Hong Kong is a global commercial hub not only because it is situated next to the Chinese mainland, but also because it enjoys the rule of law. Business disputes are settled impartially, by rules that are known in advance. If China’s unaccountable enforcers are free to impose the party’s whims in Hong Kong, it will be a less attractive place for global firms to operate.
China’s move also has implications far beyond Hong Kong. “One country, two systems” was supposed to be a model for Taiwan, a democratic island of 24m that China also sees as its own. The aim was to show that reunification with the motherland need not mean losing one’s liberty. Under President Xi Jinping, China seems to have tired of this charade. Increasingly, it is making bare-knuckle threats instead. The re-election in January of a China-sceptic Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen, will have convinced China’s rulers that the chances of a peaceful reunification are vanishingly small. On May 22nd, at the opening of China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the prime minister, Li Keqiang, ominously cut the word “peaceful” from his ritual reference to reunification. China has stepped up war games around Taiwan and its nationalists have been braying online for an invasion.
China is at odds with other countries, too. In its building of island fortresses in the South China Sea, it ignores both international law and the claims of smaller neighbours. This week hundreds, perhaps thousands of Chinese troops crossed China’s disputed border with India in the Himalayas. Minor scuffles along this frontier are common, but the latest incursion came as a state-owned Chinese paper asserted new claims to land that its nuclear-armed neighbour deems Indian (see article). And, as a sombre backdrop to all this, relations with the United States are worse than they have been in decades, poisoning everything from trade and investment to scientific collaboration.
However much all the regional muscle-flexing appals the world, it makes sense to the Chinese Communist Party. In Hong Kong the party wants to stop a “colour revolution”, which it thinks could bring democrats to power there despite China’s best efforts to rig the system. If eroding Hong Kong’s freedoms causes economic damage, so be it, party bigwigs reason. The territory is still an important place for Chinese firms to raise international capital, especially since the Sino-American feud makes it harder and riskier for them to do so in New York. But Hong Kong’s gdp is equivalent to only 3% of mainland China’s now, down from more than 18% in 1997, because the mainland’s economy has grown 15-fold since then. China’s rulers assume that multinational firms and banks will keep a base in Hong Kong, simply to be near the vast Chinese market. They are probably right.
The simple picture that President Donald Trump paints of America and China locked in confrontation suits China’s rulers well. The party thinks that the balance of power is shifting in China’s favour. Mr Trump’s insults feed Chinese nationalist anger, which the party is delighted to exploit—just as it does any tensions between America and its allies. It portrays the democracy movement in Hong Kong as an American plot. That is absurd, but it helps explain many mainlanders’ scorn for Hong Kong’s protesters.
The rest of the world should stand up to China’s bullying. On the Sino-Indian border, the two sides should talk more to avoid miscalculations, as their leaders promised to in 2018. China should realise that, if it tries the tactics it has used in the South China Sea, building structures on disputed ground and daring others to push back, it will be viewed with greater distrust by all its neighbours.
In the case of Taiwan China faces a powerful deterrent: a suggestion in American law that America might come to Taiwan’s aid were the island to be attacked. There is a growing risk that a cocksure China may decide to put that to the test. America should make clear that doing so would be extremely dangerous. America’s allies should echo that, loudly.
Hong Kong’s options are bleaker. The Hong Kong Policy Act requires America to certify annually that the territory should in trade and other matters be treated as separate from China. This week the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, declared that “facts on the ground” show Hong Kong is no longer autonomous. This allows America to slap tariffs on the territory’s exports, as it already does to those from the mainland. That is a powerful weapon, but the scope for miscalculation is vast, potentially harming Hong Kongers and driving out global firms and banks. It would be better, as the law also proposes, to impose sanctions on officials who abuse human rights in Hong Kong. Also, Britain should grant full residency rights to the hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers who hold a kind of second-class British passport—much as Ms Tsai this week opened Taiwan’s door to Hong Kong citizens. None of this will stop China from imposing its will on Hong Kong. The party’s interests always trump the people’s. ■
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COVID-19: why do asian wear masks?
It is very disheartening to see that history time and time again just repeats itself.
Two months ago when the COVID-19 outbreak in wuhan and other province of China became out of control, asian countries who have had experience of SARS, decided not to follow WHO’s advice (because they have repeatedly failed us during the SARS period and obviously during the COVID-19 outbreak).
Hong Kong and Taiwan, having extensive connection and interaction with China, managed to contain the virus simply because we have learned our lesson in 2003, lesson learned from the loss of hundreds of people and healthcare professionals.
We decided to wear mask despite being condescendingly laughed at, aggressively assaulted in western countries, labeled as uneducated hysterical panicky individuals. We decided to shut down schools, non essential government and medical services as well as unnecessary social interaction and gathering when it was only the beginning of the spread.
Yes, we did all these because we value the lives of our citizens and healthcare professionals. Because we don’t want to let what happened in 2003 happen again in 2020, only that this time we actually have the upper hand to prevent this with our experience from SARS.
But guess what, we were THE ONLY ONE applying what we learned from history. It’s not uncommon to see the following arguments from western countries
1. You do not need to wear a mask if you are not sick
-> I do not know how many times I must reiterate this until someone apply some logical reasoning.
A. ASYMPTOMATIC carriers exist.
B. Definition of sick varies among individuals. People go to work and school all the time even when they are down with influenza. When have you ever seen someone (excluding Asians) wearing a mask to see GP when they exhibit URTI symptoms in Australia?
C. Risk appraisal varies among individuals. Some people are very risk averse and prefer to wear a mask if they believe they MAY BE sick, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a responsible and informed decision for one to make, not for random stranger to judge.
2. You only need to wash hands and do good personal hygiene, mask is unnecessary
-> of course one can only do ONE THING at a time huh?
A. Proper surgical mask has been SHOWN to be EFFECTIVE against DROPLET transmission pathogens, which COVID-19 is primarily transmitted through. There are multiple studies published during and after the SARS period by Hong Kong and Taiwan scholars.
B. It’s the same as saying if you diet, you don’t need exercise to lose weight. No one says good hand hygiene is unimportant, but why can’t you wash your hands and wear a mask? Why must these two things be mutually exclusive.
C. A mask is not expensive nor is it a nuclear weapon. Stop discriminating people wearing mask.
3. Improper use of mask does not provide protection but increased risk of infection
-> I AGREE completely. So please EDUCATE the public how to wear a mask, not tell the public not to wear a mask
A. Improper use of condom pose infection risk, should we just tell the public not to wear one? For heaven’s sake, teach them how to put it on!
B. There are many videos on YouTube with detailed explanation on how to wear and dispose a mask.
There are many more arguments like this, but if you apply logic and do your very own literature review, plus obviously empirical evidence now that almost all asian countries successfully contained the virus, may be you can finally appreciate why we wear mask.
It is a responsible act to protect yourself and your family and friends. Get educated and stop discriminating masks or Asians.
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