July 5, 2020

"Parents whispered about whether to stop their children from singing a popular protest song, while activists devised coded ways to express now-dangerous ideas."

"Seemingly overnight, Hong Kong was visibly and viscerally different, its more than seven million people left to navigate what [China’s new security law] would mean to their lives.... For some who had been alarmed by the ferocity of last year’s unrest, which at times transformed shopping districts, neighborhoods and university campuses into smoke-filled battlefields, the law brought relief and optimism. For others, who had hoped the desperate protest campaign would help secure long-cherished freedoms, it signaled a new era of fear and uncertainty....  The police collected DNA samples and searched the homes of the 10 people arrested on suspicion of inciting subversion — measures that seemed excessive when applied to people accused only of possessing pamphlets, said Janet Pang, a lawyer who is helping some of them. 'You’re supposed to only use power that is necessary, and that’s how the law should be,' she said.... Xu Ze, a 22-year-old recent college graduate, said the law was needed to address the 'terrorism' committed by some protesters. He had been horrified by a clash in November, when some demonstrators poured gasoline on a man who had scolded them, then set him ablaze. But Mr. Xu also worried that the law could be used to clamp down on dissent, including speech. Mr. Xu, who grew up on the mainland before attending university in Hong Kong, had never had a chance to protest at home. Last year, he attended his first demonstration, a small gathering against violence. If Hong Kongers lost the right to protest, he said, 'I would feel deeply, deeply regretful.'"

From "Hong Kong, Changed Overnight, Navigates Its New Reality/In a city where China has made some ideas suddenly dangerous, people are trying to figure out where the boundaries lie, and how their lives have changed" (NYT).

33 comments:

The Crack Emcee said...

This is silly.

China has every right here.

Hong Kong is not Taiwan.

Michael K said...

A friend of mine, the son of a well off Hong Kong family told me at the time of the 1997 turnover that his parents and all their friends had first class air tickets to Canada that they kept current and renewed each year so that, if the CCP reneged on the agreement, they were prepared to leave instantly. It took 23 years but the moment is here. Trump should arrange 50,000 immigration visas.

mccullough said...

Joe Biden’s benefactors are evil.

It was obvious for a long time, except to the NBA and LeBron. They make a lot of money from these evil scum. Same with Hollywood.

These guys are moral cowards.

Bob Smith said...

Lot’s harder for the China fans to deny their deploying the coronavirus to distract us from Hong Kong. Taiwan is next.

Dude1394 said...

Sounds a lot like our cancel culture, except done by the government.

tcrosse said...

Boris is ready to bring three million of them to the UK.

Birkel said...

China Joe Biden supports Xi.

Birkel said...

Oh, now I get to see yet another of The Crack Emcee's glaring errors.

Xe believes rights come from the barrel of a gun.
I believe they come from the underlying humanity of people.

Drago said...

The Crack Emcee: "This is silly.

China has every right here.

Hong Kong is not Taiwan."


This is silly.

Germany has every right there.

The Sudentenland is not the rest of Czechoslovakia.

Drago said...

Bob Smith: "Lot’s harder for the China fans to deny their deploying the coronavirus to distract us from Hong Kong. Taiwan is next."

These are indeed heady days for the ChiCom suckups like Beijing Boy ARM.

cubanbob said...

Crack I never thought you would be against people who want to get rid of their oppressors. Hong Kongers do not want to be a part of China. And that was the deal China made back in 84.

gilbar said...


China has every right here.
to reneg on its treaties
Hong Kong is not Taiwan


I feel TOTALLY the same way about the US and the Dakotas

effinayright said...

The Crack Emcee said...
This is silly.

China has every right here.

Hong Kong is not Taiwan.
********************************

Get back to us, Crack, when you hand over the keys to your house to the first "Native American" to come by and claim that the land it's built on is rightfully his.

OK?

BoatSchool said...

I was stationed in Hong Kong from 1977-81 - well before the lease was to expire should it not be renegotiated.

Whenever the question came up about Hong Kong’s then unknown future the PRC response was that Hong Kong, similar to Taiwan and Macau, was Chinese territory temporarily under foreign administration.

There may well have been an opportunity to renegotiate the lease prior to its expiration. However, the British accountants and lawyers got involved. Their position was that unless it was clear that the lease would be extend the assets of many companies would have to be marked down to zero. While likely a negotiating ploy to force action, this line of argument (among others) pushed Margaret Thatcher to seek a definitive answer from the PRC,

The PRC doesn’t ever enjoy being backed into a corner. They essentially told her and the Brits if you are seeking a definitive answer now and are apparently unwilling to deal with some ambiguity then the only answer is that the lease will not be renewed.

For many reasons Taiwan is a very different case than Hong Kong. That said, many have lost much betting against the tenacity and patience of the PRC.

cacimbo said...

While in Thailand last year I met a rich, white, gay, far left, Brit with a drinking problem. He lives and works in Hong Kong.His facebook feed is filled with endless Trump hate, nothing about China.I can't imagine his sexual orientation and drunken behavior will score favorably under the Chinese social credit system.Yet Trump is all he rants about.Lots of rich lefties admire China. Guess they all figure they are going to end up in the ruling class.Baffling.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Misdirection. Post title could easily be construed as a story about middle class America.

Ann Althouse said...

@Lem

Yeah, glad you experienced that.

Sebastian said...

"people are trying to figure out where the boundaries lie, and how their lives have changed"

Wherever the CCP decides, and for the worse. Next question.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

China has every right to violate its citizens rights? I didn’t know leftists thought in terms of rights,

Narayanan said...

tcrosse said...
Boris is ready to bring three million of them to the UK.
Michael K said...
Trump should arrange 50,000 immigration visas.
-----------===============
Q: why do you assume or believe they will be allowed to leave?

DanTheMan said...

Government enforcing rules that change every day? Citizens that are so afraid they hide their opinions lest they lose their jobs?

Thank goodness nothing like that could ever happen here.

Oso Negro said...

I wonder if there is a Cantonese version of "Die Gedanken Sind Frei"?

MayBee said...

I love you, Hong Kong.

I'm trying to remember the statistics, but I think about 75% of the the kids in my kids' Hong Kong school were American by passport. But I would say only about 30% of the Americans were kids who were not also Hong Kong People.

I'm glad to see the UK considering opening up its borders. Talk about a hardworking, freedom loving, well educated, and capitalism loving populace!

Zach said...

This is silly.

China has every right here.

Hong Kong is not Taiwan.


Quite the opposite. China signed a treaty with Great Britain guaranteeing Honk Kong autonomy until 2047.

Zach said...

While I certainly support the people of Hong Kong, the fact that the British have a signed treaty guaranteeing autonomy means that they should take point and we should provide support -- for example, by threatening to revoke the special status.

Our ability to physically contest Chinese governance in Hong Kong is nil. But our ability to see that they pay a diplomatic price for breaking their promises is strong.

Scotty, beam me up... said...

I would say somewhat of an analogy to the US to what the Chinese are doing in Hong Kong to the democracy protestors are the Dem controlled states & cities where the peaceful Covid-19 lockdown protestors back in May were threatened with arrests for disobeying the lockdown order by gathering to protest. Yes, yes, I know, trying to compare the US to a brutal Chinese dictatorship is drastic but those same Dem controlled states/cities turned a blind eye to the Marxist (aka Communist) BLM led protests/riots/looting/destruction in cities all over this country within a week or 2 of those peaceful Covid lockdown protests by refusing to arrest even the most egregious participants definitely breaking major laws on the books. I mean, why not apply the same threats of breaking the local Covid lockdown orders to the anarchists? Double standards & hypocrisy is the only answer. Heck, now that the BLM protests have “calmed down” and Covid resurging in some of those same Dem controlled states, the threats of breaking the lockdown, even in modified form, is returning (see California for examples if you don’t wear a mask out in public)

Michael K said...

But our ability to see that they pay a diplomatic price for breaking their promises is strong.

Hong Kong was also quickly captured by the Japanese in WWII. They massacred the nurses in Hong Kong, which was typical of their behavior. It's indefensible.

bagoh20 said...

"This is silly.

China has every right here."


You need to check your privilege.

If they didn't have more effective means, the Chinese could use dogs, clubs, and fire hoses.

William said...

I wonder how long it would take Taiwan to develop a nuclear bomb. About two to three months is my guess, or maybe they have some already.....I wonder if any Chinese athletes will take a knee during the playing of their anthem. Is taking a knee strictly an American phenomenon? Is America the only country around where there is injustice?

Achilles said...

The democrats and their corporate masters are doing exactly the same thing here.

They would be enforcing it with their BLM/Antifa thugs if there was no 2nd amendment.

I have family in Hong Kong and my wife has many very good long known friends.

This is a very scary and very sad time there.

If you do not feel anything for the people of Hong Kong right now you do not belong in the United States.

I hope any of them who can manage get to the US/Britain and are welcomed with open arms.

I will also make sure if they get here they come to a free country and the Democrat party is defeated one way or another.

MD Greene said...

Time to admit Hong Kong refugees and, by way of retaliation, push the admission of Taiwan to the UN.

effinayright said...

So...we're in entire agreement....Crack is a crack-addled dumbass.

Who sits on his ass hallucinating about whites owing him huge amounts of $$$ for things WE never did, and HE never experienced.

Got it.

Josephbleau said...

Let's vote for Beiden, his contacts with the PRC and the Billions paid to Hunter will help the people of Hong Kong.