Hong Kong falls into first recession in 10 years as protests, trade war weigh

The new US law would hit the HKG Party elites and their economy, in finance, trade, shipping, technology and other areas if violations of the Act occur. The Act emphasizes HKG's international status and stresses that the U.S. will coordinate with allies, including the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, and SK to promote democracy and human rights in Hong Kong.

For instance already and before the Act was actually passed the HKG Stock Exchange was preparing to buy the London Stock Exchange until October when, after 5 months of demonstrations and police violence in HKG, the LSE said no.

Ouch to the Party tycoons in HKG and on the mainland China.



How Washington’s Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act can protect freedoms in Hong Kong




This week, the United States passed a law aimed at protecting Hong Kong’s autonomous status and its residents’ civic rights. Beijing is furious about the US move to pass the Act.

Since Hong Kong was handed over to China in 1997, the city’s autonomous status has been ensured by international treaty — the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration — which established the principle of “one country, two systems”. It outlines the framework of the the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, and ensures that Hong Kong becomes a signatory to a number of United Nations Conventions, including its Human Rights Convention.

Following 1989’s Tiananmen Square Massacre, the U.S. enacted the Hong Kong Policy Act in 1992 to ensure Hong Kong’s autonomous status as a precondition of its special economic treatment of Hong Kong as a separate customs and trading zone. This Act has granted Hong Kong favourable bilateral ties in the areas of trade and economics, finance, aviation, shipping, and technology.

The majority of pro-democracy Hong Kongers believe that the Act would counterbalance China’s encroachment into Hong Kong, especially as the city’s independent customs and trading status, recognized by the international community, is the key to the global financial centre’s success. Beijing will now likely be more cautious in taking further aggressive interventions that undermine the city’s political and legal autonomy. The stability of Hong Kong would be beneficial to all the players, just as ending the city’s autonomy would be detrimental to all concerned.

How Washington's Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act can protect freedoms in Hong Kong | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP


CCP Boyz in Beijing need to retain the one country, two systems agreement for Beijing to benefit from having HKG. Sending in the People's Armed Police paramilitaries of the PLA or tossing Hong Kongers into jail by the thousands would end the whole of it. The first target of the new law is the HKG Party-Governmen's revenge action last month to reduce the budget of the city universities which were centers of protest and action, effective January.

Hong Kong Free Press

HKFP Lens: Hong Kong sees fresh unrest as police fire tear gas during protest showdown in Kowloon

1 December 2019

Hong Kong saw fresh clashes on Sunday as police fired tear gas during a showdown with pro-democracy protesters across Kowloon after a brief lull in the city’s 26 weeks of unrest. Thousands had taken to the streets in the afternoon under the slogan “Don’t forget our original intention.” HKFP’s photographer May James captured the day as it unfolded.


























HKFP Lens: Hong Kong sees fresh unrest as police fire tear gas during protest showdown in Kowloon | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

CCP Boyz in Beijing have had these hissyfits in the immediate past, particularly because of USN Freedom of Navigation exercises in the South China Sea. USN ships and Australian Navy ships completed last week joint exercises in the SCS. USN warships denied docking in HKG go instead to either Singapore or Australia or to both.


China suspends US warship visits and sanctions NGOs over Hong Kong unrest

2 December 2019




China suspended US warship visits and sanctioned American NGOs on Monday in retaliation for the passage of a bill backing pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

The move came as the world’s two biggest economies have been striving to finalise a “phase one” deal in their protracted trade war. The city’s finance chief warned Monday that Hong Kong is set to record its first budget deficit in 15 years.

“In response to the unreasonable behaviour of the US side, the Chinese government has decided to suspend reviewing the applications for US warships to go to Hong Kong for (rest and) recuperation as of today,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing.

China had already denied requests for two US Navy ships to dock in Hong Kong in August, without specifying a reason why. Sanctions will apply to NGOs that had acted “badly” over the recent unrest in Hong Kong, she said, including the National Endowment for Democracy, Human Rights Watch and Freedom House.

China suspends US warship visits and sanctions NGOs over Hong Kong unrest | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

Hong Kong
Sunday 1 December 2019










Democracy Activists Appropriate Instant Protective Shields

The right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Click to expand...

Better Government at lower Cost!

Hong Kong is a modern, prosperous and sophisticated city whose center of gravity in socioeconomic and cultural-political terms is the Hong Kong Islands District. Hong Kong's intellectual and cultural development is light years ahead of the CCP Dictator Tyrants in Beijing who remain to their core as the thousands year old philistine barbarians that they've always been.

So it should come as no surprise that it's been a week of bad news announcements for the HKG economy and financial sectors and for the government itself. Retail sales fell by a record 24 percent in October, the fourth consecutive month of double-digit declines.

Monday morning started tough as Hong Kong Airlines got five days from the HKG government to find new revenue streams or have its licence suspended. HKAL is owned by the already struggling mainland conglomerate HNA Group so it is unable to pay most of its workers.

Democracy activists and the residents of HKG are hitting the CCP Boyz where it hurts because they're smarter and far more resourceful than the numbnuts communists and their triad thugs.


Hong Kong set to record first budget deficit in 15 years as trade war and protests take toll

AFP
3 December 2019


Over 1,000 advertising sector workers attended a rally on Monday December 3 to kickstart a five-day sector-wide strike. The workers gathered at Chater Garden in Central at noon. Yiu Koon-tung, a spokesperson for the Advertising Civilian group who organised the rally, said the government had yet to respond to the protesters’ demands, including the unconditional release of arrested protesters, an independent investigation into police behaviour, and universal suffrage. (See images below.)


Hong Kong is set to record its first budget deficit in 15 years, the city’s finance chief warned Monday, as the business hub reels from the twin shocks of the trade war and seething democracy protests.

In the latest grim assessment for the city, financial secretary Paul Chan told lawmakers that the economy was set to contract 1.3 percent in 2019, hitting the city’s usually bulging coffers.

Chan blamed the 2019-2020 deficit on decreased tax revenues, a slowdown in land sales and recent economic sweeteners he unveiled in a bid to win over the public during a tumultuous year of unrest. The economy has also taken a pummeling from the US-China trade war in a city that serves as a crucial link between the authoritarian mainland and global markets.

“At the end of the financial year, the SAR government will be in the red,” Chan said, using an abbreviation for the Hong Kong government [Special Administrative Region]. “Hong Kong’s economy is now in extremely difficult times,” he added.

The increasingly violent rallies have hammered the retail and tourism sectors, with mainland Chinese visitors abandoning the city in droves. October is a crucial holiday period in China known as “Golden Week” when visitors from the mainland to Hong Kong usually spike and spend heavily. But this year the crowds fell a record 46 percent that month.

The last time Hong Kong recorded a budget deficit was in the aftermath of a deadly 2003 outbreak of the Sars virus that killed some 300 people. Confirmation of a deficit will do little to restore business faith in the hub given Beijing is offering no political solution to the crisis.

Hong Kong set to record first budget deficit in 15 years as trade war and protests take toll | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

Democracy activists call the HKG underground subway system MTR "Communist Party Rail."

Which is one of the two major reasons why the demonstrating protesters against Beijing have included prominently in each day of their actions bashing the Party-Government owned and operated systems stations, equipment and cars.

The equally important reason is that democracy activists have meant to cripple transportation both underground and above ground by blocking roads, tunnels, bridges and the MTR system.

One vital result is what one might expect, ie, MTR revenue has taken a dive.


South China Morning Post

Hong Kong’s embattled MTR Corporation reveals it will incur HK$1.6 billion in costs from protests

Lower revenue from train services, repair costs for damaged facilities, extra expenses for security and rent concessions take toll

As a result, the corporation has warned of a significant decline in profits in the financial year ending December 31


Radical protesters have targeted the MTR Corporation's facilities for months. Photo: Edmond So


Hong Kong's political and social unrest has dealt a heavy blow to rail operator the MTR Corporation this year, with the embattled firm saying it will incur HK$1.6 billion (US$205 million) in costs.

The government-controlled firm on Thursday revealed for the first time the financial exposure arising from protests, which centred on lower revenue from train services, repair costs for damaged facilities, extra expenses for strengthening security and concessions to tenants of its retail space.

The company, which currently carries nearly 5 million passengers a day, revealed that its patronage had been falling since July, with a decline of 27.4 per cent in October and 27.2 per cent in November from the same period last year.

As of November 24, radicals had caused extensive damage to 85 of 94 rail stations and 62 of 68 Light Rail stops. More than 1,900 turnstiles, 1,100 ticketing and top-up machines, 1,200 surveillance cameras, 202 lifts and escalators, as well as 190 roller shutters were damaged. Some 54 heavy railway trains and 16 Light Rail vehicles had also been damaged.

"The MTR should reflect on why Hongkongers are giving up on taking its trains," lawmaker Jeremy Tam Man-ho of the opposition Civic Party said.

Hong Kong’s embattled MTR Corporation reveals it will incur HK$1.6 billion in costs from protests

Hong Kong announces HK$ 4bn of measures to boost economy as protests set to enter 6th month

5 December 2019


Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong Harbor is built as an extension of the old city airport. Tourism has been hit hard this year with harbour front hotels reducing their nightly rates to USD $9 from the usual USD $25 while seeking subsidy support from the government.


The government has announced a new round of measures to boost the economy with the city set to record its first budget deficit in 15 years.

Hong Kong’s economy is set to contract 1.3 per cent in 2019 as large-scale pro-democracy protests enter their sixth month next week.

The nine measures – the fourth round of sweeteners announced since August – are worth around HK$4 billion.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan said some of the measures will need approval from the Legislative Council.

He said that, although he expected a deficit for the annual budget owing to the economic downturn, the government had enough in reserves to support its finances.

He said the four rounds of government measures were worth HK$25 billion and the public interest has to be considered: “We hope the funding proposals can be passed faster,” he said.

Hong Kong announces HK$4bn of measures to boost economy as protests set to enter 6th month | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP







This Sunday will mark the first time since July that a weekend mass protest march by the prolific and broad based Civil Human Rights Front has received police approval. The letter of no objection from the police authorities indicates that protesters will be allowed to gather at Victoria Park's grass lawn from 12pm onwards.




Importantly in the news today from the pro democracy Apple Daily, the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) has almost completed a report about the protests. The Council are now awaiting a police response and confirmation. The Council lacks subpoena power to call witnesses however which is why the demand throughout HKG is great and broad for a special investigative commission with full powers.


Meanwhile HKG new police commissioner Chris Tang is on a Friday "courtesy visit" to Beijing. Tang is believed to be in favor of a police-protester dialogue which Beijing opposes as an indicator of weakness. “We respect the public’s right to express opinions,” Tang said at the HKG airport.

Because size matters we're waiting on the numbers of HKG democracy activists who marched the 2.5 miles Sunday from Victoria Park to their rally at Chater Park.

Demonstrators and police always have vastly opposite numbers. Democracy organizers said 800,000 of their resolute number showed up while police remain silent so far.

Police often throw up an absurd number such as 9,600 for huge assemblages of the democracy demonstrators. Police may as well say 9,607 given their asinine statements over the past 6 months of determined public shows of unity among the HKG Pan-Democrats.

It was peaceful which is the appropriate thing to do after the district council election and then take it from here as necessary.


Hong Kong Free Press
Non-Profit Media

Huge turnout as Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters offer ‘last chance’ for leader Carrie Lam to meet demands

8 December 2019 Holmes Chan




Thousands have taken to the streets in a show of strength against the Hong Kong government, with march organisers calling on Chief Executive Carrie Lam to respond to protester demands. Sunday’s march coincides with Human Rights Day on Tuesday, and caps off six months of citywide protests.

It is the first Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) march to receive police approval since July 21 – with police routinely banning marches in the past four months, and only allowing stationary rallies. On Sunday, thousands lined the streets of Causeway Bay and Wanchai holding up five fingers to represent the movement’s demands.




The CHRF said that it was a “last chance” for Lam to meet the five core demands, which include independent inquiry into the police’s handling of the protests. This march is also the biggest opportunity for Hongkongers to express their determination for democracy, and against police violence, to the international community, after the District Council elections and the passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act,” the group wrote.




“The Hong Kong government must realise our five demands in order to fulfil the duty of international human rights protections, and defend humanitarianism and human dignity,” the group said. It urged the Hong Kong government to uphold its commitment to Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all UN human rights treaties applicable to Hong Kong – echoing the themes of Human Rights Day.

CHRF convenor Jimmy Sham told reporters that he hoped the police will exercise restraint and let the march progress peacefully: “Today is a test to see whether the police can be united, or that the top brass cannot control their frontline officers,” he added. The Letter of No Objection from police covers the Victoria Park lawn from noon to 6pm, and the march route from 3pm to 10pm.

Huge turnout as Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters offer 'last chance' for leader Carrie Lam to meet demands | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP





When a police watercannon truck showed up a demonstrators supply team distributed plastic panchos.

The headline in the editorial of HKG Free Press is a witty play on the old Chinese saying for when there is danger, "Kill the chicken to scare the monkey." (The Chinese have more sayings about animals than Tanzania has animals ha.)

The photo from the article shows HKG Justice Minister Teresa Cheng with the Beijing ambassador to UK after she was hustled off to the CCP-PRC embassy during her "visit" to London last week. She is back in HKG now much to her disappointment as she and the CCP Boyz each deny Ms. Cheng tried to resign in London and remain in the UK permanently. Cheng said she injured her arm while standing near a pro Hong Kong democracy demonstration in London.


A Chinese classic comedy of errors. After Cheng was returned to Hong Kong, Analogue Holdings – an engineering company founded by Cheng’s husband Otto Poon – announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary was being subpoenaed and is under investigation.



Hong Kong Free Press
Non Profit Media In Hong Kong

OPINION POLITICS & PROTEST

As the rats abandon Carrie Lam’s ship, it’s time to shoot an admiral to encourage the others

9 December 2019


Starry Lee is chair of the central and largest pro Beijing political party in Hong Kong, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong. Lee's offer of her resignation after the District Council landslide defeat of the DAB was rejected.


The rats are scrambling off the sinking ship and there are no prizes for guessing who the rats are or the name of the fast-sinking People’s Tug Boat CENO, captained by Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive in Name Only.

Only the terminally loyal and relentlessly stupid will have failed to notice that the days of the CENO and her waxwork administration are numbered. They are to be sacrificed under the slogan of ‘when it comes to saving the party – no one is too big to be spared’.

Anyone familiar with the Cultural Revolution will know how this works as cadres were dispatched to the great red beyond screaming ‘what have I done?’. ‘No one loved Mao more than me.’

The first signs of Lam's imminent demise came as Beijing made it clear that she and she alone was responsible for the extradition bill debacle. This was followed by a slew of subtle and not so subtle hints about the need for the CENO to improve her governance.

Starry Lee, Chairwoman of the Communist Party in Drag, otherwise known as the DAB, let rip against the CENO, describing her as ‘weak’ and ‘ineffective’. The waxworks were even worse, she said, lashing out at the Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng, the security minister and even the hapless Environment Secretary whose crime, apparently, was sticking to environmental matters while failing to ‘do anything to stop the violence’.

As the rats abandon Carrie Lam's ship, it's time to shoot an admiral to encourage the others | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

In September aviation experts were quoted in HKG media as saying flight cancellations to HKG had impacted a USD $73million hit.

Exports for the third quarter ending in September were down by 7%.

Tourism was off by 37%.

Business was down significantly at hotels and retail centers, attributed to the protests as well as the continuously slowing Chinese economy.

The territory suffered a lost of USD $242 million bucks over the annual "Golden Week" of the Oct 1-3 National Day holiday when swarms from the mainland go to HKG to buy, stay in fine hotels, eat at restaurants, use public transit and so on.


Hong Kong Free Press
Non Profit Media In Hong Kong

Hong Kong int’l Rugby Tens cancelled amid ongoing political unrest

12 December 2019


Hong Kong’s international Rugby Tens tournament in April next year – a curtain-raiser to the city’s famous Sevens – has been cancelled, the latest sporting event to fall victim to seething political unrest.


“Owing to the ongoing situation in Hong Kong, the tournament has, for the first time, had difficulty in attracting and securing firm commitments from enough overseas teams of sufficient quality,” hosts Hong Kong Football Club said in a statement late Wednesday. “We have made the decision not to host what would have been a diminished event in 2020.”

The tournament has been held on the Wednesday and Thursday before the Hong Kong Sevens every year since 1986 and features teams packed with past and future stars of the game. The Sevens, part of the World Rugby’s global series, are scheduled for April 3-5 and organisers said they were determined the showpiece will go ahead.

A string of high-profile sports and entertainment events have been cancelled or postponed, including pop concerts, stand-up comedy shows and award-winning musicals.

Tennis’s WTA Hong Kong Open, the Formula E Grand Prix and the Hong Kong Squash Open are among sporting events to have been cancelled. The flagship Hong Kong Open golf tournament, won by world stars such as Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose in recent years, was postponed last month.


Protesters take cover during clashes with police at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), in Hong Kong on November 12, 2019. Photo: Citizen News.

Hong Kong int'l Rugby Tens cancelled amid ongoing political unrest | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP




The democracy activists have a color code of two colors to identify democracy friendly businesses versus Beijing authoritarian supportive businesses. Yellow on a business front indicates a pro democracy enterprise while blue markings on a business indicate a pro Beijing business.

Yellow in China signifies bravery and courage while blue signifies childishness because it is the standard PRC school uniform color for all students K-12 on the mainland; additionally, the use of blue by democracy activists also derives from blue stripes having identified a person considered to be insane. (Communist Party red indicates happiness and safety...red as a positive value long preceded the color of the CCP flag.)

HKG Chief Executive Carrie Lam is in Beijing meeting with Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Li Keqiang and vice premier Han Zhang who is her sponsor, immediate boss and master in Beijing.

Financial Times reported last week Lam will resign in March. The pro democracy Apple Daily in HKG said a government overhaul of the HKG Special Administrative Region government was in the works. Nobody is venturing to say where the changes are going though.

Meanwhile there's new talk of Hong Kong and China becoming a version of Northern Ireland and UK if Beijing doesn't recognize the 5 demands of the pro democracy forces and the mass of the population that supports them. Nobody gains by HKG becoming Northern Ireland yet the CCP-PRC Dictator Tyrants in Beijing are eons worse than the British government ever was or became in Northern Ireland.


What Hong Kong can learn from Northern Ireland: three steps to avoid 30 years of tragedy

15 December 2019

By Brian Dooley
Guest Contributor




When Hong Kong’s unrest slides into 2020, we’ll start measuring the protests in years rather than months.

Comparisons with the long conflict of the 1968 to 1998 Northern Ireland Troubles are inevitable. In both cases, problems arose when a big power worked out a deal granting semi-autonomy to a smaller government next door.





And if anyone’s listening in the Hong Kong or Beijing governments, there are three basic lessons they can learn from Britain’s mistakes in Northern Ireland.

First, sending in an army to suppress protests won’t necessarily work. It risks fuelling a long guerrilla war of attrition, and a deepening cycle of attacks and revenge attacks by protestors and security forces.

Second, you might as well cut a political deal now as later. The British government agreed in 1998 to more or less what protesters had been demanded in 1968 – a fair voting system, a radical overhaul of the police, and an end to state violence. Decades of violence could have been avoided.




Third, tell the truth about what’s happened. Britain’s official inquiry into Bloody Sunday was such a whitewash of its military’s culpability it had to be redone decades later. A full, independent, commission of inquiry that has public trust is vital. Setting that up could happen now.

Hong Kong can avoid the tragedy of Northern Ireland, but if months and years of upheaval aren’t to turn into decades its government needs to act fast to stop the escalation and find a political solution.

What Hong Kong can learn from Northern Ireland: three steps to avoid 30 years of tragedy | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP



It is indeed China and the Boyz in Beijing who would lose if they lost HKG to anarchy and mortal conflict. Moreover, Taiwan will have its general election next month with the hated in Beijing Democratic Progressive Party poised to retain the presidency and the unicameral legislature. Indeed, Pres. Tsai Ing-wen chose as her VP candidate the former prime minister William Lai who advocates a formal declaration of sovereignty forthwith. Last year the PLA daily Global Times called for Lai's arrest on an international warrant for advocating secession. Xi Jinping meanwhile gets worse daily as the Chinese classic emperor-moron and blunderbust that he is.

The government and police of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region are acting without legitimacy.

The district council elections, a referendum on the performance of government, demonstrated the government’s legitimacy deficit.

Police have lost authority in Hong Kong big time. Citizens are more willing to challenge unjust laws such as the anti-mask law which is violated completely.

People hassle officials on the street such as Justice Minister Theresa Cheng and Security Minister Regina Ip. People in their communities treat government pronouncements with derision and contempt, ie, rightfully. Civil servants critical of government have already demonstrated publicly against the government and signed petitions denouncing government action.

CCP in Hong Kong and in Beijing had no clue of the depth and breadth of the people's opposition to their increasingly harsh rule. Indeed, Beijing's attempt to peel the onion of democracy in Hong Kong has come to tears for 'em as talk in Hong Kong of becoming a version of Northern Ireland has become the rule.




Democracy demonstrators arrive at Taikoo Cityplaza on December 15 as some Sunday shoppers get a bird's eye experience of the demonstrators in their present campaign to rally residents at shopping malls during the Christmas shopping season. Photo: Kevin Cheng/United Social Press.

Hong Kong’s ongoing pro-democracy protests have entered their seventh month as demonstrators continue to demand an investigation into alleged police misconduct, amnesty for those arrested since June, retraction of the use of the term “riot,” and democratic reform.

Multiple journalists on Sunday [December 15] were injured during protester-police clashes as officers fired tear gas to disperse crowds in Mong Kok. Around 100 people gathered outside Langham Place in Mong Kok at 9pm in keeping with plans to rally at shopping malls across the city. At least two people were arrested while police conducted a clearance operation of the area.

The clashes in Mong Kok came after an afternoon of protests in plazas across Hong Kong. Crowds had responded positively to online calls to disrupt Christmas shopping by chanting protest slogans and singing songs while marching inside the malls.

Two plainclothes police officers holding batons at the Metroplaza in Kwai Fong were confronted by residents who asked them about their identities. Police reinforcement arrived soon after and plainclothes officers took away a man, who was released later. According to Apple Daily, the man said he had done nothing wrong and was only observing from the side.

Meanwhile, two Tuen Mun district councillor-elects arrived at Tuen Mun Park in response to noise complaints about loud singers, known as “dai mas.” The pair entered into an argument with people at the park. Riot police arrived at Tuen Mun Park shortly after but did not make arrests.

Hong Kong journalists injured as police fire tear gas to disperse Mong Kok protesters | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

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A Hong Kong Baptist University student journalist was struck in the face by a suspected police projectile near his right eye. His safety goggles were broken by the impact and the wound on his cheekbone bled. I don’t understand why they pointed [the tear gas launcher] at the pavement. Clearly there were only first-aiders and journalists left on site,” he said. “It felt as though they were targeting journalists and medics.”






Police turned loose from their sty brandish guns inside Shatin’s New Town Plaza on December 15. Photo: Jimmy Lam/United Social Press.






Police turned loose from their sty entered Sha Tin Metro Station Sunday just after 4pm where a smoke bomb had been released. Photo: Jimmy Lam/United Social Press.






Police turned loose from their sty arrest a democracy demonstrator at Shatin's New Town Plaza on December 15. Photo: Jimmy Lam/United Social Press.

Pro-Beijing protesters stomp US flag, burn Trump effigy at consulate rally

By Coconuts Hong Kong



Pro-Beijing protesters angrily stomp a U.S. flag during a rally in Hong Kong against the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act yesterday. Screengrab via Twitter/RTHK.


As [pro democracy] office workers turned out for their now-routine “lunch with you” rally yesterday, dozens of pro-Beijing supporters marched to the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong in protest of the recently signed Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, stomping on an American flag and even burning an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump.

A small crowd can be seen walking in front of the consulate, waving the Chinese flag and holding signs reading “Cancel the useless law.” The demonstrators also chanted “Oppose Trump!” and angrily stomped on a US flag. (Treating the Chinese flag similarly in Hong Kong carries a penalty of up to three years in prison.)

RTHK reports that an American Consulate representative reportedly accepted a petition from the crowd, who called for Trump to step down.


At Tuesday lunchtime, a group of pro-Beijing protesters marched from Chater Garden to the US Consulate in Hong Kong to voice their anger at the #HongKong Human Rights and Democracy Act, burning an effigy of Donald Trump.


Trump signed the HKHRDA amid a rare showing of veto-proof bipartisan support for the legislation, which requires the U.S. to annually reassess Hong Kong’s autonomy from the mainland in order to justify its special trade status.




Daily lunchtime protests by office workers continued in Central, Cheung Sha Wan and Kwai Chung on Tuesday among other locations, despite a large riot police presence.

Pro-Beijing protesters stomp US flag, burn Trump effigy at consulate rally | Coconuts Hong Kong




The Boyz in Beijing have had a tough go of getting a HKG chief executive with staying power in the two most recent appointments, in 2012 and in 2017. The Boyz can expect more migraines coming soon if the Financial Times report is accurate that Carrie Lam will resign in March. There are no credible denials either.

Lam just returned from Beijing with ringing endorsements by Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Li Keqiang and the Boyz main man for HKG, vice premier Han Zhang who is Lam's champion. Han however did a lot of sitting around silently during the sessions which seemed more like a bon voyage party for Lam.

Lam succeeded the only one-term HKG CEx Cy Leung in 2017 after 5 years of Leung fighting corruption allegations made worse when he fired the HKG anti corruption hound who was strongly on Leung's long and seedy trail of arrogant sleaze. Leung was ricocheted off one controversy after another before finally announcing he would not seek a second term thus becoming the only HKG CEx to leave after the single term. Leung's arm also looked to be very twisted ha.

Telling for the CCP Boyz in Beijing is that Leung was elected in 2012 with only 686 of the 1200 very stacked votes of the CEx Selection Committee dominated structurally by the Boyz. Lam did better but not comfortably with her successful 777 votes in 2017. Those modest margins occurred even though Pan Democracy members of the committee were limited structurally to only 300 voting members.

Now after the District Council landslide blowout election the Pan Democracy Coalition will have 117 more members of the CEx Selection Committe to bring its strength to 417 which is more than a third of the Selection Committee. Worse for the Boyz, the new 117 will replace the 115 pro Beijing Committee members from the pre election District Council apportionment to the Committee.

The Boyz would much prefer not to change the CEx in mid chaos yet Lam has turned out to be such an incompetent she has to go, ie, neither side in HKG takes her seriously in this.

Adding to the Boyz hesitancy is finding a new CEx to appoint for the rest of Lam's unexpired term as there is no one around who could be an even remotely reasonable consensus successor in this time of tumult and anarchy. Moreover, Beijing installing a new CEx in the spring simply refocuses everyone's attention in HKG to the arbitrary rule of the CCP that the vast majority of Hong Kongers reject to the point of violence.

The conflict at its core is that the vast majority in HKG want processes and governance by sovereign democracy, ie, universal suffrage, while Beijing is unyielding that the CCP processes and rule remain sovereign.

CCP Boyz raged against SecState Mike Pompeo who said on Twitter last week China "must respect the rights of protesters" in HKG. Pompeo cited the "warning" by Pres. Trump there not be a crackdown. "The impact on Hong Kong, if this isn’t resolved in a way that is peaceful and in accordance with [international] agreements, I think will be significant."

The Boyz then went up in flames when Pompeo tweeted that the US "supports" Arsenal player Mesut Ozil in his criticism of China in Xinjiang. Beijing had cancelled a central television broadcast of an Arsenal game in China after Ozil said his piece.

The EU parliament is promoting sanctions against a number of top officials of the HKG government and their business operations. The president of the American Chamber of Commerce in HKG was denied entry to Macau without explanation.

Protesters are resisting the Party Government in HKG in its campaign to have only "Red Theater" in the performing arts. Hong Kongers know well that the mainland is a culturally barren wasteland under the the rule of the Party philistines.

CCP Dictator Tyrants in Beijing ordered two business delegations to cancel trips to Sweden when a Swedish rights group awarded its prize to HKG bookseller Gui Minhai. The dissident publisher was abducted from HKG to the mainland where he lost all contact with HKG before being allowed to appear on state television to indicate he was alive.

HKG authorities announced that teachers who are critical of Beijing will be charged with "hate speech."


Hong Kong Free Press

Arrest at Uighur solidarity demo in Hong Kong, as riot police point pistol at protesters

22 December 2019


Riot police pointed a pistol at protesters during a Uighur solidarity demonstration in Central on Sunday.
Photo: Apple Daily.


On Sunday afternoon, around 1,000 people gathered at Edinburgh Place to express support for Uighurs in Xinjiang. Rally organisers set up a banner on a stage that read “Today Xinjiang, tomorrow Hong Kong." International rights groups have estimated that at least a million from the Muslim minority have been detained in “re-education camps.”

Police clashed with onlookers after arresting a protester who removed a Chinese national flag outside City Hall.

Riot police arrived and subdued several protesters and beat them with batons. Other protesters threw objects including plastic bottles at police, and officers responded with batons and pepper spray. “A large group of radical protestors hurled hard objects at and assaulted police officers with intent to help the arrestee escape,” the force said.



Photo: Stand News
Uighur Hong Kong Solidarity Rally in Central on Sunday, December 22.

Around nightfall, police conducted large-scale stop and search in Central at locations such as the City Hall car park, and partially closed the footbridge connecting IFC and Exchange Square. Shortly after the initial clash, officers fired at least two rubber bullets at a footbridge connected to the IFC shopping mall. A passerby was reportedly hit in the leg by the projectile, according to Stand News.



Some protesters leaving the rally were seen being stopped and searched by police, and were asked to put their hands above their heads and line up against a wall. None were detained. Photo: Stand News.


The Sunday rally was the first of its kind in Hong Kong to express solidarity with the Uighurs in Xinjiang.

Arrest at Uighur solidarity demo in Hong Kong, as riot police point pistol at protesters | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

Hong Kong marks Christmas Eve with mall protests and clashes



Police react to umbrella thrown at them by anti-government protesters after a protester was detained in a shopping mall in the Tsim Sha Tsui district of Hong Kong on Dec 24, 2019. (Photo: AFP/Philip FONG)


Chaos broke out in an upscale Hong Kong mall on Tuesday night as riot police clashed with pro-democracy protesters who were marking Christmas Eve with a series of flashmob rallies.

Riot police used pepper spray and batons to beat back angry crowds inside Harbour City, a luxury mall in Tsim Sha Tsui, one of the city's busiest shopping districts.

But posts on online forums have called for pop-up demonstrations over the Christmas and New Year period targeting shopping districts. Hundreds of black-clad protesters gathered in Harbour City on Tuesday evening, chanting slogans. Flashmob rallies formed in at least three other locations on Tuesday night with riot police trying to disperse crowds shouting chants and heckling officers.

Tensions soon rose when a group of plainclothes police were discovered and surrounded within the sprawling shopping centre, an AFP reporter on the scene said. The plainclothes officers made multiple arrests as the crowds threw objects and heckled them. Riot police quickly arrived at the scene, one aiming a shotgun at protesters as shops quickly shuttered.

A former British colony with a sizeable Christian population, Hong Kong is having a distinctly muted Christmas this year. Swathes of the population are seething against Beijing's rule and the semi-autonomous city's local government.
The months of protest have helped tipped a financial hub already battered by the trade war into recession and sparked intense political polarisation.

Hong Kong marks Christmas Eve with mall protests and clashes

HKG Chief Executive Carrie Lam was probably muttering to herself at a press conference Sunday when she said "calm has returned" to Hong Kong.

Lam and the CCP Dictator-Tyrants in Beijing aren't kidding anyone however as the police have already been reinforced.
Police in the olive drab uniforms and that we see in these photos are the Tactical Riot Squad from the HKG penal system and who are specially trained to regain control of a prison riot, to include prison facilities that would be held by demonstrators.

Indeed, the use of prison riot forces suggest the HKG Party bosses and the Boyz in Beijing could be anticipating worse to come to include possibly assaults on jail buildings to free those incarcerated in them.


‘We are not giving up’: Hong Kong marks Christmas Eve with mall clashes and tear gas

25 December 2019 00:27
by Su Xinqi and Jerome Taylor

Hong Kong marked Christmas Eve with tear gas and mall clashes on Tuesday night as battles between democracy activists and riot police swept through a major shopping district.


Police said a “large group of rioters” had built barricades, damaged traffic lights and dug up bricks on the area’s major thoroughfares. Photo: Benjamin Yuen/United Social Press.


Clashes soon erupted with riot police firing multiple rounds of tear gas to disperse protesters throughout the evening, including outside the famous Peninsula Hotel. The evening’s unrest was the most sustained in what has otherwise been a few weeks of comparative calm for a city upended by more than six months of violent protests

Around 10:45 pm yesterday, some masked rioters set fire to the entrance of Mongkok MTR station. Some of them poured flammable liquid to fan the flames. Earlier tonight, some rioters blocked the roads around Argyle Street and Portland Street in Mong Kok. Rioters also stormed and vandalised shops in Langham Place. Police demand the rioters to stop all acts of arson and vandalism immediately.


Democracy activists gathered in Mong Kok December 24. Photo: Benjamin Yuen/United Social Press.



Hong Kong’s many malls have become regular protest venues as protesters try to cause economic disruption in their push for greater democratic freedoms and police accountability. Meanwhile, flashmob rallies were held in multiple malls across the financial hub, with protesters chanting anti-government slogans.


Online forums have called for pop-up demonstrations over the Christmas and New Year period targeting shopping districts. Photo: Chau Ho Man/United Social Press.






Tear gas in Mong Kok. Photo: Chau Ho Man/United Social Press.

'We are not giving up': Hong Kong marks Christmas Eve with mall clashes and tear gas | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

While the Hong Kong Islands District of the Special Administrative Region of the CCP-PRC is tightly packed residentially and commercially there are other territorial areas on islands and on the small mainland section that are pleasant to both locals and tourists.

This measure would repair but a dent to the HKG economy and labor market that, while not totaled, are very banged up and burned.

All the vast majority in HKG want is for the CCP Dictator Tyrants in Beijing to honor their pretend one country two systems baloney. But no, the Chinese obsessive compulsive dictator tyrants in Beijing must impose their deranged will on everyone no matter what. Beijing has said specifically that HKG will be "just another Chinese city." Beijing is clueless and mindlessly oblivious to the sentiment across HKG that it would become Northern Ireland instead.


Hong Kong to subsidise ‘green’ tour groups in effort to boost tourism amid protest downturn

23 December 2019




The Hong Kong government has announced it will subsidise local travel agencies to promote environmentally friendly tours.

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau said that the government will reserve HK$50 million over six months to subsidise travel agencies in cash to provide “green” tours. Each agency may receive HK$100 for each tourist, subject to a HK$50,000 cap.

The tour groups may go to country parks, geoparks, islands, ecoparks and environmentally protected facilities. The travel agencies will have to hire tour escorts and guides, and will have to arrange transport and food.

Yau said the measure could help promote local travel in light of the economic downturn: “We hope the measure can support companies and employment, so as to support the affected travel industry,” he said.

Tourist numbers have plummeted with large-scale protests continuing around the city for over six months.

Hong Kong to subsidise 'green' tour groups in effort to boost tourism amid protest downturn | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

On June 12, when the Hong Kong Legislative Council was scheduled to deliberate on the now-withdrawn extradition bill, more than a hundred small and medium-sized companies closed their businesses so that their employees could attend the protests.

The first citywide general strike on August 5 was also backed by hundreds of small business owners, along with the trade unions, including airlines’ flight attendant unions. And private car owners have frequently helped protesters exit the demonstration sites.


HKG Pan Democrats call it, "Building a society of conscience."

One of the most well-known yellow shops in Hong Kong is Lung Mun Cafe, which has five branches across the city. Its owner Cheung Chun Kit started to provide assistance to protesters. Cheung became familiar with many young protesters. Some had strained relationships with their parents and had no place to go, others had lost their jobs, and many were struggling to support themselves. The article that follows says more about Cheung and his committment.

CCP Dictator Tyrants in Beijing had no clue of what they started in HKG with the extradition bill that they had to withdraw because of the massive and consistent protests against it. Indeed, the arrogant and willful dictators revealed themselves with their statement last year that, "Hong Kong will become just another Chinese city." The statement also exposed the fraud of the CCP Dictator Tyrants in their completely bogus mantra of one country two systems which the Tyrants in their cynicism have lied about from the outset.



In Hong Kong, local entrepreneurs champion the pro-democracy cause

28 December 2019

A new restaurant and shopping guide in Hong Kong is helping citizens identify shops that support the anti-government protests.

The guide is called the “Hong Kong’s Rice Pig Guide” (米豬蓮).

Initiatives such as those have sprung up in the groundswell of the anti-government protests in Hong Kong, which many believe could not have lasted for so long without the support of the middle class and entrepreneurs.

The middle class and the business sectors are also helping protesters financially. Many have donated to, for example, the 612 Fund and the Spark Alliance to provide legal, medical and other aids to those injured or arrested. Both funds have raised over 10 million US dollars over a few months through crowdfunding and street donations.


Logo of the Hong Kong Spark Alliance of middle class Hong Kongers and businesses that provide financial support to the democracy activists resisting the CCP Dictator Tyrants of Beijing in Hong Kong.


Shop and restaurant owners, as well as wholesale buyers, have also joined forces to donate food coupons and import protection gear for protesters who aren’t able to afford it. Since August, a number of restaurants have openly supported demonstrators by offering free meals to students, and the online shop HKongs Mall was set up to provide employment for those who had been arrested and then released on bail.

Protesters began calling the supportive businesses “yellow shops” and are urging citizens to spend their money on them. Simultaneously, they have called for a boycott of pro-China establishments, such as the restaurants owned by the Maxim Caterers group.

The collection of the pro-democracy shops is now known as the “yellow economic circle”.



Lung Mun Cafe Causeway Bay

To help them out, Cheung set up an assistance center to collect donations, such as clothes or food coupons. He also helped protesters produce handmade items to be sold at the cafes. Currently, the center has 12 protesters hired as full-time staff. Others work as temporary staff and are paid at a rate of approximately 8 US dollars per hour. Cheung described his work as an initiative to build a “society of conscience”: "If we have the capability and capacity to sustain the living of 2 million [Pan Democracy] community members, we can overcome all kinds of difficulties.”

In Hong Kong, local entrepreneurs champion the pro-democracy cause | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

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‘Resist tyranny, join a union’: Huge turnout as Hongkongers hit the streets for New Year’s Day protest

1 January 2020 16:25 Holmes Chan


Jimmy Sham, executive director of the Hong Kong Civil Human Rights Front waves on huge crowd as it marches along Chater Road on New Years Day. Sham is seen standing and largely recovered after hospitalisation in October when communist party thugs beat him with hammers while he was walking down a street to a Front meeting. In August a communist fanatic attacked Sham on the street using a baseball bat. The Front is organizer of the New Years protest march and demonstration. Photo: May James/HKFP.



Thousands of Hongkongers took to the streets on Wednesday for the first police-approved mass protest of the new year. The huge turnout built on a continuing a pro-democracy movement that has reached each corner of the city over the past seven months. The organiser Hong Kong Civil Human Rights Front had been prohibited from organizing marches until this, its second, and after the results of the District Elections in November.








Among the flags carried by demonstrators Jan. 1st were the Hong Kong Colonial flag of British rule and the cross of St. George.


In addition to the five core demands of the movement, protesters on Wednesday also called for increased union participation, supporting the victims of political reprisals, and halting a proposed pay rise for the police. Protesters chanted slogans such as “Five demands, not one less,” as well as new additions such as “Resist tyranny, join a union.” The front of the march reached the endpoint at the Chater Road Pedestrian Precinct in Central just after 4pm.






Those at the head of the march included the newly-elected pro-democracy district councillors – whose term in office began on January 1. A group outside Victoria Park were rallying Hongkongers to register to vote: “We want to use our vote to tell the Hong Kong government what we want… We want the people to come out again and win at the Legislative Council election [in September],” Ms Oliver told HKFP, following the pro-democracy camp’s victory at last year District Council elections.






In a statement, march organisers the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) called on the public to be “more united, persistent, and caring of one another” in the coming year. “In 2020, the police have already fired the first round of tear gas,” the group wrote shortly after midnight. “Carrie Lam and police brutality turned a festive season into anguish, and perhaps we should say ‘Five demands, not one less’ instead of happy new year.”

'Resist tyranny, join a union': Huge turnout as Hongkongers hit the streets for New Year's Day protest | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

The new year 2020 opened with Pan Democrats in HKG calling for people to join their existing unions and worker unions that are being formed in the model of the Solidarity movement in Poland that is widely credited with initiating the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

There is of course no such ambition in HKG as the fall of the CCP-PRC. Pan Democrats in HKG are rather looking to the territory Legislative Council elections in September as offering the event to advance democracy and preserve the CCP mantra of one country two systems that to date are entirely and completely as bogus as the CCP created term has always been. Indeed, CCP Dictator Tyrants in Beijing said openly last year that HKG "will be just another Chinese city." NOT.



Water cannon and tear gas in Hong Kong, minutes after New Year countdown

1 January 2020 02:04
AFP

Hong Kong police fired tear gas a few minutes into 2020 as pro-democracy protesters took their movement into the new year with midnight countdown rallies and a massive march January 1.


Before midnight on Tuesday, thousands of protesters gathered across the financial hub, including along the waterfront of Victoria Harbour and at nightlife hotspot Lan Kwai Fong. Photo: Jimmy Lam/United Social Press.


Shortly before the final day of 2019 drew to a close, police used water cannon to disperse protesters in the same area while, in nearby Prince Edward neighbourhood, officers arrested several protesters staging a candlelight vigil.



Smaller crowds of protesters in the Mong Kok district set fire to barricades — and riot police unleashed 2020’s first volleys of tear gas in response. Photo: ST Hui/United Social Press


“Thanks to 2019, which tore off the ugly masks of the police and the government and let the people see the truth,” said protester Kris, a medic who joined protest.

“2019 is a remarkable and special year for every single Hongkonger,” 25-year-old teacher Sam told AFP as he celebrated New Year’s Eve with his family at the harbourfront.

“People’s demands are loud and clear, but the government is not listening. In 2020, I really hope it will be a better year for all Hong Kong people.”

In late November, the city’s pro-democracy camp scored a landslide victory in a municipal-level vote widely seen as a referendum on the Beijing-backed government’s handling of political unrest.




Photo: ST Hui/United Social Press





Photo: ST Hui/United Social Press





Photo: ST Hui/United Social Press


On Tuesday night, demonstrators also swarmed major shopping malls, which have become regular protest venues in an effort to cause economic disruption.

Water cannon and tear gas in Hong Kong, minutes after New Year countdown | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

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1 January 2020 HKFP Lens

Organisers the Civil Human Rights Front said over a million people attended Hong Kong’s annual pro-democracy march on January 1. However, scattered clashes broke out mid-afternoon and after dark, with demonstrators hurling Molotovs and bricks, and police deploying tear gas.

This protest and tumult of Sunday is centered on the purchase of infant formula by mainland Chinese in HKG at HKG border towns.

Mainland Chinese in southern China flock regularly to HKG to buy infant formula since the scandal several years ago of mainland manufacturers substituting fake ingredients in their baby formulas. The horrific scandal on the mainland broke when several infants were hospitalized and died while numerous other infants became severely ill and affected for life by it.

HKG authorities had to enact legal restrictions on sales volume to visitors from the mainland to preclude depriving HKG residents of supplies of the formulas. The practice by mainland Chinese has impacted adversely apartment prices and retail rents in HKG, among the border communities especially. The vast majority of urban Chinese in HKG and on the mainland live in units of high rise residence buildings.


Petrol bombs and at least 60 arrests after Hong Kong march against cross-border trading

5 January 2020 19:17

AFP

Protesters hurled petrol bombs Sunday at a Hong Kong police station and at least 60 people were arrested following a march against so-called parallel trading near the Chinese border.


Democracy demonstrators gather at Sheung Shui District Garden Number 4 on Sunday, January 5. Flags included Taiwan and USA. Photo: Joshua Kwan.


The Democratic Party said about 10,000 people marched peacefully in Sheung Shui district, but violence erupted after police ordered protesters to disperse.

Earlier, several petrol bombs were thrown at the Sheung Shui police station, about 1.5 kilometres (a mile) from where the rally took place.

The marchers were protesting against parallel trading, which sees thousands of mainlanders cross the border every day to bulk-buy goods such as infant formula to sell at a profit in China. There is significant resentment against the practice, which frequently leaves goods in short supply in [HK] border towns, and has driven up the price of commodities as well as shop rents.


Democracy demonstrators carry flag of British colonial Hong Kong and flag of USA, Sunday January 5. Photo: Joshua Kwan





HKFP Photo: Jimmy Lam





Photo: Inmedia






Photo: Inmedia

On Sunday, the violence was not at the level seen during many previous protests, with police using pepper spray to disperse crowds but not tear gas.

Petrol bombs and at least 60 arrests after Hong Kong march against cross-border trading | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

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When will Hong Kong get back to normal? There is no ‘normal’ to get back to

5 January 2020 Stephen Vines


Among the many different flags at a recent democracy demonstration are the UK Union Banner and the British Colonial Flag of Hong Kong. Photo: May James/HKFP.

When will things get back to normal? This question seems to be asked with daunting frequency but it begs the bigger question of what normal actually means, and indeed whether a return to things as they were is even desirable.

If it is imagined that once there are no longer people protesting on the streets everything will go back to where it was before June 2019, it can be confidently predicted that so-called normal will never be achieved.

How can things go back to where they were when confidence in the legitimacy and competence of the government has been shattered, and where trust in the police as objective law enforcers has dwindled to dangerous lows?


Photo: May James.





Photo: May James.





Democracy activists occupy chamber of the Hong Kong Legislative Council and display the British Colonial Flag of Hong Kong in June, 2019. Photo: May James.


This being so, it is hard to understand what the term ‘normal’ means. Does it mean, for example, that the police will somehow regain the level of confidence they enjoyed prior to the uprising? Does it even mean that businesses who are identified as being in either the blue or yellow camps will recover patronage regardless of political considerations?

The obvious answer to these questions is a simple ‘no’ and it is more than likely that this will remain the case for some time to come.

Although the fears of a violent crackdown have receded, they are being kept alive by the Beijing government which ordered a highly publicised exercise by the People’s Liberation Army Hong Kong garrison in the past few days.


Protesters passing outside the People’s Liberation Army Garrison in Hong Kong. Photo: Kris Cheng/HKFP.


In other words the new normal is most likely to be a situation of uncertainty where, even if protestors are no longer on the streets, the enormous upheaval in society guarantees that much will change. The movement has delivered a society which has shown an ability to stand up for itself without the need for leaders, which has shown that citizens can be united and are willing to become responsible for each other, without needing the guiding hand of the state to do it for them.

When will Hong Kong get back to normal? There is no 'normal' to get back to | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

I'm not the only one who finds it to be an oxymoron. Chinese wisdom, that is. The contradiction is simply that the wisdom of Chinese philosophers and sages over the ages just never applies to the Chinese themselves. And Mencius who post dated Confucius never met a member of the Chinese Communist Party nor could he conceive of one.

Hence the failure of every dynasty of China. And, worse yet, the repeated and mindless -- and absolute -- Chinese reliance on dynasties as the rulers over and across all of China. CCP is after all a new (and young) dynasty of emperors in business suits. Indeed, a Chinese dynasty is a Chinese dynasty is a Chinese dynasty.

The elites of China over millennia have said they must rule in China because the people are ignorant and of a low intelligence. This is true in China for sure. However, the Chinese elites reveal their own ignorance and low intelligence in each dynasty, every time, and without fail. Which leaves the CCP inevitably as the next dynasty in line to go bust. Not today and not tomorrow but bust for sure CCP too will go.


The child and the well: can ancient wisdom show Hong Kong a way through an uncertain future?

12 January 2020

Suppose a man were, all of a sudden, to see a young child on the verge of falling into a well. He would certainly be moved to compassion… [“今人乍見孺子將入於井，皆有怵惕惻隱之心”, translation, D.C. Lau]

Click to expand...

So pondered Mencius, two and half millennia ago. Seven months in, and Hong Kong’s slow-motion topple into the well remains unattended.

The government is nowhere to be seen, the Chinese Communist Party is ever more staunch in its support of the government’s complete absence of policies, and the Hong Kong Police, running short of frontline demonstrators to attack and when not advertising their incompetence by arresting their own undercover agents, have turned their attention on those – most recently the Spark Alliance Hong Kong – who offer support behind the scenes.

I doubt I am the only commentator who fears that knock on the door in the wee hours.

Mencius used his example to argue that human nature is fundamentally good – or at least capable of good. From that premise, he suggests that we are all born with four cardinal virtues (or seeds, 端), as inherent to us as our limbs: benevolence, dutifulness, observance of the rites and wisdom (仁, 義, 禮 and 智 respectively).

I wonder if, rather than a continued insistence on the five demands on one side, and petulant intransigence on the other, Mencius’s insight can chart a course out of our morass.

The child and the well: can ancient wisdom show Hong Kong a way through an uncertain future? | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP


Nope.