There is another possibility, and that is that the Hong Kong Salacious-Book Publishers’ Abduction Outrage ends not with a bang but a whimper. Everything has suddenly gone rather quiet.
Perhaps the Chinese government is hoping that if nothing happens for a while, people will gradually forget, and the whole agonizing dilemma – what to do with these five kidnapped guys we’ve got on our hands – will just sort itself out somehow with no-one noticing a few weeks or months further on. After all, that’s their solution to the country’s stock market, which is overvalued some two- to three-fold: don’t let anyone sell for a period, then extend that period, and, err, assume that some subsequent economic development or yet-to-be-determined policy will make everything right, in time. It’s the young person’s solution to toothache, as well: no need to go to the dentist – just leave it and it will heal itself, no problem.
The five publishers are almost certainly victims of the above-the-law Communist Party, with its feudal-style belief that Chinese people anywhere in the world, regardless of passport, are the emperor’s personal property. But the kidnappings have produced two other victims. The good news is that they deserve no sympathy. Indeed, we are entitled to relish their discomfort and, to be honest, hope that their self-inflicted pain continues. It couldn’t happen to a nicer pair of people.
First is lawmaker and former Security Secretary Regina Ip…
Drawing on her undisputed expertise in immigration matters, Regina reminds us that rich people with yachts, and plebeian types like fishermen, can exit Hong Kong without going through passport checks. Which is, I suppose, obvious (we might also include the passengers on the casino boats that sail out to the 12-mile limit every night).
Why is she pointing this out?
It is her latest desperate and unseemly attempt to win favour among the Chinese leadership. By implying that the five abducted publishers could in theory have gone to the Mainland without going through official cross-border formalities – and maybe, we subliminally infer, by fancy champagne-stocked yacht or something – she is publicly rejecting the possibility that Chinese agents abducted the men. She is asserting, without actually saying, that Beijing is blameless. In her fevered mind, the Chinese government will now rush to pick her as Hong Kong’s next Chief Executive.
To this end, she is also organizing internships and tours of the Mainland so Hong Kong students can be subjected to a load of Belt-and-Road/Glorious Motherland/opportunities hogwash. The Communist Party reserves its nastiest kicks in the teeth for its most groveling sycophants, when they are no longer of any use, and poor Regina is lining up for just such treatment. In the meantime, it is stomach-churning to behold. Pass the sick-bag. I would rather be locked up with a book about Xi Jinping bonking some gorgeous pouting CCTV newsreader.
Even if it is laughably obvious to onlookers, Regina is at least calculating. The second ‘other’ victim is fellow lawmaker Ng Leung-sing, who simply comes under the category of tragic buffoon…
After appalling even some of his pro-establishment allies with the suggestion that the five abductees were on a Mainland whoring binge, he now apologizes. This is, as every news commentator in town hastily reminds us, the man who suggested that the lead contaminating some public-housing water supplies could be beneficial to health and perhaps explain Hong Kong people’s high life-expectancy.
Like Regina, Ng is trying to please Beijing’s henchmen lurking in the local Liaison Office. But he is so clueless and inept that he ends up damaging the Communist Party’s cause far more than any pro-democrat politician ever has. If (as seems probable) Chinese officials got him to trial the prostitution theory, they must be wishing they hadn’t. The classic caught-with-hookers stitch-up (complete with photo of victim in underwear on bed with condoms, ‘stained tissues’ and pixelated girl in background) would now be laughed out.
China’s motionlessness and silence on the abductions may not be a supposedly cunning strategy, but an absolute necessity while the Mainland fiction-spinners struggle to concoct a barely credible face-saving story. By insulting everyone’s intelligence, both Regina and Ng are making that job even harder.
Nothing new here. You need another holiday and above all you must stop reading newspapers. A brief look at the headlines suffices.
Ah, Regina, master of the scurrilous non-sequitur. “Sure, some domestic helpers might be abused but did you know that some of them are sluts? Look at those slutty sluts.”
As for the CCP, their motto may as well be “Insulting People’s Intelligence Since 1949”.
“China’s motionlessness and silence on the abductions…”
The main reason for the silence is that they are absolutely clueless what to do. At this moment they are hunting for some scapegoats who got them into this mess, and once that is settled, they will still be clueless.
I am enjoying every second of this.
The pro-Beijing lot are in a complete bind. They know, like the rest of us, these guys were abducted, but they can’t say a thing without looking foolish or compromising their favoured status. So silence. Anyway, the damage is done and the public has already decided. The pro-dems have been handed a win in the forthcoming LegCo elections, unless they can snatch defeat from victory, which is not beyond them. The year has certainly started on an interesting note.
You want painful? Check the questions these two raised in LegCo yesterday.
Regina asked about regulation of kite flying.
Not to be outdone, here’s Ng Leung-sing’s question in LegCo yesterday. http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201601/06/P201601060308.htm
LCQ13: Work to complement the country’s Thirteenth Five Year Plan
answered by Mr Raymond Tam, Sec for 1 CountrY, 1 CYstem Implementation
If you need a template for 2016 Buzzword Bingo for Team CronY Policy and Budget Addresses, this is it. Trigger warning: Reading it will cause your IQ to plummet like the SHCOMP
Have you noticed how often the phrase “so and so WAS DISAPPEARED” is now used instead of “so and so DISAPPEARED”. I’m just saying …
Sorry. I was too harsh. You ought to do an update about the forthcoming world economic crash. Seems everyone is taking their money out of China for some reason. Is it because no one trusts them?
Quiet?
Perhaps a ‘circuit breaker’ kicks in after 5 state kidnappings of HK publishers in three months.
Off topic but the Post had a nice little article written by some Australian guy which is encouraging the introduction of a GST, so that the tiresome poor can pay for their retirement entirely themselves I guess. Yes this one has come back.
Wouldn’t want to touch that trillion in reserves or stop building bridges to nowhere for the 1% of people who own cars here…
Well observed Al..but Hong Kong grammar prevails:
I is disappeared
You is disappeared
We all is disappeared
And now I is disappearing. Promise.
@BSL
They need that trillion to pay for index linked civil servants’ pensions.
Ng’s weak apology was followed by an implied assertion that if he stops smearing the vanished booksellers then the media should stop claiming that they were abducted by mainland security forces – ignoring the fact that his smear is based on no apparent evidence whatsoever, while the abduction theory is a logical deduction from the known facts of the case. In any case, why would anyone cross the border illegally to consort with mainland sex workers, when they can find hordes of them around Temple Street and Portland Street every evening?
Joe (GA), It would be a mistake to blandly assume that China doesn’t know what it’s doing.
For a start, they’re pursuing the vendetta against the British, making them look foolish at every step. First, Paramount Chairman Xi humiliated Cameron on human rights. Now they’re grinding into the dirt the hapless belief that ethnic Chinese resident in China with Chinese passports can be helped by anything the UK does.
The argument that the disappearances will only bolster the opponents of the regime is threadbare through overuse, applied as it has been to Tibet/the new military bases off the Philippines/HK etc.
China has once again shown that when it wants something, it will get it. It’s called realpolitik.
As mentioned yesterday, Regina is wrong. One can not “legally” simply jump on a boat and run off to another country. Yes it can be done, but it is illegal smuggling. The ship owner has to show all the cargo, human and otherwise on a manifest and declare same to the Marine Dept. See link in my comment yesterday.
Further, a similar declaration is made to the Immigration Dept for anyone the ship / boat owner intends to either embark or disembark in Hong Kong, as well as for any crew who are obliged to remain on the vessel, IE do not have permission to land. This is part and parcel of clearing quarantine.
http://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/forms/forms/sf-im-1104.html
As I mentioned yesterday, the appointment to the head of immigration (or almost any department) in Hong Kong is usually a sinecure, a reward for past favors. Regina took this so much to heart that she didn’t even bother to learn her departments legal responsibilities.
BTW, says a lot of about the lack of professionalism by our journalist, that they all took Regina’s word without bothering to check. Isn’t one of the standards of professional journalism to normally check any “fact” and to where possible to get two sources for any information being disclosed.
I would rather be locked up with a book
About Xi Jinping bonking
Some gorgeous pouting
CCTV newsreader.
One day they will come and collect you
And put you on a boat or a yacht
You arrogant doubting
Foreign bleeder.
Nimby, As far as I know, Regina didn’t mention entering another jurisdiction, but simply leaving HK. Of course, if it’s impossible to leave HK by boat without entering the mainland, you’re right.
The term “to be disappeared” is not Honglish, it refers specifically to the abduction (and murder) of political opponents by repressive regimes. For example, victims of the Argentinian Dirty War and the Irish Troubles are called “The Disappeared”. Its use in this case is quite appropriate.
@PD: it’s not just the saga of The Five Saintly Bookies where the CCP is clueless:
“On China’s unexpected devaluation of the yuan, Chovanec said: “It seems like they don’t really quite know what they are doing. They seem to have lost control of the narrative when it comes to what their plan is and what their policy is towards the exchange rate.”
-Chovanec is a former biz professor at Tsinghua uni in Beijing and now runs an asset management company in NY.
And stop referring to me as “Dr” GA. I resemble that.
You certainly don’t fool me as to your identity, nor, I suspect many people.
Appeal to authority is not a very good idea in discussing the dismal “science”.
Nor do I agree with you that pan-dems will win in the Legco elections. Try to remember, the system is rigged, with the rotten boroughs, flagrant vote-buying and false registrations.
DP/HKFP:
““There are many ways of doing that. I must stress that any permanent residents with the right of abode in Hong Kong can enter and exit without documents, without going through our control points. They don’t commit an offence that way,”
The creature’s own words. The law is clear, it is an offense to leave HK waters without performing the proper declarations. The law may be loosely enforced, but it is there because it’s in conformance with standard maritime law (as it should be as a major shipping port) anyone familiar with international practice, much less local law would know it. Further, in Hong Kong it’s illegal to be a certain distance from one’s documents, either HKID or a stamped passport if not a local while traveling anywhere, and that includes the boarder areas. The beast is incompetent, but to be fair it seems she’s not alone in that boat.
Global Times says according to Ta Kung Pao Lee Bo entered the mainland under a pseudonym (how or why they don’t elaborate). Maybe Regina didn’t get the memo.
The whole ‘going to SZ for sex by detour’ thing makes no sense at all. If you are looking for mainland hookers, they are on every corner of Lan Kwai Fong (aka Vomit Alley). Going to Neptune’s on a Sunday afternoon will make all your tropical dreams come true.
@PD: whatever, dude.
Regina: “any permanent residents with the right of abode in Hong Kong can enter and exit without documents.” The object of “enter and exit” is HK.
Nimby: “Regina is wrong. One can not “legally” simply jump on a boat and run off to another country.”
You have misread the woman. There’s no mention of another country. No amount of huffing and puffing will change that.
I see that “Enid Chomsky” and “Edward Snowden” join the hallowed ranks of “contributors” linked to the ntscmp website.
This is really silly; and really sad.
Why doesn’t “Dr” George just come out? I know that it’s hard for carrot tops to cut the mustard, but come on Georgie boy! Just shake that big white booty, and someone will luv ya!
Failing that, Doctor Dragon says just be yourself, and cut the bullshit.
@Joe Blow
An ancient Wanchai proverb says erections pop with more vigor north of Lo Wu Station, which explains Gui Minghai’s long sampan paddle from Thailand to Shenzhen.
See? Everything makes sense now.
Vagina offers in her own anti-gonzo style “the most factual, least accurate account” of the laws involved — technically true whilst wildly misleading. But there is method behind her stupidity:
Firstly, it frames the multiple kidnappings in the context of a minor debate over the finer points of immigration, hoping we’ll all ignore the cosh-wielding Gong An elephant in the room.
Secondly — and even more disingenuously — she’s basically trying to imply that rather than being kidnapped and tortured for potentially making Xi Jinping look all-too-human, they’re actually all off on a jolly little champagne junk trip to have sex with prostitutes.
Finally, we are — as always — left in no doubt who puts the Regina in Scunthorpe.
PD/HKFP:
I’ll repeat this, with extra details and redundancy because you seem to need them. No vessel** nor anyone upon it may not legally enter or leave Hong Kong waters, whether or not they/it go to any country without both filing the proper declarations/ships manifest and carrying the proper documentation, to whit either a seamans papers or a passport (This includes fishing vessels, the big boat fishermen all have seaman papers, go visit any typhoon shelter and see for yourself). No where in my earlier message did I state transit to another customs area, you read that in there yourself. I can’t help you with that problem.
**Military Vessels are a sort of exception, usually by treaty the vessel and the water they rest upon are rendered the territory of the nation, much as an the grounds of an embassy or a full-consulate is extra-territorial. However anyone going on/off same vessels do declare passeport, normally with seamans/airmans papers.
Three UNCLOS accepted “exception” in traveling to international waters travel without papers/passport and logging a manifest do not apply to Hong Kong. The first does on apply because Hong Kong choose to remain a separate customs identity yet is bounded on all sides by another customs identity. This exception is a vessel can travel outside the national waters (12 mile limit in general) as long as it course does not encroach on any other customs area, does not lighter (exchanging cargo-passengers/crew) and the vessel returns to the same port it departed . However, the vessel owner still must record a manifest listing all persons/cargo, a copy of which must be held by the competent immigration/customs and health/quarantine authorities (because accidents which may require other transits courses can & do happen). I’ve never take a cruise vessels in Hong Kong, but if they don’t require proper documentation, then they are violating the both HK law and the Hong Kong Government is failing to honor it’s international obligations under UNCLOS. The second does not apply because HK is not part of the EU or similar customs treaty area so I won’t elaborate. The third, Innocent Passage (UNCLOS-B), does not apply since by definition the 5 missing persons were (or still are) in HK.
Most customs areas take these obligations seriously. For example travel by ship from Hawaii to the US mainland requires a passport or seaman’s pass even though travel by air does not. This is because though the vessel is going from one part of a the nation to another, it is passing through international waters. Some, like Somalia honor them in the breech, and some like Hong Kong and Singapore are “flexable” in differing degrees particularly where money is on the table. Regina is a fine example of this, as the immigration department has almost no oversight other than the governor/CE, allowing a wide range for the granting of favors, even illegal ones.
Like Rome, our laws are public, get thee to a library. But before you do it, get a bit of sense, it will help your reading comprehension. What would have happen to Hong Kong if what Regina said is true(for that matter if any thing Regina ever said was true). There would be people, oh yes there would be people, many loaded to the hilt with every kind of goods, moving in and out of every midstream shipping container yard, boat slip, quay, polder, or barrage, all moving in masses beyond the scope of anything seen on the worst days at LoWu, all declaring they were HK residents. The immigration department and customs could not possibly cope, nor could the police & disciplinary services, ciaos and madness.
Where, then, did your “… run off to another country” come from? Come on, you made a mistake and won’t admit it.
@PD – how does one enter or exit Hong Kong without by implication entering or leaving another jurisdiction? Regina may not have specifically said so because it is obvious, so I’m not sure why you are labouring the point.
BTW, Qian Jin seems conspicuous by his absence recently. Perhaps there are some actions by the CCP that even [s]he can’t put a positive spin on?
Nimby
“No vessel …..may not legally enter…”
Double negative. Typo , or are you contradicting your explanation?
Surely should be
“no vessel …may legally..”
http://m.smh.com.au/national/chinese-police-pursued-a-man-to-australia-on-a-fox-hunt-without-permission-20150415-1mlum2.html
Seems HK not the only ones with PSB infiltration
Well you’ve got a case of the wumaos! Not surprising; when the party is at its most dysfunctional, the wumaos must spin and muddy to the best of their ability.
It is amazing that a real live political figure could make such a blatantly-ignorant statement. We expect that here on the Mainland, of course, but now people will actually notice.
From the comment before my first one, from gweiloeye:
“intensifying the “ideological work” on Mr Huang and his family to persuade him to return.”
No one should doubt what that means. They are ready and perhaps even eager to torture to reach their goals.