The (paywalled) FT has an editorial on Hong Kong. Protesters will serve their cause best by sticking to non-violence; companies should ideally value freedom of speech; and Beijing should avoid ‘destruction and demonization’ as it will ruin Hong Kong’s reputation and create a permanently ‘repressed and sullen’ city. So far, so sensible. As is often the case with newspaper editorials, it then sort of flops…
Instead of doubling down, the authorities should establish a commission into the future of Hong Kong to openly debate the protesters’ wishlist, including demands for elections by universal suffrage. It is highly unlikely that the Chinese Communist party would take steps of this nature, but the alternative path is very dangerous – for Hong Kong, and China as a whole.
In other words: the authorities should start consultations on things the authorities will not allow.
The FT can perhaps be forgiven for an insipid conclusion, and not only because editorials are written by committee. The alternative is too unpleasant to think about.
Hong Kong’s crisis comes down to a lack of government legitimacy. Legitimacy cannot be restored by force or repression. The Chinese Communist Party has only force and repression in its toolkit.
Which brings us to…
A loooong Q and A with a young frontline medic.
How Ocean Park will keep your kids out of jail on Halloween.
For the genuinely uninformed only – Time on whether Macau will go the way of Hong Kong (obviously it won’t).
And maybe the best ‘protest-footage-set-to-music’ video yet – Welcome to the Black Parade by emo-goth-whatever band My Chemical Romance. Good example of how amazing video editing can transform a fairly unremarkable piece of music. (You need to sign in to a YouTube account, owing to gory visuals, perhaps.)
The protestors are turning one of Blizzard (who was caught bootlicking the CCP) video game character into an icon for the movement, ensuring that the extremely lucrative product will be banned, this is so creative.
https://www.reddit.com/r/HongKong/comments/dfdqf8/if_we_are_gonna_do_it_we_are_gonna_do_it_big_mei/
Apple angers China
South Park angers China (more understandably!)
NBA angers China
All in the space of a week. Did I miss anyone?
I do hope someone is keeping a record of all the times the feelings of the Chinese people have been hurt, all the times that the internal affairs of China are incorrectly commented upon, and all the ensuing kowtows from western individuals and corporations desperate to keep their snouts in the trough known as China. Except for South Park, of course, I hope we see more like that!
Such a record will prove an invaluable guide to the new sport of panda-bating. Similar to “bullshit bingo”, there are key words or phrases to be identified. When uttered, these will send China into a mouth-frothing frenzy, complete with denouncements of the person/product/service by 1.4 billion Mainlanders.
The key to becoming proficient at this sport – to become a master baiter, if you like – will be to sprinkle these words or phrases innocently into press conferences, tweets, interviews, etc. and then see how manly column inches of the People’s Daily or Global Times are devoted by the CCP to making a mountain out of a molehill.
Just a thought!
@Big Al – you mean like innocently remarking that “Taiwan is one of my favourite countries”?
Of course the big joke about foreigners “hurting the feelings of the entire Chinese people” is that in most cases, thanks to China’s strict censorship, most of the 1.4 billion will never see or know what they are supposedly being hurt by.
@Big Al
You missed Blizzard and the Blizzard playerbase (see above).
And the Czech Republic* (well Prague City Council).
And Hong Kong — as always — (HKMap.live).
*Vaclav Havel appointed Frank Zappa as Czechoslovakia’s Special Ambassador to the West on Trade, Culture and Tourism which really annoyed US republicans. True story.
Try finding “Winnie the Pooh” on the Disney website from a computer in Hong Kong. Seems like Disney is kowtowing too.
Wow…yet ANOTHER panda arse licking stooge named Zeman. Will it ever end?
@Penny
Hmm, from my computer in Hong Kong, a search of the Disney.com site found 946 mentions of ‘Winnie the Pooh’. Not sure what caused the difference in our results.
Here is a proposed summary of the Policy Address on Wednesday 16 October 2019:
1. Talk down to the young and refer to the Rules of Procedure as the governing mechanism; and deplore violence.
2. Announce the gift of cash to those to whom it belongs.
3. Announce the formation of a Working Party comprising a majority paid civil servants on over-time and unpaid co-opted non-Government non-persons to consider the formation of policy as to housing since that is the root cause of disaffection in the young.
4. Jack up stamp duty because property speculation is depriving the young. This will improve the net position in 2. above.