China Media Project looks at the latest threat facing Hong Kong: long-distance resistance…
Hong Kong has moved “from chaos to order” under the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020, according to the city’s leaders. The pro-democracy protests that brought millions to the streets have been quashed; critical media outlets have been silenced; opposition politicians have all been jailed, forced into exile, or barred from contesting office.
Yet enemies of the state only seem to multiply.
…“soft resistance” remains poorly defined. But far from a bug, this ambiguity is its main feature: it can be used to describe any form of disagreement with the government no matter how mild or, even in the current hostile environment, lawful it may be. “Long-distance resistance” is similarly vague — [CPPCC member Zhang Zhigang] at one point gestures merely to “insufficiently patriotic behavior”…
The morning news helpfully provides us with examples. Police take parents of exiled, alleged colluder with foreign forces Anna Kwok in for questioning on suspicion of…
…assisting persons wanted by Police to continue to commit acts and engage in activities that endanger national security.
And the Chief Secretary complains about protesters at the World Police and Fire Games in Canada, calling them…
…”destabilizing forces” … slandering Hong Kong disciplinary services by staging protests and distributing “anti-police” leaflets.
“They continued to try and hamper Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability under the control of foreign forces,” he said.
“Anyone attempting to stir up trouble in Hong Kong will end in a failure,” he said.
“They continued to try and hamper Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability under the control of foreign forces,” he said.
Looks like the Chief Secretary needs lessons in grammatical construction to saying what he means to say.
Remember that all these people are peripheral as only Zhong Guo or the Centre is important. That they are threatening the Centre is vaguely important. Not greatly so.
You are an honoured barbarian and no one they believe is listening to you. Only Chinese counts as only Chinese people can be subversive and only Chinese writing or utterances can be subversive. Everything and everybody else is/are annoying twaddle.
Try something. Bring out a Chinese translation every day of what you write – and expect the Thought Police tomorrow morning 4 am. Bet you.
They keep their hats on when they come inside and make an arrest! Rurik is waiting for you.
Hurrah!
@whisper: Either that or he had a Freudian slip about HK having prosperity and stability back when it was under the control of foreign forces (as a colony).
Let’s see if threatening Hong Kong parents for speaking with their overseas children or giving them money from time-to-time proves to be a winner, either practically or politically, for the blundering monsters.
@Stanley: Why the hell not? They throw Uighurs into internment camps just for having a family member overseas. Scaring famously overprotective Hong Kong parents into telling their children to act like good little patriots while studying at the University of Toronto is their idea of going easy on us.
This “Nury” dude should start his own blog
All this ‘foreign forces’ narrative is nothing more than twaddle – a figment of the CCP’s imagination, premised on the fact that because this how they get things done overseas, then everyone else must be up to the same kind of stuff. Its a narrative that has long been employed to shape public opinion, rally support for the CCP, and consolidate power domestically.
It provides a convenient fig leaf for the current ‘security’ narrative – stoking up nationalist fervour that allows every Chinese to do what they do best – play the eternal victim.
With this mindset, believing the further twaddle spouted forth by Xi and his acolytes about China being a force for good and the harbinger of a new global order becomes more believable for the common folk, distracts them from the failing economy (which cannot be mentioned) and is articulated as the price every patriotic Chinese must pay for having the (perpetually sub-human) foreign barbarians realise that China is the rightful ruler of the world, always has been, always will be, world without end, Amen.
Oh yes, let’s not forget that this right is due to the superior genetic nature of the Han coupled with its separate evolutionary track stretching back way before barbarian civilisation was even dreamt of and the rest of the world was still crawling around on all fours.
Twaddle, all of it. CCP has never defined the exact nature of these ‘foreign forces’. They can vary based on the context and particular trajectory of the CCP’s narrative at any given time. And if Hong Kong officials are waiting for evidence to be revealed to get them off the hook with the global media and others, they will be waiting a long time.
As far as Hong Kong is concerned, ‘foreign forces’ was a concept dreamed up by CY Leung, that well-known trans-communist who did so much for the city’s prosperity and stability. He coined the phrase in exactly the way the CCP uses it, requiring no explanation, evidence, justification or objective proof. Just get it into the narrative and let it stick.
Hong Kong officials who spit it out at every possible occasion are simply making fools of themselves for the rest of the world to see – insulting our intelligence and ability to see through the twaddle.
(According to Chat GPT – “Twaddle” is a noun that means trivial or nonsensical talk or ideas. It refers to speech or writing that is considered unimportant, foolish, or lacking in substance. It’s often used to describe chatter or information that is not worth taking seriously. For example, if someone is discussing a topic with no real basis or providing information that seems irrelevant, someone else might say, “That’s just twaddle.” It’s a somewhat informal term used to dismiss or criticize superficial or nonsensical content.)
this odd behavior about resistance reads like a bunch of people who suddenly have found their jobs pertain only to what the CCP wants are now fearful their jobs and reputation are going to be constantly on the line, so they bring in the rest of the population to conform to their expectations. seems like an inherently selfish form of government.
@Chuck – there may be Reds under all the beds but apparently the barbarian foreign forces permeate the air we breathe…
CY Leung, that well-known trans-communist
The “trans-” is probably superfluos. I recall during the run-up to his appointment as CE there were strong rumours that he was a long-standing Party member
According to the media, family members have a crack of dawn knock on the door, homes and offices searched, mobile devices seized and checked, they are ‘escorted’ to the police station for interrogation that can last many hours, but the reports then invariably state that ……………. ‘no arrests were made’.
Am I missing something?
@Mary
Here is a handy guide to opposition control in a totalitarian state:
Step 1. Identify
Step 2. Isolate
Step 3. Intimidate
Step 4. Vilify
Step 5. Eliminate
After Step 1, the regime may stop anywhere along the continuum or skip as many steps as it feels like.
The CS says, “Anyone attempting to stir up trouble will end in a failure.”
Does he not know that the accepted terminology is “doomed to fail”?
Or is he quietly signalling his dissent from the regime?
I think we should be told.