The Standard reports a new fad among the anime crowd: cosplaying the Financial Secretary pushing ‘creative industries’.
Tweet by Sasha Gong, one of the 15 latest overseas people wanted by Hong Kong NatSec police…
Last Friday, I woke up to shocking news: the Hong Kong government had placed a bounty of roughly $30,000 on my head. My photo appeared on a wanted list. The accusation? Treason. They allege that I’ve engaged in activities to overthrow the government. They also claimed that I left Hong Kong in 2013, implying that I was a Hong Kong resident under their jurisdiction.
Let me be absolutely clear. I am not a Hong Kong resident—and never have been. I have been a proud citizen of the United States for decades.
Reuters report on Taiwan TV series Zero Day…
A new Taiwanese television series that imagines the run-up to a Chinese invasion is getting rave reviews from viewers, who said the first programme featuring the sensitive topic is a wake-up call for the public facing heightened Chinese military threat.
In the show, “Zero Day Attack”, a Chinese war plane goes missing near Taiwan. China then sends swarms of military boats and planes for a blockade as Taiwan goes on a war footing. Panic ensues on the streets of Taipei.
At viewings in Taipei last week attendees have included the top U.S. diplomat in Taiwan Raymond Greene, who is director of the American Institute in Taiwan, and Taiwanese tycoon Robert Tsao, a strident critic of Beijing.
The series is set to premiere on August 2 in Taiwan, followed by its Japanese release on Amazon Prime Video.
…The drama focuses on several scenarios Taiwan might face in the days leading up to a Chinese attack, including a global financial collapse, the activation of Chinese sleeper agents and panicked residents trying to flee the island.
“Without freedom, Taiwan is not Taiwan,” the actor who plays a fictional Taiwan president says in a televised speech, urging unity after declaring war on China, in the show’s trailer.
The live broadcast then gets abruptly cut off, replaced by a feed of a Chinese state television anchor calling for Taiwanese to surrender and to report “hidden pro-independence activists” to Chinese soldiers after their landing in Taiwan.
The Jamestown Foundation’s contribution to the newly popular genre of of papers pondering Xi Jinping’s hold on power…
Structural purges, which have halved the [Central Military Commission]’s size, likely constitute a systematic rebalancing of Xi’s patronage networks. While these actions do not yet amount to an overt power shift, they signal that the outwardly monolithic military-security apparatus Xi once relied upon is now visibly fractured and contested, even as he retains formal authority.
The possibility of fragmentation and realignment within the elite can no longer be ruled out, though no fixed timetable for such a transition exists. As Xi enters what is effectively the indefinite phase of his tenure, Party elites will increasingly maneuver around the unresolved question of succession. For now, Xi appears capable of dictating terms, but as time goes on, the system will only reduce his power to do so.
Soft resistance hits North Korea…
According to a Daily NK source in North Hamgyong province recently, four people in their twenties were arrested in Chongjin by local state security officers for talking like South Koreans. A local resident had tipped off authorities after spotting the group mimicking lines from South Korean films and dramas.
The four are currently being questioned at the city’s Ministry of State Security branch and will likely face six months to a year of forced labor.
Had my ninth Covid shot. The doctor said not many people are bothering any more. I have not (so far as I know) had the illness.
@Mary
“Note that the while Legco can pass complicated legislation that comes with significant impact on the community in a few hours, our prurient legislators are currently taking days to debate the bill granting limited legal rights to same-sex couples that most citizens do not give a fuck about.
With 90 members statistically around a half a dozen are gay.”
Indeed. The patriots play the same games with bills they don’t like that they accused their former pan-democratic opposition of. Hypocrisy from the patriots as usual.
I doubt they will pass the bill, there doesn’t seem much incentive from them to play ball and Beijing won’t force them to pass it like they would thing something the CCP would care about.
It’s always amused that “Paul Chan” sounds a lot like 破產 which is the Cantonese for “bankrupt”.
Absolutely apropos given his track record thus far.
He should probably stick to something he’s actually good at: like libelling schoolgirls, illegally subdividing flats and dodgy insider trading land deals.