Big Lychee, Various Sectors

(Might spend a few days next week meditating.)

Bloomberg reports that Beijing is arranging for state-owned Bauhinia Culture to buy the SCMP from Alibaba. SCMP management assures the paper’s staff that ‘there are no discussions’ etc, but that’s irrelevant – Jack Ma will do whatever he is told. 

The report is credible simply because, under the circumstances (ongoing absorption of Hong Kong into Mainland system, semi-purge of Ma, Xi Jinping’s all-round tightening of CCP control), it is hard to imagine that Beijing would not be planning such a move. 

The leak to Bloomberg must have come from Mainland officials – who else could it have been? So whatever happens, the SCMP looks set to become part of the happy state-media family. Bauhinia Culture is an obvious choice, being run by the Liaison Office, and having taken over state-friendly Phoenix TV from PLA-tycoon Liu Changle earlier this year.

It will be fascinating, in a morbid way, to watch how SCMP transforms editorially from its current patchy semi-independence and mawkish kowtowing to overtly CCP-managed output. It will be run by the same people who head Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po, aiming to combine the dignified classiness of China Daily and the cosmopolitan panache of Global Times.

Or at least pleasing their bosses. A great thread on the current state of Chinese media aimed at foreigners.

In a Foreign Correspondents Club survey, 46% of journalists who responded were thinking of leaving Hong Kong and 56% reported self-censorship. China’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong could reasonably note that the sample was small and leave it at that – but instead they reach for the tantrum freak-out button…

FCC has walked away from its professional ethics … Its smearing of Hong Kong’s press freedom and playing-up of the chilling effect are interference in Hong Kong affairs…

We urge the FCC to distinguish right from wrong, respect the rule of law in the HKSAR, and stop driving wedge in Hong Kong and meddling in Hong Kong affairs under whatever pretext.

(The Chinese version is more mouth-frothing – ‘despicable acts of deliberately making “noise” and blatantly instigating incidents’, etc.)

Unlike other Beijing-directed agencies in town (including the Hong Kong government itself), the Foreign Ministry’s branch office doesn’t often get the chance to join in the patriotic mission to bring Hong Kong to heel – so that might partly account for the cantankerous outburst. MOFA mostly deals with local diplomats and seems to have jurisdiction over the FCC because of the ‘foreign’ tag; other organs would have ranted if the HK Journalists Association or the HK Jockey Club had done the survey.

Meanwhile, another independent local outlet shuts down, and an editor (whose media-executive wife is in jail) pulls out.

HK universities begin creepy compulsory NatSec classes on…

…the dangers of breaking the law, in one case demonstrating how a message in a chat group could be interpreted as a serious breach, punishable by up to life in prison…

At Baptist University, the course took the form of a two-hour seminar by pro-Beijing lawyer Alex Fan, who … warned students of the sweeping powers of the security law and the severity of punishments for breaking it, according to a 200-page PowerPoint presentation…

The presentation was followed by a compulsory 20-question multiple-choice test … in which students had to identify security law violations by characters with names such as “Ms Naughty” and “Mr Breach”. Several students told Reuters they failed the test.

There are barely enough candidates being nominated for the December LegCo ‘election’ to fill all the seats available. And this is before a vetting process begins to weed out any ‘unpatriotic’ hopefuls.

With the vetting results set to be announced as little as three weeks before the election, Chinese University political scientist Ma Ngok said disqualification of a candidate could cause confusion.

…Tik Chi-yuen, from the centrist Third Side party, said the situation was not sensible and would have a bearing on how much money a candidate was willing to spend during the election.

“What if he spends a lot of money and ends up being disqualified,” he said, suggesting there was no need to wait until the nomination period ended to start vetting work.

This sounds chaotic – until you factor in the presence of Beijing’s officials behind the scenes stage-managing the whole ‘election’ show. This is the way they scripted it, the winners have already been decided, and there will be no surprises.

Two threads in one: BBC China guy on the possible historic goings-on at the coming CCP Central Committee Plenum; and (jump straight to here if you’re not into plenums) on Xinhua’s bizarre recent output on the ‘awesomeness’ of Xi Jinping.

Latest news from the new improved election system where we never forget you don’t have a choice: veteran lawmaker Abraham Razak stands down to make way for the son of the Legislative Council president. Patriotic obedience plus filial piety – the chamber looks set to hold the executive branch to account with a very light touch.

And the Court of Final Appeal finesses a ruling on people being prosecuted for rioting when they were somewhere else. The oh-so important foreign judges can stay on for a while longer without too much embarrassment, but will the government/Beijing kick up a fuss?

Some weekend reading and viewing…

It’s Al Jazeera’s turn to do the Hong Kong-sinks-into-isolation-and-despair story…

“The selling point of Hong Kong for China, or value of Hong Kong for China, is the ability to be open to the rest of the world when China cannot for policy reasons[,] and Hong Kong is destroying its value to China by being closed.”

From Tim Hamlett – the vandalizing of Hong Kong’s legal aid system.

Quartz on how the US defines a Hongkonger (for purposes of giving visa extensions to those in danger of arrest for political reasons)…

“…we didn’t want a situation where – and this is just one scenario – if they only accept the Hong Kong SAR passport, that would’ve been fucked up because everyone who has a BNO would have to go to the Chinese embassy” to apply for the passport.

Alice Poon’s early 2000s classic incitement to sedition Land and the Ruling Class in Hong Kong has been translated into Korean. It is Hong Kong’s Shame of the Cities or History of the Standard Oil Company – still worth reading as a work that changed people’s thinking.

If Lulu Wang wants to shoot a Hong Kong movie called Expats 2 on the gritty hell that is housing allowances, here’s the outline of the screenplay.

Panda Tantrum du Jour: European Parliament members visit Taiwan. When Chinese officials say you will ‘pay a price’ for having better relations with an overseas people, how can you not be tempted to book the first flight to TPE?

Idiom of the Week Award goes to one I learnt watching series 2 of Korean TV drama Let’s Eat: ‘Sucking soybeans out of a beggar’s butt’ – meaning to demand help from someone less able to provide it than you are.

And for anyone complaining about the food in quarantine, here’s a taste-test of 1944 British Pacific Forces rations. 

There’s a plan to segregate perfect, healthy passengers on Mainland flights from the potentially filthy and diseased ones on international services at the airport. (Diagrams here, showing that both categories of departing passengers will in fact mix in the Gates 1-24/shops area. Groundside, of course, everyone can mingle all they want.) This is to try to convince Mainland officials to open up the border. 

There’s also a plan to make use of the LeaveHomeSafe app compulsory in all restaurants. This is also to try to convince Mainland officials to open up the border.

This follows the lengthening of quarantine for some arrivals to 21 days (medically redundant), and 14 days’ compulsory isolation for discharged Covid patients (also medically redundant) and a tightening of quarantine exemptions – all to try to convince Mainland officials to open up the border.

How much more inconvenience and pointlessness must we go through to demonstrate to Beijing our eagerness to please? Here is my grand genius modest proposal…

The government to issue an edict requiring all residents, every time they leave their homes, to: a) paint their faces purple; b) hang a pineapple from their necks; and c) hop on one leg everywhere they go. This edict will be in force for one entire week, with transgressors to be arrested for inciting sedition and subject to serious penalties. The aim being, of course, to try to convince Mainland officials to open up the border. 

If Chinese authorities still won’t do it after that, then we can surely conclude that there’s no satisfying them, so we can forget the whole thing – scrap all this extra-quarantine, segregation and apps stuff and get back to something more like normal.

Thank you for your attention.

And this just in…

Henderson Land have bid over HK$50 billion (US$6.5 billion) for a patch of land on Central harbour front. Rather than hope to make a profit by developing huge high-rises that blot out the light and trap air, they’re going to build three surprisingly low buildings – the artist’s impression shows them at around 10-15 floors, so it must be true. And they’re going to devote huge amounts of space to the public in the form of green sitting-out and recreational areas, which absolutely won’t ultimately end up mysteriously becoming inaccessible and indeed rented out to luxury exclusive tenants thanks to loopholes no-one foresaw. Isn’t that amazingly nice of them?! 

Hilariously tragic – wannabe quasi-election candidates from Ronnie Tong’s ‘moderate think tank’ group and the ‘centrist’ Third Path are struggling to attract necessary nominations from the Election Committee…

“We haven’t got a single nomination yet and we haven’t a clue what happened,” said Ronny Tong Ka-wah, a government adviser and leader of Path of Democracy, which planned to send four hopefuls to the December 19 election.

The reason is simple: members of the all-patriot/shoe-shiners Election Committee are petrified of endorsing anyone who does not have the overt blessing of Beijing officials, lest they end up in the CCP’s Big Black Book of Lifelong Enemies. Presumably, the Liaison Office will give a few zombies a nudge in order to get the token independents on the ballot. (The SCMP coyly terms their positioning ‘political ideas that do not square entirely with the pro-establishment camp’.)

The Hong Kong Police sleuths are trying to track down whoever developed the BackHomeSafe fake Covid contact-tracing app. 

For some non-local weirdness… 

Hundreds of QAnon supporters are currently traveling from all across the U.S. to Dallas, where they expect to see John F. Kennedy suddenly reappear on Tuesday night and ordain former President Donald Trump as the ‘king of kings’.

One seer…

…has long claimed that the Kennedy bloodline is directly linked to Christ. 

AFP does the latest report on international businesses complaining about Hong Kong’s ever-tightening and ever-more absurd Covid measures…

The new rules are the latest public health inconsistency to fuel suspicions in Hong Kong that the coronavirus is being used to keep the population down after democracy protests two years ago and a subsequent crackdown on dissent.

At present, 240 people can attend an indoor wedding banquet but more than four people eating sandwiches together in a park remains banned.

(The SCMP manages to craft a more positive spin in which business groups broadly support the government’s efforts and moan in moderation.)

An HKFP op-ed asks…

…why so much control, so much checking of where people go, rather than a stronger vaccination campaign?

If you haven’t yet got the feeling that the measures’ real aim is to curb protests and restrict movement, maybe you soon will.

Many people have downloaded the government’s LeaveHome Safe app, introduced as a voluntary contact-tracing system, in order to enter restaurants and other facilities without fuss. As of yesterday, the app became compulsory to access government buildings. This makes life difficult for poorer and homeless people who lack smartphones (click here to see ‘disoriented aged people fiddling with the app outside a public market in Tuen Mun’). It is also raising questions about why officials are so keen to promote the app.

After a solid year of NatSec regime horrors (cue the latest ‘seditious intention’ arrests), trust is running thin. Some people have downloaded fake apps (one simply opens inert but identical-looking website). The authorities are fighting back, even arresting civil servants. Others are now buying second phones – not linked to their personal info – just to put the app on.

And along comes CCP-run Wen Wei Po demanding that the government ban people from using second phones for LeaveHomeSafe. It might seem paranoid to claim that the authorities are pushing the app to pave the way for spyware – except there is no other reason why a CCP paper would want everyone to be compelled to use their main phone for it. 

Now there’s talk of supermarkets and malls requiring the app. Given malls’ role as public walkways and the main supermarkets’ near monopoly in many districts, this would make commuting or buying food a challenge – unless you download the software.

People have been angry that all this is supposedly necessary to reopen the border. They’ll be even angrier if/when they find out it’s a way to impose mass-surveillance software on everyone’s phone.

An SCMP report describes Beijing officials’ extraordinary efforts to micromanage the patriots-only December Legislative Council quasi-election so it doesn’t look too North Korean.

Obviously, with a vetting mechanism in place, they essentially choose who appears on each ballot. They are making sure a ‘centrist’ (like a Ronnie Tong sidekick) runs in each geographic constituency alongside the usual DAB/FTU zombie-loyalists and the tycoon shoe-shiners. And – is this sad or what? – they are ordering functional constituency candidates accustomed to winning unopposed to find suckers to pose as rivals. 

Lawmaker-turned-exile Ted Hui proposes that pro-democracy voters cast blank ballots as a way of protest (summary here, lengthy FB post in Chinese here). His ambitious target is for blank ballots to outnumber the filled ones. The logic is that such a glaring number of blank ballots would be embarrassing to the regime – which of course it would.

However, it would be easier and probably at least as effective if large numbers of voters choose simply to boycott the whole event. The headline figure would then be the drop in turnout from 71% in the 2019 district council polls to (say) 30% or 35%. Of course, the CCP could falsify the results in any case – but an exaggerated turnout would be easier to spot when there were no lines outside polling stations.

The ICAC – supposedly an anti-corruption agency – swiftly responds to Hui’s idea by warning against ‘inciting’ others not to vote or to cast blank or spoiled ballots, which they claim would be ‘manipulating and sabotaging the election’. A widespread boycott seems to be the protest method the authorities fear most – probably because it relies simply on voters’ gut instinct and natural disinterest/laziness rather than any proactive organizing or complex rationale. A turnout of below 30% would look seriously horrible.

A man in police custody died of pneumonia as a result of ‘inadequate clothing’. Perhaps the most surprising part is that the IPCC police complaints agency vaguely gave a slight damn (though the suspect was detained on suspicion of possessing drugs, not for shouting slogans about Hong Kong independence). The case prompts American lawyer Samuel Bickett to share disturbing detail of torture-by-freezing in police custody.

In theory, Justices of the Peace are supposed to drop by police stations and prisons to check on detainees’ treatment, but even in pre-NatSec days the title of JP was a reward for shoe-shiners who see the colonial-era (indeed, 1360s-era) office as a mark of social status. Long gone are the days when pro-democrat lawmakers like Emily Lau would exercise their right as JPs to visit prisons.

(Reminds me of a story from happier times, when an establishment stalwart who was a JP had been imprisoned for taking a bribe from a wannabe member of the HK Club. When the Correctional Services officer asked inmates one day if anyone wanted to talk to a visiting JP, they pointed to him and said they had one already.)  

The results of the latest Gratuitously Brown-nosing Shoe-shiner of the Week Award are in. In second place comes Nury Vittachi, who explains in a video how and why Amnesty International are not being forced out of Hong Kong. An ever-so earnest delivery sadly let down by rather predictable tankie undertones. And the winner is a newcomer, with a surprisingly strong performance: a China Daily op-ed lavishly praising Carrie Lam’s policy address, by a physics professor and boss of the HKU ‘Space Research Laboratory’ – almost as if his contract is up for renewal or something. Have a sick bag ready.

The Guardian on Hong Kong’s Covid policy…

The changes push Hong Kong further into a life dictated by China’s strategy as the rest of the world is opening up… It adds to already record levels of population loss as Hongkongers fled the national security crackdown.

From Bitter Winter, more on the replacement of ‘Tibet’ by ‘Xizang’. (This effort will surely just attract more international attention to Tibet’s plight. I recall one of Beijing’s English-language mouthpieces referring to the then-CE as ‘Tsang Yam-kuen’ in order to avoid the alien ‘Donald’, but dropping the idea after a while, presumably because it merely confused readers. Another snag with ‘Xizang’ is that much of the intended overseas audience will also probably be unable to pronounce it.)

Another sign that the global public are finding the CCP’s China increasingly annoying – a new take on Winnie the Pooh from US artist Alex Solis.

Just when you thought Hong Kong’s Covid measures couldn’t get any more unscientific or oppressive – they decide to put recovered patients in 14 days of de-facto quarantine. Not remotely sustainable if there’s ever a surge in cases. Simply a theatrical gesture to impress Mainland officials who have no incentive to open the border with Hong Kong. Won’t this also possibly give people an incentive to avoid diagnosis if their symptoms are mild? 

And the NatSec film-censorship law gets the rubber stamp. Loyalists eager to impress their masters are calling (logically) for the law to apply to online videos. The Commerce minister says that would involve ‘technological and enforcement considerations’, but we will at some stage find such considerations melt away when Beijing’s officials get round to imposing a Great Firewall in Hong Kong.

An early start to the weekend, with some recommended reading and viewing…

Lots of interesting observations on the NatSec regime in Hong Kong from Scott Veitch, law professor at HKU.

NPR interview with former SCMP editor and Next Media board member Mark Clifford on the media under threat in Hong Kong…

…we have seven journalists from Apple Daily and its parent company in jail right now being held without – essentially without bail. And it’ll probably be years until their trial comes up. And they’re effectively serving a life sentence because they’re presumed guilty rather than innocent before a trial, and the trial can take place whenever the authorities want it.

Also from NPR – Hongkongers settling in the UK. Including, from the (maybe paywalled) Economist, Blackpool.

Francesco Sisci in Asia Times on Beijing’s mishandled foreign policy… 

In the last 15 years ‘…China grew complacent and arrogant with its two crucial neighbors, Japan and India; it mothballed planned political reforms at home and in Hong Kong.’

What is it doing now?

The action most consistent with its system and the internal balance of power is “nothing,” a modern-day wuwei 无为, or “inaction.” It would mean: Close itself off and strengthen internal cohesion to avoid coups or rebellions. Therefore, draconian anti-epidemic measures are also helpful to keep external political pollution out, wait for the US to fall apart and for China’s rivals to come begging on their knees for mercy.

Former State Dept official Ortagus Stilwell tells CNN of the risks to US citizens of visiting China.

Is it goodbye Tibet, hello Xizang? Global Times seems to think so, and Bill Bishop in his newsletter writes…

My understanding is that the ministry of propaganda issued a directive last month to gradually start replacing “Tibet” with “Xizang” in external propaganda. I assume this comes after the August Tibet work conference, is part of a more encompassing “sinicization” strategy?

John Oliver explaining Taiwan – surprisingly well.

Ronny Tong proudly presents his Path of Democracy ‘third way’ political group aimed at attracting people who have no political views…

“We understand die-hard pro-establishment supporters might not be interested in us nor die-hard radical supporters,” Tong said. “Our previous surveys found over half of Hongkongers are politically neutral. They will be our biggest voter base.”

Sorry, Ronny – no-one will be interested in you. Note the oh-so subtle attempt to differentiate the group as some sort of cool rebellious outcast rejected by ‘die-hard pro-establishment’. And, behold the non-platform…

“Compared to the pro-establishment camp we will stress more on Hongkongers’ core values, our freedom and the uniqueness of our society,” Tong said.

“On the other hand, we will focus more on the importance of China’s constitution and complying with the requirements under the Basic Law, national security and the importance of fighting for democracy under a stable society.”

It seems even the venerable ultra-moderate ADLP won’t be participating in the coming legislative polls, so Ronny’s little crew – like Tik Chi-yuen’s similar Third Side group – get to be Beijing’s token/quasi-democrats, masquerading as ‘centrists’. 

Reminder: any candidate whose name is on the ballot in December is a United Front stooge – no exceptions.

Hong Kong tightens its quarantine measures, again, in an effort to be as Mainland as the Mainland. It’s easy to mock international financial institutions whining about Hong Kong’s Covid restrictions driving expat bankers away (Fortune has one of many reports). But the fact is that large numbers of the city’s residents, most of whom are not expats/bankers, are getting increasingly pissed off. 

What’s intriguing is that local officials, who in decades past grovelled to overseas bankers, are now treating them with the same contempt as they do everyone else. What this tells us is that the local administration is no longer making the decisions. Greatest irony: during the 2019 movement, these same officials criticized the protests for (allegedly) driving foreign business away. 

Kong Tsung-gan is keeping count of the civil society organizations disappearing in Hong Kong – 53 so far.

The Golden Buttock Award for Bare-Faced Cheek goes to China and Hong Kong police, who ask Danish counterparts via Interpol to cooperate with investigations into Danish lawmakers who might have helped pan-dem activist Ted Hui leave Hong Kong. The Danes said no.

Ma Chun-man – ‘Captain America 2.0’ – is convicted of ‘inciting secession’, by chanting slogans that ostensibly call for Hong Kong independence. (Background to trial here.) Simply calling for Hong Kong independence seems to be sufficient to be a crime; no-one has to actually be ‘incited’ to do anything. How distinct is this from mildly expressing a personal opinion that Hong Kong would, ideally, be independent? 

The NatSec judge dismissed defence arguments out of hand. An expert at Georgetown Law pulls apart the judgement.

As it happens, Amnesty International chooses this time to announce that it will pull out of Hong Kong, after 40 years here. No point in hanging around and finding out what will happen if they don’t (police raids, asset seizures, arrests of staff, charges of inciting conspiracy to incite blah blah, and a NatSec judge.). 

That leaves the HK Journalists Association among major civil-society groups still operating – for example, yesterday’s criticism of the government’s moves to tighten access to the Companies and Lands Registries.

An interesting conundrum for the government desperate to have voters attend rigged and futile quasi-elections but also desperate to impress Beijing with its extreme approach to Covid: should polling stations require the Leave Home Safe app to enter? 

In case you missed them, a small sample of worthwhile recent articles from Hong Kong Free Press…

How many flats will (or would) the Lantau Tomorrow and Northern Metropolis yield versus how many Hong Kong will need? This op-ed finds the projects’ promoters and bureaucrats are using very slippery numbers. (One tycoon of my acquaintance liked to use the word ‘decant’ rather a lot in connection with the Lantau white-elephant proposal. The not-so hidden agenda was cleansing districts like Shamshuipo or Mongkok of local riff-raff for redevelopment as luxury blah-blah.)

Another op-ed on the background and underlying purpose of that fact-sheet on US interference in Hong Kong, including the shaping of the…

…emerging new official narrative … Without the opportunistic meddling of foreign agents and their Western government sponsors, Hongkongers apparently could never have managed such an ambitious project on their own.

An explainer on how Beijing is erasing the memory of the Tiananmen Massacre in Hong Kong.

And a reminder that HKFP is holding a fund-raising drive.

(Also, in case you didn’t see it, a late comment from yesterday. Didn’t a spate of suicides take place around the depths of the Tung Chee-hwa/SARS era?)

For music fans – the song Fragile, aimed at China’s panty-wetting on-line ‘Little Pink’ patriots. Includes a reference to bat-eating. So far, 16.8 million views. I guess Malaysian rapper Namewee and Australian Kimberley Chen won’t be on the overseas compatriots invitation list for next year’s CCTV Spring Gala. More here.