Big Lychee, Various Sectors

The scumbaggiest part of the always-tawdry tourism industry demands an increase in squatting, lunchbox-munching-outside-toilets group tours…

A tourism trade representative said on Monday that there’s a need for Hong Kong to operate low-cost tours, saying it doesn’t necessarily mean that they would engage in forced shopping.

Last Friday, Chinese newspaper Oriental Daily reported that such tours have filled parts of Kowloon, with mainland tourists having to eat cheap takeaways on the streets.

The industry says such tours are essential ‘to revive the [tourism] sector’. So how about not reviving this parasite industry? Why does a developed economy, with a shortage of both manpower and space, need millions of low-spending visitors? Or is pushing up rents and angering the populace the whole point?

On the Mid-Levels escalator over the weekend, I encountered a parade of maybe two dozen bewildered and depressed-looking elderly Westerners – all in disposable plastic raincoats – being led by a sleazy-looking flag-waving guide. No instant noodles, so presumably they were at the classier end of the mass-tourism spectrum. But even so, they were in serious danger of being flung over the side by irate locals with things to do. 

Modest proposal: make members of ‘low quality’ tour groups wear numbered tags and confine themselves within a strip of barrier tape, which they must carry themselves.

Photo of the Day: if Regina Ip and her entourage stooped over and pointed at you, wouldn’t you feel like a fish out of water?

Hong Kong’s first post-Covid protest – a few dozen Tseung Kwan O residents campaigning against reclamation – resembles a procession of Japanese kindergartners. Footage of the event, complete with compulsory numbered tags around necks and a ‘moving cordon’ strictly enforced by cops…

After the rally organiser Cyrus Chan said police went through the design of all banners, placards and leaflets and “communicated” on what slogans to chant to prevent “politically sensitive or seditious words”. Participants should not wear all black outfit or yellow raincoat. 

Police say the aim is to keep ‘criminals’ away – and indeed, any criminals planning to join an anti-reclamation march would probably balk at the inconvenience and humiliation. Also, restrictions on reporters’ movements at the scene. 

Sports federation officials deny scapegoating their member-group underlings over national anthem blunders. It’s not merely scapegoating, but overwrought criticism-as-performance and dump-on-your-colleagues in order to appear patriotic and loyal. Can’t imagine why anyone would want to head up an ice hockey association in Hong Kong at the best of times.

ArtNews on the removal of video installation No Rioters at Sogo…

For [artist Patrick] Amadon, the removal of No Rioters “irrefutably” demonstrated how much things had changed in Hong Kong compared to a few years ago, in contrast to the positive news coverage the city’s reopening. “I think the piece being pulled down completed the piece,” he said. “A lot of people in the art world saying ‘Hong Kong is back’ was completely glossing over the erosion of freedoms.”

Some links from the weekend…

HKFP op-ed on the numerous ‘sedition’ cases in Hong Kong…

…Most common law countries have either abolished sedition altogether or restrict it to advocacy of violence. Observers in those countries are unlikely to be impressed by the number of cases now cropping up in Hong Kong, or the rather imaginative connection with violence involved in some of them.

It is no good our government complaining that overseas writers or officials are “scandalising” our judicial system if its conduct is by their standards scandalous.

Samuel Bickett on the first anniversary of his release and deportation from Hong Kong.

Interesting thread on Hong Kong’s role in the fight against TB.

Reuters report on US-China rivalry over subsea fiber-optic cables.

Minxin Pei on the potential pitfalls for Beijing of a closer alliance with Russia…

The more dire Russia’s straits, the more sensitive and solicitous Beijing must be to avoid slighting ordinary Russians, many of whom may not have fully absorbed how much richer and more powerful China has become. Unfortunately, stroking the national egos of weaker powers is not something for which China has shown notable talent.

Excellent China Media Project piece on the big missing part of Beijing’s revanchism: ‘lost’ Russian territory…

Whereas the retrocession of British Hong Kong and the taking of Taiwan — two much smaller possessions ceded in Qing-era unequal treaties — are considered sacrosanct milestones for the “Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation,” the area known now as Outer Manchuria is politely overlooked.

…The window of acceptable discourse takes on very different dimensions depending on whether one is looking out over the East China Sea or the Siberian taiga. In the case of the former, talk of restoring imperial borders is familiar to the point that it has become mere background noise; the latter, however, provides a sobering vision of what happens when such “historical claims” are applied evenly and taken to their logical, bloody conclusions.

From CNN: the ROC is losing its few remaining full diplomatic ties with small Latin American and Pacific states (Honduras was demanding big bucks) – but Taiwan builds far more meaningful de-facto relations with Western countries.

PEN America protests Hong Kong’s criminalization of book-selling.

From China File, some brief analysis of XI Jinping’s visit to Putin.

Jamestown Foundation’s Willy Lo-lop Lam asks (rhetorically) whether Xi Jinping Thought can lead the way to the end of politics in China and Marx’s envisioned communist utopia.

A Guardian story on a UK lawmakers’ visit to Taiwan deserves credit for three things. First, the succinct summary of the China-Taiwan situation…

China’s Communist party government claims Taiwan as a province, which it intends to annex, by force if necessary. Taiwan’s democratically elected government and the vast majority of its people reject the prospect of Chinese rule.

Second, referring to Beijing’s response to UK military sales to Taiwan (‘a serious violation of the one-China principle’), the accurate but all-too-rare summary…

The one-China principle is a domestic Chinese edict which encompasses its claim over Taiwan. Other governments maintain their own one-China policies, which dictate the varying levels of recognition given to China’s principle

And third, the paper ignores Beijing’s inevitable ‘anger’ over the parliamentarians’ trip.

Finally, Andrew Batson looks at the lack of separate ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘it’ pronouns in spoken Chinese.

Today’s NatSec developments: Albert Ho in jail; four former HKCTU members ‘taken to assist in an investigation’; and a martial arts coach appeals against his five-year sentence for ‘inciting subversion’. The No Rioters installation gets taken down (of course). The BBC reports the disappearance of the Winnie the Pooh Chainsaw Massacre movie. And the government complains again about Google search results on anthems (‘the blunder has upset every single Chinese person’).

The Hong Kong government hits back, at great length, at the US State Dept’s ‘so-called’ annual human rights reports…

The spokesperson stressed, “…By issuing the so-called annual report, the US again made despicable tricks, which override law by politics, with an attempt to undermine the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong by politicising human rights issues and slandering the human rights situation and rule of law in the city. It will only expose its own weakness and faulty arguments and be doomed to fail. The HKSAR Government again strongly urges the US to immediately stop using human rights as an excuse to interfere into the internal affairs of the HKSAR of the PRC.”

You might think that the more someone says in this situation, the less convincing they will sound. But the government can’t resist rebutting in detail every main allegation in the report, under such headings as the ‘improved electoral system’, ‘rule of law’, ‘freedom of assembly’, etc…

Trade union rights in Hong Kong are strong and intact as ever, which is evidenced by the marked increase in the number of registered trade unions from 2019 to 2022. It is crystal clear that the free exercise of the right and freedom of association in the Hong Kong has not been jeopardised in any way.

On the subject of excessive rhetoric, Beijing calls a visit by Germany’s education minister to Taiwan ‘vile’. Another word for the Outraged Press Release Bingo.

No connection or anything – just Carrie Lam buying food at Fairwood. I mean ‘so-called food’…

Three people get five to 10 months in prison for producing and selling a ‘seditious’ book… 

According to local media, the designated national security magistrate … said the case was about more than spreading seditious messages on social media as it involved designing, producing and printing the publication in question.

Chan was described as the “instigator” and “core offender” in the case, who designed and produced 400 copies of the book. Prosecutors had told the court that the book contained accusations that Hong Kong police condoned criminals and triad activities, made up stories, and disregarded the law.

Does this mean – among other things – that alleging HK Police collusion with triads at the 7-21 Yuen Long incident can land you in prison?

Veteran Democratic Party lawmaker Albert Ho – already on bail on a ‘Pan-Dem 47’ subversion charge – is arrested on suspicion of interfering with witnesses…

Ho, sources said, had allegedly reached out to family members of a jailed witness for the primary election trial and asked them to pass his message to the witness. 

This seems to be connected with the arrest (on suspicion of ‘collusion with foreign powers’) of Elizabeth Tang, wife of Lee Cheuk-yan. Thread on the links between the five concerned – Albert Ho, Fred Ho/Marilyn Tang, Elizabeth Tang, and Lee Cheuk-yan. 

Movie reviews: If We Burn and Blue Island, neither of which can be shown in Hong Kong. This might be the case with Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey – a low-budget horror film pulled from Hong Kong screens by its Hong Kong distributor… 

Director Rhys Frake-Waterfield told Reuters that “something mysterious” had happened.

“The cinemas agreed to show it, then all independently come to the same decision overnight. It won’t be a coincidence,” Frake-Waterfield said.

“They claim technical reasons but there is no technical reason. The film has showed in over 4,000 cinema screens worldwide. These 30+ screens in Hong Kong are the only ones with such issues.”

I take it AA Milne’s works have recently entered the public domain? Critics with a fondness for Dorothy Parker might argue that gruesome murders could only improve the twee Pooh stories. But a quick flick-through via one of those disgraceful pirated streaming sites – segments totalling about 10 minutes of the movie at most – sadly confirms it is indeed utter crap. 

Hard to believe that someone in the cinema industry in Hong Kong – home of the film Womb Ghosts – has decent cinematic taste. So presumably the distributor simply fears Beijing’s wrath, or succumbed to behind-the-scenes pressure even though the Hong Kong government couldn’t bring itself to openly ban it. 

Banned yet? Digital artist Patrick Amadon includes brief flashes of political prisoners’ names on a video being shown on a big screen at (of all places) Sogo as part of Art Week. A gif of the piece is here. (Surely Sogo will take it down and issue a groveling apology?)

Some mid-week links…

Why hadn’t Beijing planned an exit from zero-Covid? They did, but political ideology overrode science – thread and link to AP investigation.

From China Media Project – China Daily US’s filings with the federal government shows it spends 12 times on advertising what it gets in ad revenues…

Between June and October 2022, China Daily USA brought in just over 102,000 dollars in advertising profits and a mere 13,000 dollars from subscriptions. The lion’s share of “revenue”— about 98 percent—came in the form of a handout totaling over five million dollars direct from China Daily headquarters in Beijing.

HKFP is following the PanDem 47 case (here and here), and there’s a short regular HK Watch update (site seems to be blocked on some ISPs, so might need a VPN or whatever). Au Nok-hin, who has turned prosecution witness, is giving evidence. The (slightly) amusing part is that he isn’t helping portray the prosecution’s alleged grand conspiracy so much as recounting endless bickering among the various pan-dems about the supposed strategy behind the primary elections…

…Democratic Party primary candidates refused to sign documents relating to vetoing the Hong Kong Government’s budget…

Common primary platform amongst democrats was not signed due to fears of disqualification. 

Not that it will probably make a difference.

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive sets up a Council of Advisors…

…to advise [him] on the strategic development of Hong Kong, leveraging on opportunities from national and global developments. The formation of the Council is particularly timely and crucial, as Hong Kong is now on the path to resume normalcy after the pandemic, seeking to rekindle momentum to return to the international stage as the most effective gateway between the world and the country.  

It is to be chaired by the CE himself, and comprises three sub-groups containing a lot of familiar names. In the ‘economic advancement and sustainability group’, at least six of the 11 members are sons (or daughter or son-in-law) of a tycoon. These are not generally people with an interest in new ideas on – say – overhauling Hong Kong’s land-use/housing policies or questioning the value of mass tourism. 

This is the latest in a series of advisory bodies like this; Tung Chee-hwa set one up soon after the handover (if memory serves, it included Rupert Murdoch), and little came of it. It looks more like a way of co-opting some prominent figures, making them feel important, and keeping them onside. (And we already have a body that does that – the Executive Council.)

The new Council is 91% male – much to the relief of numerous tycoons’ daughters, no doubt.

One thing the new Council will probably not recommend is learning from past public-health performance. Surprisingly gutsy SCMP op-ed by public policy professor Donald Low on why Hong Kong authorities should allow an objective review of their handling of Covid…

…throughout 2022, Financial Secretary Paul Chan referred to “the ongoing pandemic” to rationalise Hong Kong’s abysmal GDP performance. A moment’s introspection would lead to the obvious conclusion that the pandemic, which was ongoing everywhere else, was not to blame but it was Hong Kong’s excessive Covid restrictions (justified by the need to mimic the mainland’s zero-Covid stance) that delayed the city’s recovery by at least a year.

In a similar vein, when questioned by reporters on why Hong Kong’s Covid death toll was so much higher than Singapore’s, Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau deflected and said that Hong Kong had an older population.

But … Japan has an older population and still had a much lower death toll than Hong Kong. In any case, Singapore’s elderly population is not significantly younger than Hong Kong’s to explain why it had far fewer Covid or excess deaths.

…Singapore’s performance in handling Covid-19 was among the best in the world. A commission of inquiry is not needed since there were no clear instances of governmental incompetence, ignorance, or ideological thinking. The same cannot be said of the Hong Kong government.

…Given how much Hong Kong’s ruling class has become far less diverse and less tolerant of dissent and criticism in recent years…

In short, it is precisely because a truly independent inquiry would raise very uncomfortable questions for those in power that might challenge the veneer of competence and objectivity that they wish to preserve, that even suggestions of it cause annoyance to government leaders.

While he mentions Beijing’s role in influencing local Covid measures, he doesn’t spell out that the central government’s local overseers would not countenance an independent inquiry. 

Some worthwhile reading from the weekend…

HKFP op-ed on the much-diminished post-Covid right of assembly in Hong Kong.

Tribute to Jiang Yanyong, the doctor who exposed Beijing’s cover-up of SARS in Beijing in 2003 – by the Time correspondent he talked to.

CNN on the changing stature of Taiwan’s aboriginal people.

For econ nerds, an interesting thread on how Ireland’s GDP has more than doubled in size in 10 years – yet the Irish are little better off.

As predicted (it didn’t take much uncanny foresight or general omniscience), the Hong Kong government issues a wrathful press release over the US Senate committee’s resolution. That’s a ‘so-called resolution’ according to an anonymous spokesman apparently on secondment from Pyongyang…

“Through the so-called resolution, the US politicians once again performed a despicable manoeuvre with politics prevailing over the law, exposing their hypocrisy with double standards. Their vile conspiracy of ‘using Hong Kong to contain China’ is doomed to fail.”   

Among various shifts away from Deng Xiaoping-era reformism, Xi Jinping is weakening the separation of Party and State in China. (In theory, the party formulates ideology and broad policy while the state does policy implementation and administration. In practice, the personnel at top levels overlap, but the ‘separation’ allows the state bureaucracy at lower levels some leeway over details.) In line with this, the HK and Macau Affairs Office is to come directly under the CCP Central Committee rather than the PRC State Council, and it will directly oversee the Liaison Offices. The DAB’s Starry Lee says this shows ‘how highly-valued the two SARs are’. Or at least how highly-valued ideology and centralized control are.

The Standard story spells this out a bit more. The new body will officially be called the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the CPC Central Committee, though is likely to keep the old name as well.

For some light relief – the Hong Kong government clarifies its stance on a porn star.

Hong Kong’s arrests for book-possession make the international news. The Times (paywalled) notes that the two men received the books by mail from the UK…

Police arrested five speech therapists for creating the books and a Hong Kong court found them guilty last year of sedition. They were each sentenced to 19 months in prison. Police urged parents to destroy the books because they were “too radical and instilled in children the ideas to confront and oppose the government”.

…Ronny Tong, of the government’s executive council, said residents took “legal risks” keeping publications that have been declared seditious. He warned that downloading them may be considered as being “in possession” and advised people to get rid of them.

Interesting question: would lawmakers be arrested if you mailed seditious kids’ sheep-cartoon books to them?

Some weekend reading…

More of a short book than a long essay – Journal of Democracy on Beijing’s strategy of making the world less liberal and more autocratic…

This belief in the superiority of an autocratic Chinese model coexists with deep insecurity…

The Diplomat examines how, having engineered eternal brotherly peace and love between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Xi Jinping will bring his personal international-relations flair to the Russia-Ukraine conflict…

While Xi has proved he is extraordinarily shrewd operator in Chinese domestic politics, the strongman’s heavy-handed diplomacy and idiosyncratic zero COVID policy raise doubts about his ability to play cards skillfully in Europe.

Japan Times announces that the ‘Chinese Century’ is already over – owing to demographics. Some interesting stats on the link between median age and GDP growth rates.

National Interest looks at the KMT’s increasingly pro-Beijing stance.

…another angry press statement blasting overseas criticism of the legal system, in which the Hong Kong government…

…strongly disapproved and firmly opposed the acts of the so-called “international legal team” for Lai Chee-ying and his son Sebastian Lai, and those of Sebastian Lai himself, to scandalise the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL) and the judicial system of the HKSAR, and to abuse the United Nations mechanisms by soliciting the United Nations Human Rights Council to interfere in the judicial proceedings of Lai Chee-ying’s case concerning the NSL.

Lai junior told the UN body…

…that his father had been subject to “a litany of legal proceedings that have resulted in lengthy and disproportionate terms of imprisonment”.

“He now faces trial on trumped-up charges of sedition and endangering national security for his journalism, a trial that could condemn him to spend the rest of his life in prison,” 

The government press release also contains a warning that…

Making a statement with the intent to interfere with or obstruct the course of justice, or engaging in conduct with the same intent, is very likely to constitute the offence of criminal contempt of court or the offence of perverting the course of justice.

Before the ink has dried on this one, government angry-statement-writers are surely getting to work on another. The US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee introduces a resolution…

…condemning Beijing’s destruction of Hong Kong’s democracy and rule of law in addition to its political persecution of Jimmy Lai and other pro-democracy advocates.

Among other things, the resolution…

Condemns the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) practice of bringing false and politically-motivated charges against Hong Kongers, as well as the state-directed theft of Apple Daily…

Maybe (at least because of the direct reference to the CCP and Apple Daily’s closure) the next statement will use more original outraged language.

(Innovation-hub-worthy brainwave… ‘Outraged Press Release Bingo’^®, where you cross off words as they appear: ‘so-called’, ‘scandalize’, ‘insult’, ‘smear’, ‘deplores’, ‘hegemony’, ‘travesty’, ‘wanton’, ‘dotard’, etc.)

The mustn’t-call-it-Kafkaesque Stand News trial continues, with the prosecution expecting the outlet’s former editor to read large amounts of freshly submitted evidence, plus the minds of its past contributors.

Activists being prosecuted for ‘unauthorized display of posters’. Is this about posters, or the messages they carry? (How come businesses can clutter up sidewalks with ads with impunity?) 

But the creepiest news of the day is that people in Hong Kong are now being arrested for alleged possession of ‘seditious’ books. The children’s sheep-cartoon book is, of course, online – can you be arrested for looking at the website? What other volumes on our shelves (or screens) might be seditious, and get us arrested? Will the government place bins in public places for people to dispose of illicit printed material (as with CBD gummies)? Or organize book-burnings in the streets?