Big Lychee, Various Sectors

Hong Kong’s relaxation of Covid measures goes into un-relaxation mode, again, in a manner the official statement describes as ‘suitably’ (reminds me of the time the press releases called all infrastructure projects ‘necessary’). In order to enter a bar, you must show a photo of a recent negative RAT test with your name and the date and a notary public’s stamp crammed onto the little plastic box to prove scientifically and absolutely that it is yours and current. 

And the purpose of this is? Apparently an attempt to appear to be micro-managing clusters. Or something.

Some mid-week links…

Nikkei Asia on the weakening of judicial independence in Hong Kong and what it means for business…

Alvin Cheung, the scholar, argued that “certainly if your line of work involves dealing with [state-owned enterprises], you should not be in Hong Kong.”

“I would suggest that the presumption should be in favor of Singapore, unless you have really, really compelling reasons to be in Hong Kong in particular. And in that case you should perform risk management accordingly. Which is to say, any risk assessments conducted prior to 2020 are absolutely irrelevant.”

HKFP op-ed on the Justice Dept’s time-wasting prosecutions.

From David Webb, a searchable dataset of the Hong Kong government’s accounts since 1999 – ‘a resource for any policy researcher, journalist, student or legislator investigating how the Government raises, saves and spends its money’. Bookmark it.

For masochists – in New York, a personal memoir by Karen Cheung of the descent of Hong Kong into a NatSec/Covid dystopia.

From CMP, a history of the CCP’s use of the word ‘core’ – as in ‘party leadership’. (Trigger warning: contains pic of Jimmy Carter halfway through.)

Foreign Affairs asks has China lost Europe?

A BBC report on weird racist videos Chinese make in Africa.

An interesting blog post refuting the claim that the DPP is de-sinicizing Taiwan.

For those home-sick for Japan, a great thread on the country’s user-oriented design.

The government is planning another round of clunkily-distributed HK$5,000 cash handouts to help compensate for the economic damage it has inflicted through its Covid measures. But it will try to exclude anyone planning to emigrate…

…Financial Secretary Paul Chan said that the government would determine whether residents have left or intend to leave the city permanently … 

Those who have applied to withdraw their Mandatory Provident Fund early due to permanent departure from the city would also be seen as ineligible for the second phase of consumption vouchers. The government will also look at other evidence.

So petty it hardly counts as vindictive. But it suggests someone is more frustrated at the ongoing exodus than officials publicly admit. It also has a slightly sinister Minority Report thing about it. Will they employ mind-readers to determine whether people are thinking of leaving town? As a Standard editorial puts it:

…it is ill conceived to extend this policy to those who are still in Hong Kong just because someone in the government “thinks” they are making plans to leave the city.

…They are Hong Kong citizens and, therefore, have the same rights as anyone else.

Mind you – with so many families packing their bags, this could save billions.

Liberal Studies have been scrapped in Hong Kong schools after the subject supposedly fed kids warped political brainwashing. Thoroughly non-biased and objective replacement textbooks describe the 2019 protests as ‘violent terrorist attacks’. They also push a pedantic/desperate argument that Hong Kong was never a British colony. (If they catch you thinking otherwise, you won’t get your HK$5,000.)

VOA describes journalists as an endangered species in Hong Kong…

[A] journalist, who covers politics for an online European outlet, said he has considered leaving because of threats online, criticism from pro-Beijing media, and abuse on social media.

“It seems that this is a well-orchestrated pro-government attack against Western media. And even though it’s not official, for me on the ground it feels the message is quite clear,” he said. “Certain reporting is no longer welcome in Hong Kong.”

It is a stark change from when that journalist first moved to Hong Kong. “There were almost no restrictions at all, so there was nothing to worry about,” he said.

(On a related note… I’ve always allowed pretty much anything in the comments section of this site, save for the ravings of the odd sociopath. But people are currently in jail for writing or publishing opinions, such as calling for overseas governments to sanction Hong Kong officials. So, for reasons of plain everyday cowardly paranoia, comments are now moderated – self-censored, whatever you want to call it – accordingly. Sorry.)

An eye-witness account with video (from up a tree) to mark the third anniversary of 6-12, the day Hong Kong’s anti-extradition protests turned into ‘riots’. Samuel Bickett’s illustrated recollections…

Of the five demands made by the protesters, three were related to police and prosecutorial abuses, and all three initially stemmed from a single day of violence: June 12, 2019.

…The intention was always to not only attack, but cause maximum pain.

There was simply no justification for what I saw the police do that day.

Academics like Clifford Stott (who later refused to endorse an official whitewash) say that when a society has large-scale protests continuing for more than just a few days, it has a political rather than law-and-order problem. June 12 was the day it became clear that Beijing would insist that Hong Kong protests be suppressed by force, not solved through government response to public opinion. The Leninist impulse to bludgeon the world into submission led to the discharging of thousands of tear-gas rounds in the second half of 2019, and continues today – even in the obsessive and pointless quarantine regime for arriving passengers. This is what Hong Kong lost with the ending of One Country Two Systems.

Some faintly absurd remarks from ‘heavyweight’ Tsang Yok-sing pondering a reversal of the CCP’s direct rule over Hong Kong – worth a look for the SCMP’s ‘blue’ commenters ranting about how the guy is a closet pro-dem.

FCC president Keith Richburg on legal advice he received before the Club’s cancellation of the Human Rights Press Awards…

“In [the lawyer’s] words, you won’t get a fair hearing before a national security law judge, and he knows because he stands in front of him. He said you won’t get a fair hearing,” Richburg said, without disclosing the lawyer’s identity.

Richburg went on to say: “How many people arrested on the sedition or national security law have gotten off? You think they’re getting a fair trial in Hong Kong and China? Arresting people means that you’re guilty. Rule of law means the police can go out and arrest you for almost anything. That’s what’s scary about things now.”

He should have said this from the start. Some context – a graphic showing the rectification of Hong Kong news media in recent years, including the recent closure of Factwire. There’s not much left.

On the third anniversary of the first big anti-extradition protest in 2019, Carrie Lam tells the Legislative Council that her record in office is ‘nothing to be ashamed of’. So let’s see: mass demonstrations met by excessive police action, postponement of elections, arrests of pro-democracy politicians, closure of Apple Daily and numerous unions and civil groups, the NatSec Law with special no-jury courts, subversion and sedition charges routine – plus a massive death rate from Covid earlier this year, and continued quarantine and other zero-Covid pointlessness cutting the city off from the world. 

Nothing to be ashamed of? Yes – if she can claim that she wasn’t really in charge. No-one can remember much happening in the first two years of her term in office, when One Country Two Systems was still in effect, and she did seem to have control, in a dithering, accomplishment-free way. Hey – a ‘civil service college’!

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s top cop disputes that the city is becoming a ‘police state’. We need a definition, so here’s Wikipedia, quoting an academic work…

…since the beginning of the 20th century [the term] has “taken on an emotional and derogatory meaning” by describing an undesirable state of living characterized by the overbearing presence of civil authorities.

What were we just saying? Excessive police action, postponement of elections, arrests of pro-democracy politicians, closure of Apple Daily and numerous unions and civil groups, the NatSec Law with special no-jury courts, subversion and sedition charges routine. Plus assorted creepiness like the cryptic warning the public not to watch Revolution of Our Times if they are ‘unsure of the potential legal risks’.

What is interesting is that Commissioner Siu obviously finds the ‘police state’ tag objectionable. Can’t he join Carrie in feeling he has nothing to be ashamed of?

The ‘Just Some Noodles Will Do, Thanks’ Stupidest Recipe of the Week Award goes to the SCMP’s veal tartare with pickled shallot and Parmesan-paprika palmiers – ‘lean, light and elegant’. Includes at least one ingredient that ‘may be hard to find’, one that must be made ‘at least one day in advance’, and one that should be humanely reared. Plus one I’ve never heard of. (Oh, those things.) It’s a starter, so you’ve still got a main course to make.

Hong Kong’s top officials will have to be isolated from other people for a week before the arrival of a ‘very important’ – and apparently paranoid about Covid – Chinese leader for the 25th anniversary of the handover. Since they have been cut off from the community for years, it’s hard to see whether anyone will notice much difference.

I recall being present many years ago at preparations for a visit from Singapore’s demi-god Lee Kuan Yew. The great man’s aides demanded that every room he entered must have been smoke-free for 14 days – but he didn’t seem to have any hang-ups about actually shaking hands or anything. By contrast, it seems Carrie Lam, John Lee and hundreds of cops will have to undergo the full ‘big white’ disinfectant-spray treatment. 

The incoming CE’s image of a merciless, tough, law-and-order-obsessed disciplinarian takes a slight blow, as he turns himself in and begs for exemption for a technical infringement of election advertising rules, in theory attracting a possible six-month prison sentence. Does the fact that you were running against yourself in a fake election count as mitigation? Even pan-democrats have been let off the hook for this, so presumably the court will be understanding.

An excellent opportunity to resurrect this…

Outgoing Chief Executive Carrie Lam warns of radicals and lone wolves lurking and plotting, and ‘very likely to use large-scale events or sensitive days to incite others to come out and do damaging things’. And the HK Police announce a counter-terrorism hotline, with cash rewards. July 1 is the Big Terrorism Freak-out day, apparently. (Will they ever find a convincing bomb-making plot?)

Samuel Bickett’s lawyers present ‘irrefutable evidence of his innocence one last time’ to the Court of Final Appeal (includes link to full filing).

Two European analysts on John Lee’s appointment to Hong Kong CE…

Compared to other names that were in the speculation as to potential followers of Carrie Lam, John Lee was the most light-weight and his nomination represents the decreased importance of the Chief Executive’s role. Beijing clearly wanted someone who follows its orders without feeling the need to balance between the untrustworthy Hong Kongers and the orders from Beijing.

A review of Revolution of Our Times. (If you are unsure of the potential legal risks of reading this piece, best refrain from looking at it.)

Once domesticated, now feral – Peng Chau’s semi-public chairs, and their ‘mysterious choreography’.

Kevin Carrico reviews Louisa Lim’s Indelible City.

Some interesting quotes in Andrew Batson’s blog on whether the CCP’s intolerance of opposing views and independent business empires is ‘unprecedented’.

George Magnus and other economists offer brief answers to the question: is China’s economic miracle over? (One, Nancy Qian, wins extra points for stating it wasn’t a miracle.)

HKFP op-ed on China’s Covid policies as a sign of governance weakness.

From ASPI, female ethnic Asian journalists and activists are being attacked by online dummy accounts presumably run by Beijing…

…These accounts attempt to attack their physical appearance, question their credibility and the quality of their work, often in response to specific content they’ve written or produced. These parts of the campaign are characterised by high levels of personal abuse including sexist, misogynistic and racist attacks that include messages such as ‘traitors don’t die well’ and ‘traitors often come to a bad end’. 

China blocks moves to protect emperor penguins in the Antarctic. (Oh please – don’t tell me the beasts’ private parts are in my anti-heaty pills…) 

From gas exports to arms sales to India – Beijing has Russia over a barrel…

Xi shares Putin’s hostility to the West and NATO, but that doesn’t mean he will be offering unalloyed charity. 

Probably paywalled, but amusing Economist article on shortcomings of PRC spies – good at IP theft and harassing dissidents, but lousy at routine intel-gathering and analysis. Back 100 or so days ago…

…at the United Nations, Chinese diplomats squirmed as their government struggled to formulate a coherent position. China seemed surprised … at Ukrainian resistance to Russia and at Western support for Ukraine. In the days after the invasion, Chinese officials quizzed foreign counterparts about the situation on the ground. Before the war, a foreign diplomat in Beijing recalls Chinese interlocutors confessing that they had limited understanding of central and eastern Europe, but were fortunate to have the Russians to explain it for them.

The pan-democrat politicians arrested a year and a half ago for taking part in the July 2020 primary election are getting closer to trial. Full list of them here.

This promises to be a raw display of rule-by-law. It seems most of the accused will plead guilty to ‘conspiracy to commit subversion’. Not because they broke any law known at the time (the authorities took no action when the polls took place), but because they see no prospect of a fair trial for NatSec charges. The maximum sentence is life, and after a year and a half in jail without trial or bail, it is their only hope of ever seeing freedom again. 

A brave few look likely to plead not guilty. It’s hard to believe they would get a full life sentence – but the NatSec regime is vindictive, and they will no doubt pay for refusing to kowtow.

Another trial in front of a NatSec judge starts – against 76-year-old activist Koo Sze-yiu for ‘sedition’ (planning a protest against the Winter Olympics)…

The court heard that police took a coffin away from Koo’s Cheung Sha Wan home, which had several slogans written on it, including “beat the Communist Party,” “end one-party rule,” “democracy and human rights above Winter Olympics,” and “getting rich just by eating shit under the national security law.”

From France 24 and HKFP, interviews with lawyer Michael Vidler on why he left Hong Kong, pursued by state media…

The last straw for Vidler & Co. came when Stanley Chan, a fiery security judge, named the company six times in a judgement convicting four protesters of unlawful assembly and possession of offensive weapons.

Chan said the firm’s phone number was on some “legal assistance resources” cards found on the defendants, and that the cards “reflected a sense of organisation behind the incidents”.

Jerome Cohen adds…

Also important … was the impact of changes in the government’s Legal Aid scheme designed to reduce the income of those firms that were deemed to be too expert in civil rights defense and handling too many cases challenging the government.

School libraries remove hundreds of books that ‘threaten national security’.

And the police aren’t sure whether it is legal to watch a movie.

From HKFP, the erasure of Tiananmen massacre commemorations in Hong Kong over the last two years. CNN says the memories are being erased. But for all the talk of erasing June 4, the date was impossible to ignore in Hong Kong this year as thousands of people assembled specially for the occasion – all dressed in blue.

Extensive official measures to ensure the anniversary got a high profile began with commemorative creepiness on Friday…

Police have warned the public not to test their determination to enforce the law on June 4, adding that even going alone to Victoria Park could end in an arrest for unlawful assembly, if someone is deemed to be there with a common purpose to express certain views.

Don’t assemble or have a common purpose with yourself? Don’t express ‘certain views’ – but what exactly would they be? Snr Supt Liauw also apparently said that you can still be committing an offense if you’re not in the park.

Interestingly, Liauw seemed almost desperate not to arrest anyone…

“Really try not to test the boundaries, as well as testing the determination or our commitment in enforcing the law in this operation.”

And the government announced that most of the park would simply be shut for the 24-hour period. 

On the day itself, cops flooded Causeway Bay, declaring that flowers might be seditious, and a T-shirt might be an unlawful assembly. Citizens found a use for old payphones. And…

Police rushed into the tram in front of us and searched a passenger. They took him off, but then it seems they asked everyone to show their bags. Looking down later, it seems they found an electric candle.

Someone up there is so petrified of candles, Victoria Park and the Hong Kong people that they won’t let anyone forget 6-4, even if they want to. Chinese foreign ministry officials helped out by virtually inviting foreign consulates in Hong Kong to mark the day – the Poles got creative, as did the Finns.

Loads more here.

Hong Kong health authorities reimpose isolation at government facilities for people testing positive for certain newer sub-variants of Covid. An expert says…

it is extra-embarrassing that they’re even thinking about doing this for something like BA.4/5, let alone *BA.2.12.1*.

the latter is literally just a pair of mutations, L452Q & S704L. unknown if the latter does anything…

Lots of other complicated-sounding scientific analysis out there saying this is pointless – the new strains of the virus are essentially the same as the existing one. It seems the authorities are actively looking for excuses to continue onerous and superfluous anti-Covid measures and avoid opening up (or just to use their sprawling Mainland-built quarantine camps).

Is it illegal to watch Revolution of Our Times? Will the NatSec Police burst into your home as you sit on the sofa watching the film on Vimeo? Perhaps it depends on who you are. The cops themselves refuse to say. (What if we ask them if it’s illegal to wear purple socks? ‘We do not comment on individual cases.’ Or to rob a bank at gunpoint? ‘We do not comment on individual cases.’)

Young people don’t want to join the HK Police. (Would these be the same young people who are routinely hassled and humiliated by groups of uniformed cops in MTR stations? If the force can spare hundreds of constables to do this every day, do they need more recruits? Or are they planning a Vimeo Eradication Squad?)

Some reading for the long weekend…

As we approach the 2nd anniversary of the NatSec regime – a roundup of month 23 from HKFP.

From Oz ABC – more on China’s over-ambitious attempt to bring Pacific islands into its orbit.

CNN talks to experts on China’s ability to take Taiwan. Rough consensus: it’s theoretically possible if Beijing is willing to take horrendous losses in personnel and ships. One factor they don’t mention is public tolerance for fatalities when most young servicemen in China are single children (as are their parents).

From the Guardian, more on the ‘tragically ugly’ and ‘evil’ school textbook illustrations. 

And a foreign affairs quiz. You can find out how your score compares ‘with that of the average American’ – so at least something to make you feel good today.

Clapped-out has-been stars singing, kindergarten kids goose-stepping, white-elephant projects sitting around unused, and a none-too-subtle bombardment of PRC/Mainland imagery – including sunset over a Covid isolation camp! Yes, it’s the guaranteed-to-alienate Handover 25th anniversary themed concept muzak video, with instantly forgettable all-purpose simpering Cantopop melody. (Grasshopper are still around???) 

Tick the boxes. Logistics industry? Check. Athletes in wheelchairs? Check. Ethnic minorities (just briefly)? Check. Whoever produced this deserves a Gold Bauhinia Medal for courage while under threat of severe mockery. But what choice was there? Like all Hong Kong official communication/PR/marketing, this had to please superiors, not impress or convince other audiences.

China fails to get 10 Pacific nations to sign up to a trade and security agreement. Chinese officials’ presumptuous attempts to take charge of little island states’ media wasn’t a great start. Foreign Minister Wang Yi tries not to sound creepy about the rejection…

“Don’t be too anxious and don’t be too nervous, because the common development and prosperity of China and all the other developing countries would only mean great harmony, greater justice and greater progress of the whole world,” he said.

A little Mainland weirdness to brighten up your day…

Illustrations in textbooks have long courted controversy over aesthetics-related issues or inaccuracies. On Friday, a non-academic children’s photo book also apologized and pledged to retract photos showing two boys licking sweat off a girl’s abnormally long hand.

(If you’re into the ‘questionable’ textbook artwork, check out Henry Darger’s Vivian Girls.)

God, I have to repeat that…

…two boys licking sweat off a girl’s abnormally long hand.