Some leftovers to start the week

The Diplomat has a Hong Kong-centric take on the CK Hutchison ports saga. There are some debatable points (for example, whether the company sought Beijing’s approval). But it poses some interesting questions…

This backlash reflects Beijing’s increasingly uneasy relationship with Hong Kong’s business elites. Despite the waves of [Natsec] securitization in recent years, the Chinese party-state still lacks formal channels of influence vis-a-vis Hong Kong businesses, and the port sale has only deepened the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s suspicion toward Hong Kong’s capitalist class. While Beijing has long co-opted local businesses to govern Hong Kong – a strategy pioneered by the British colonial government – it has become increasingly distrustful of their autonomy, profit-driven motives, and lack of patriotism. Beijing’s public pressure campaign against CK Hutchison portends a growing effort by the CCP to direct Hong Kong’s independent business interests.

As the article notes, Hong Kong companies do not (yet) have CCP committees attached to them.

Transcript (audio available) of an interview with Mark Simon on the Jimmy Lai trial… 

“What really shocked me was here is an English laws educated judge wearing a funny wig, basically stealing another culture you could say, you know, the British culture. And she’s up there telling a guy you’re Chinese. She’s parroting a line of the CCP, which they tell Chinese all over the world: You’re Chinese. We own you.”

…”I’ve always believed that they know they have nothing on Jimmy. Jimmy Lai has basically been tried on two things: tweets and what he said in terms of on-air comments or something like that, the whole collusion thing is pretty much collapsed. Because the fact of the matter is, Jimmy really in an overall sense did not meet with many people in eight years. He went to Washington DC twice largely because he wanted people to understand about press freedom. Press freedom was really the driving force early on with Jimmy. He’s always been a democracy activist. He’s always been pro-democracy.”

But Lai’s lifelong advocacy for democracy clearly irked the authority in Beijing, and they were determined to silence him – so much that they locked the 77-year-old diabetic in solitary confinement inside Stanley Prison, a pre-World War II maximum-security facility known for housing Hong Kong’s most dangerous criminals.

Throughout his imprisonment, Lai has steadfastly maintained his innocence, insisting that the charges against him are politically motivated attempts to suppress press freedom and democracy. But even he may not have anticipated that his skin color –  “yellow” – would be invoked in a court of law, as Judge Esther Toh Lye-ping suggested it as a condition of his alleged offense.

Beijing issues new measures against foreign sanctions…

Article 7 of the Regulations specifically allows for the seizure of intellectual property of those that “directly or indirectly participate in the drafting, decision-making, or implementation of the discriminatory restrictive measures in Article 3 of Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law.”  Paragraph 2, Article 3 of the Law reads, “Where foreign nations violate international law and basic norms of international relations to contain or suppress our nation under any kind of pretext or based on the laws of those nations to employ discriminatory restrictive measures against our nation’s citizens or interfere with our nation’s internal affairs, our nation has the right to employ corresponding countermeasures.” 

A BBC China story – even a non-soccer fan can’t help but read on…

With a minute left on the clock and trailing Japan 6-0, Chinese defenders were likely wishing for the sweet relief of the final whistle.

But Japan’s Takefusa Kubo was not feeling charitable. After watching his team-mates toy with their opponents for a while, he received a pass on the edge of the Chinese box and rammed home Japan’s seventh goal.

The ball rocketed into the roof of the net, and the man known as “Japanese Messi” condemned China to their worst-ever defeat in a World Cup qualifier.

The 7-0 spanking in September – described as “rock-bottom” by a Shanghai-based newspaper – followed a year-long line of humiliating defeats which included losses to Oman, Uzbekistan and Hong Kong.

But worse was to come.

Corruption and authoritarian rule, no less.

Back to the Diplomat – a Beijing-funded trip to China for Taiwanese…

While participants signed up to visit Hainan, expecting beaches and tropical landscapes, the actual itinerary was shrouded in secrecy. Each evening,we received details for the following day’s schedule, which differed drastically from expectations. Instead of leisure time on Sanya’s beaches, the group was subjected to propagandistic programming.

…Through subtle manipulations, the CCP turns unsuspecting participants in these supposed tourist trips into ambassadors for its narrative. These travel groups, though varied in size and theme, all serve one purpose: to propagate China’s vision of cross-strait unity. By having the tour guides or CCP officials showcasing urbanization and military power, they promote an image of a modern and unified China.

Without realizing the risks, these Taiwanese tourists become pawns in a larger geopolitical game. The CCP’s infiltration into the Taiwanese understanding operates incrementally, one tour group at a time, eroding the boundaries that separate Taiwan from China.

Want ‘the latest society scoop, royal news, and style inspiration’? Of course you don’t. But anyway, here’s Town and Country magazine’s Snob’s Guide to Hong Kong…

When it comes to shopping, Hong Kong has no small number of great options. We always get a charge from visiting the K11 Art Mall in Tsim Sha Tsui, which is home to fashion and jewelry boutiques, restaurants, and live events. Other high-end destinations around town include shopping centers like Pacific Place (don’t forget to stop at Shanghai Tang), Landmark, The Peak Galleria, and Russell Street in Causeway Bay, which was once home to the world’s most expensive retail real estate and still draws crowds thanks to shops like the locally legendary Lane Crawford.

But not all your shopping needs to be done this way. 

Well, that’s true.