The Congressional-Executive Commission on China issues its annual report, putting Hong Kong together with Xinjiang and Tibet as a place where Beijing ‘most brutally’ violates human rights. HKFP says…
“The façade of an alternative system of political governance that was promised to last 50 years… has withered away as Hong Kong becomes nearly indistinguishable from any other neon-lit city on the Chinese mainland,” the report read. “Indeed, Hong Kong officials may now be more zealous than their mainland counterparts in enforcing national security laws.”
In response, the Commissioner’s Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong said in a Chinese-language statement on Saturday that the “so-called report” was a tactic which “grossly interferes” in the internal affairs of mainland China and Hong Kong.
The Office said the report “fully exposed the ignorance, prejudice, and arrogance of certain U.S. politicians.”
The 300-page report is here.
Are human rights more repressed in Hong Kong than in the majority-Han provinces and municipalities of the PRC? On the one hand, you could say it feels like it. You never hear of people being jailed for a T-shirt in the Mainland. On the other, it’s perhaps a bit of a stretch. Trials of dissidents are not yet held in secret, for example.
Perhaps the CECC thought it might as well give Beijing and Hong Kong authorities both barrels, since they would be equally infuriated either way. Which is indeed the case…
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) today (December 21) strongly disapproved of and opposed the so-called “2024 Annual Report” issued by the United States (US) Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), which made malicious smearing remarks against multiple areas in the HKSAR.
An HKSAR Government spokesperson said, “The HKSAR Government strongly disapproves and opposes the CECC’s repeated tactics to interfere in the affairs of the HKSAR through the so-called annual report, and make slandering remarks against Hong Kong, where ‘one country, two systems’ is successfully implemented. The US is once again making unfounded and fact-twisting remarks. Such attempt to undermine the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and interfere in Hong Kong’s law-based governance is smack of despicable political manipulation with ill intentions.”
The spokesperson said, “The CECC openly clamour for so-called ‘sanctions’ with an aim to intimidate HKSAR officials who resolutely safeguard national security. The HKSAR Government strongly condemns its political grandstanding rife with ill intentions, which have been seen through by all. The HKSAR despises the so-called ‘sanctions’ and will not be intimidated by such a despicable behaviour. The HKSAR will resolutely continue to discharge the duty of safeguarding national security.”
The Standard sneaks in an editorial raising the ultimate no-no of all: the huge pensions civil servants hired before 2000 receive…
While a little more than HK$50 billion is committed to paying retired civil servants pensions this financial year, the sum is forecast to increase steadily over the next 10 years as life expectancy lengthens due to improved medical services and an increase in the number of retiring civil servants.
It is estimated that, based on today’s value, the government would have to set aside HK$559 billion for the payment of civil service pensions for the next 10 years…
Nothing a quick Basic Law ‘interpretation’ can’t fix.
Hong Kong hosts how many hubs? Full list here. I stopped counting at 50 or so. (If we exclude ‘thriving’ and ‘sustainable’ ones, it would be fewer – so it’s not quite as absurd and demented as it sounds. Maybe. Except it is.)
A lady who says she didn’t coin the term ‘menstruation police’ offers a vid of a Chinese official berating a man in his early 30s for not reproducing. ‘Hopefully’, she says, ‘it will put a smile on your face’. Probably won’t, unless you think the whole thing is staged – which it doesn’t seem to be. (Starts about nine minutes in. She believes China’s real population is around 500 million, so is perhaps not the most reliable source.)
We wish a merry blah-blah to all our blah-blah, etc.
“is smack of” – oh dear! All those billions spent on national security, and the government can’t even afford a decent proofreader.
“We wish a merry blah-blah to all our blah-blah, etc.”
It sounds like you don’t mean it.
Well…aside from the cars driving on the left side of the road and almost NO neon anymore…VERY much like the mainland. (pinch of salt)
Meanwhile in the U.S. an unelected, oligarch led, government surrender system on one side of the aisle is entrenching itself into the woodwork, nearly making it indistinguishable from Putin and his henchmen over in Mar A Lagos East.
On the question of the pension liabilities, Article 100 of the Basic Law says:
“Public servants serving in all Hong Kong government departments, including the police department, before the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, may all remain in employment and retain their seniority with pay, allowances, benefits and conditions of service no less favourable than before. ”
So the golden rice bowl should be protected.
Howvever, as we all know, conspiring to do exactly what is defined in Articles 50-52 of the Basic Law is now punishable by several years in jail so perhaps Article 100 isn’t worth the paper it is written on either?