Whatever your feeling when you see this image, the main take-away is the fact that Hong Kong has so been mishandled under Xi, that citizens of a country are literally asking for the return of a colonial power.
EARLIER: Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the British Consulate in Hong Kong and sang the British national anthem.
They urged Hong Kong's former colonial ruler to ensure the city's autonomy
#HongKongProtests
#香港
"Beijing must wake up to the fact that democracy is not a threat but a safety valve. If it wants stability in Hong Kong, it has to address the people’s grievances. If it wants protesters to stop, it has to allow them a voice in politics."
~John Bercow MP
For a country that spent much of 2019 to 2021 sanctioning Australia, this is a novel thought. One need only think of your unofficial sanctions on Canada as well in 2018. And South Korea over THAAD in 2016. Oh, and Philippines over the South China Sea.
In a stunning move of diplomatic adroitness under the supreme leadership of Xi Jinping, Beijing alienates Berlin, the driving force behind the EU, after first alienating, Washington, Tokyo, Seoul, Canberra, Delhi, Ottawa, and Paris.
“Angela Merkel is increasingly out of step with the rest of Germany’s political establishment. Leading figures in her Christian Democratic Union (cdu) object to her refusal to criticise the Chinese government directly”.
“while there were ‘obvious limits’ to what the UK could achieve against Beijing on its own, it should look to strengthen alliances. Australia, the United States, and the UK have been joined by other nations, including India, in opposing China”
Quite sad to see what is happened to
@SCMPNews
now that Jack Ma has been taken in hand. Nearly every headline seems to have been written in the CCP Central Propaganda Department. This used to be a great newspaper.
My latest for the
@Telegraph
on how the PRC’s influence over the World Health Organisation is symptomatic of a wider, disturbing trend which sees growing PRC influence across the various UN specialized agencies.
“We gave China a chance. They blew it. It's time to face the fact this so-called "partner" is in reality a corrupt, aggressive and vicious rival—strategically, militarily and economically. It's time for Congress to face that fact and act upon it.”
An initial readout of the new HK Human Rights and Democracy Act: First take is that this has teeth and is a shot across the bow of the PRC and LegCo in terms of repressing HK. Unanimous voted in House after June introduction.
This well-argued piece looks at the critical window when WHO could have averted more transmission by declaring a pandemic. At time, I remember PRC "journalists" criticizing CNN for labelling pandemic, indicating Beijing had a preference not to declare.
Ozil has a huge fan-base. The more people who speak out, the less the PRC will be able to ‘punish those who criticize’. I hope many well-known Muslims will follow suit!
What is so horribly evident is the fact that the PRC is employing awful agents provocateur like this to commit random acts of violence upon the people of Hong Kong in order to justify their repressive legislation. Horrific.
Absolutely sickening. The West's beloved "freedom fighters" in Hong Kong stalk, surround and beat a defenceless young woman.
While the West denounces China's new national security law, they are silent on the countless acts of such brutal violence.
@RichardHaass
@fravel
@SecPompeo
I couldn't disagree more. It is absolutely essential that we don't accept the CCP's framing that it represents "China" and knows the hurt feelings of the Chinese people. We support the Chinese people and stand against the CCP. Diplomacy will occur regardless.
Sweden is cast alone here in its political battle with Beijing. How many others have felt the same? If states are going to survive China’s bullying tactics, collective diplomacy as well as collective defence is going to have become a norm.
The great weakness of those pro-PRC-engagement supporters in the West is that no matter what the PRC does, no matter what actions it takes, no matter how many millions it imprisons, or authoritarian surveillance systems it exports, the answer is always “more engagement”.
“The case is one of the examples of China’s ambitious use of loans and aid to gain influence around the world and of its willingness to play hardball to collect,”
What, I wonder, would the appeasement lobby have us do? We challenge PLA officials who lie to our border officials. In response, they threaten innocent Americans. The response of a state that views international relations as mere expressions of power.
The PRC admitted human to human transmission on 20 January, allowing up to 5 million people to leave Wuhan before lockdown on 23 January. One couple from Wuhan went to Italy and are the first recorded case of Covid-19 in Italy. You know the rest.
It's these people who have misled the US. When the ordinary Chinese people knew the viciousness of the coronavirus, these US political and media elites were acting like a fool by preaching it was just a flu. Find them for a "reckoning," not China.
Excellent report on the technical vulnerabilities found in
#Huawei
’s devices, code, and
#5G
systems. A superb and highly technical report, but the main finding? Multiple backdoors were found. Thread 👇🏻
Incredibly bad idea, imposing the idea that Chinese abroad are still ruled by the PRC - incl diaspora? The same job could be done by Chinese tourist boards, the export of a sustained foreign police jurisdiction abroad is unprecedented.
“A politics lecturer at a UK university was asked by authorities if he could remove a poster of the Tiananmen Square “tank man” from his office because it might be offensive to PRC students. He refused. But the fact that the request was made was telling.”
“China is exerting sharp power on Western enterprises operating in Hong Kong, pressurising them to take draconian action against employees who criticise Beijing’s activities there.”
if China stays the current course, foreign businesspeople and others such as myself who were once committed to a vision of China as a great country will have no desire to live on the mainland or speak positively of China abroad.
“Taiwan said its doctors had heard from mainland colleagues of signs of human-to-human transmission...they reported this to IHR a WHO framework for exchange of epidemic prevention and response data between 196 countries”
“This is no surprise but a confirmation that a one party state seeks control over all aspects of society. We have long known that the CCP ensures that all who want to succeed have to join. These revelations confirm what many of us have long known”.
The fact that you’re using a US tech platform - banned in China along with many others - to criticize India’s tech bans of companies the PRC has co-opted is the most hypocritical thing I’ve seen in 2021. Thank you,
@HuXijin_GT
for always taking hypocrisy to new heights.🏆
India is like a bandit in the world that advocates civilized trade. These Chinese apps have been legally registered in India. Their market shares now are barbarically robbed by New Delhi. India only has a layman’s understanding of the international rules.
I’m fairly certain that Indians who are suffering terribly from Covid will not appreciate China state-affiliated media crowing about how much India is suffering from something that came from China in the first place.
India has become new epicenter of pandemic, with new daily cases continuously setting world records. In Chinese mainland, 0 new local cases have been reported. India is far behind China not only in hard power, but also in social mobilization capabilities. Can India fight a war?
"A cross-party group of around 40 MPs want Boris Johnson to rethink the controversial decision to allow the state-subsidised Chinese firm to supply more than a third of the UK's 5Gnetwork equipment."
Theresa May’s instincts were correct: the PRC is already willing to weaponize Hinkley Point as leverage and the damn things haven’t even been built yet. Imagine what leverage they’ll have when Britain’s national power is dependent on them.
Thread: I was told as recently as 2018 that we were not in a new Cold War because this age was different. Unlike the USSR,
1. China was not bend on promoting or exporting its ideological system
2. China was far more integrated into the global economy
The beginning of the end of the PRC’s Heavenly Mandate in Hong Kong. Short-sighted and counter-productive. As productive and short-sighted as the crushing the Prague Spring. Soviet tanks prevailed in 1968 but the USSR ultimately lost.
@FT
Striking story. Even more striking when one remembers the post Cold War optimism about how the internet would democratize information. Clearly, authoritarian states have responded to this “threat”.
I think the only right ethnical action for me as a person must be to avoid ever watching this film. Watching it only legitimizes the horrific exploitation, assimilation, and genocidal policies inflicted on a group of fellow human beings.
“Allowing this Chinese fox into the henhouse would be a generation-defining error, exposing British companies to the theft of intellectual property, British governments to geopolitical blackmail, and the British people to economic and security danger.”
“China and Russia collectively represent the most potent cyber and hybrid warfare threat against the west. No country within the western alliance would buy Russian 5G equipment—if there was any such thing. Why is this any different?”
“It’s outrageous that journals had failed to publish reports from leading scientists that challenged the standard view. The PRC made an assertion without any explanation and that the majority of the scientific community seem to accept it at face value.”
“what of the risk of China leveraging its economic might to silence criticism of its human rights violations? Dependence on Chinese funding clearly promotes self-censorship.”
“Treat China as an enemy and they will act as an enemy.”
Does this mean building bases in SCS, interfering in our democracy, banning our tech co’s, carrying out cyber & IP theft to supplant our industries, calling for the dismantling of our alliances? Or is that being friendly?
“While one does find some former spooks in western telecoms, finding these connections in an authoritarian state is v different. Once again we see why Huawei‘s inclusion in Western 5G must be considered very carefully.” My thoughts for
@Forbes
Alt title: “Relations will only get on track if the naturally declining US continues to feed our rise with its technology.”
Ah, no, China. Read the room.
The idea that the Western media has biases against a given country and that they all report the same is Orwellian. Western media is by its nature, pluralistic. It is this pluralism of voices that the CCP cannot accept.
I remember PLA officials asking me once why US Navy were doing FONOPs in China's backyard - "like a stranger entering someone's home". This is taking place in the Philippines EEZ, far from Chinese shores. I guess only big countries have homes.
“How could a self-proclaimed human rights champion have found things to admire in police states like Czechoslovakia and the GDR, which imprisoned and tortured dissidents?”
We continue to frame this as a mutual degradation of relations, but it’s important to remember that under Xi, the Hong Kong situation has deteriorated, the South China Sea islands were built, Made in China 2025 was written, and the Uighur were repressed.
Facts Tell:
1 PRC origin of
#virus
2 PRC denies virus,allows travel abroad
3 PRC buys up medical supplies abroad
4 PRC claims to be helping affected countries w aid
5 Affected countries question aid effectiveness
6 PRC blames countries for misusing tests
“If you use TikTok, the app collects a range of info such as location data and your Internet address, and it tracks the type of device you are using to access its platform. It stores your browsing and search history as well as the content of messages”
“The Chinese state has taken two Canadians hostage on behalf of Huawei. That's not a normal company, and I don't think we should be considering it as such."
“after it became clear that there was a full-blown epidemic spreading from Wuhan to the rest of Hubei province, why did you cut off travel from Hubei to the rest of China – on January 23 – but not from Hubei to the rest of the world?”
Brilliant and bolshy humorous response from an Australian newspaper to the traditional PRC-embassy letter attempting to “correct” their unfair and biased reporting. (The same PRC that has muzzled the Chinese press and expelled multiple foreign outlets)
China has no interest in allowing German car companies to thrive in its market and every interest in becoming the globally dominant leader in EVs and other industries. German automakers might labor under the misapprehension...but German leaders shouldn't.
@Disciple_Love
@BuzzFeedNews
Presumably all the prisoners committed actual crimes rather than simply being guilty by their religious beliefs and ethnicity.
I think this is the best thread on how China is using 5G to drive a wedge between the 5-Eyes Alliance, the oldest and deepest alliance between the five liberal-democracies. British and NZ weakness could be a huge victory for Beijing over the grouping.
Beijing is turning the screws on New Zealand following NZ's Huawei 5G ban. The Brits reported backsliding isn't helping. Beijing is driving a
#5G
wedge between allies & London is in the grip of regulatory capture by the mobile carrier lobby:
Australia takes action against Chinese influence on campuses via
@FT
. As ever, Australia serves both as ‘the canary in the coal mine’ as well as a source of inspiration for its policy responses.
@MFA_China
I think it takes a huge amount of cheek to implement a wave of uber-merchantilist policies designed to dominate strategic sectors - and then throw around neo-liberal platitudes about how interconnected we all are when primary competitor responds in kind. Huge cheek.
As the US struggles with a 4th of July military parade, Chinese troops and militia march menacingly down a Chinese street to awe their own population and silence dissent over a waste treatment plant.
God bless the United States!
Given this news - and the long-known absence of independent trade unions in China - I am genuinely curious how the European Commission can blithely comment that China has stated its intention to meet European labor standards prior to signing the investment deal...
EXCLUSIVE: For years, human rights activists feared the Xinjiang detention facilities doubled as work camps.
For the first time, satellite photos confirm China has built acres of factories inside the compounds, facilitating forced labor on a vast scale.
"Taiwan has demonstrated that a Chinese model of both prosperity and freedom is possible. That is a message the CCP does not want disseminated to the population on the mainland."
“PRC has the directorship of 5 UN agencies, more than any other country. They have every right to that, but there's a perception that they’re influencing institutions to set authoritarian standards or to meet much narrower Chinese policy preferences.”
“The momentum in favor of secure 5G is building. The more countries, companies, and citizens ask whom they should trust with their most sensitive data, the more obvious the answer becomes: Not the Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance state”
I love how the preposterous line “China is the beacon of openness, diversity and reason” sits under “China state-affiliated media”. Like a warning on a cigarette box...
Time we start treating propaganda as propaganda. It isn’t journalism and shouldn’t be treated as such.
#Opinion
: Obviously, the US is anxious about a "thriving, harmonious, powerful and unified" China. Compared to the US, China is the beacon of openness, diversity and reason.
Ms Meng goes through a transparent legal process while waiting in her multi-million dollar home, while two innocent Canadians have been detained without due process, wait in likely poor conditions. The US, UK, and Aus should apply diplomatic pressure in support of their 🇨🇦 ally.
As ever, I would advise China to stop attempting to subvert the West, steal its IP, promote authoritarian ideas abroad, while criminalizing Western ideas at home; I’d advise stopping your onslaught on Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Taiwan...but you won’t listen.
Ruling elites in Washington have formed a fanatical anti-China axis. They are tearing down international system, casting a shadow over the 21st century. Beijing’s restraint and forbearance is obvious to the world. China is trying hard to avoid escalation of conflicts with the US.
There was a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth about how grand authoritarian states are in emergencies when the PRC built a 10k hospital in 10 days. Pleased to see UK build a 4k hospital in 9 days. Liberal democracies are equally adept in emergencies!
“Some say pursuing the lab leak investigation risks upsetting complex & fragile U.S.-China relations. Well, if uncovering the truth about 591,000 American deaths doesn’t warrant risking offending the delicate sensibilities of the CCP, what would?”
University of Queensland does not seem to realize the huge reputation damage it will suffer if it expels Mr Pavou after denying him a support person with legal background.
I notified UQ that I wished for Mr Tony Morris QC to accompany me to the hearing that will decide my possible expulsion for pro-Hong Kong activism and their response was to ”remind me” they have the power to deny me legal representation.
How is this fair?
Kangaroo court.
“On dozens of occasions, Huawei engineers disguised known unsafe functions (such as memcpy) as the “safe” version (memcpy_s) by creating wrapper functions with the “safe” name but none of the safety checks.”
A few short years ago, the UK was looking to France & the PRC to fund and provide nuclear power. Now, it’s looking to export again to a close partner, Japan. What is possible is often only limited by imagination and political will.
Six steps to Cold War
1. The US is hegemon
2. PRC wants to be hegemon
3. Bc of ideological / system differences, US cannot peacefully transfer (as UK did to US)
4. Therefore competition
5. Nukes prevent convntl war
6. Competition bleeds into tech, media, global governance, trade
“Australia and the US aren't impressed by London's attempts to use technical arguments to fudge a geopolitical debate for commercial reasons”
-My latest for
@Telegraph
on the UK decision to incorporate Huawei into its 5G network.
The threat to sanction “the Quad” (what, all four countries? 🇺🇸🇯🇵🇦🇺🇮🇳) makes one feel like we’re watching a country suffer a melt-down, losing its sense of reality, and soiling itself in public all at the same time. This is not the China we know and love.
(It’s the CCP)
“There are powerful moral and ethical arguments against the use of Chinese firms. Huawei has an intimate relationship with the military and security services. China is using big data and Artificial Intelligence to build a surveillance state”
~Bob Seely, MP
”Huawei networks must be banned from carrying Nato and Five Eyes data. If we fail to check Huawei now and support a viable alternative of our own, little of our most sensitive information may be secure again.”
@TomTugendhat
&
@RepGallagher