Opinion Chinas Two systems one country policy on Hong Kong

[Squash the Berries!]

Massive protests by Hong Kong residents have been ongoing since March 2019.

Arrests by Hong Kong government and beatings by police with the protesters causing mayhem in the streets and airport.

Recent shooting of protester by Police and pro China protester set on fire have escalated the standoff.

Now a million mainlanders live in Hong Kong.

Surveillance cameras everywhere identifying protesters leading to more arrests.

China now sending in Army to help with cleanup.

The start of a civil war followed by invasion by the Chinese government I fear will be the end result.

Lets hope I wrong.

Wouldn't like to have booked a holiday there a year ago.

If you did would you travel there now?

 

[086]

Got to love how the global leaders are largely quiet over it.
Gutless wonders they are!

 

[Hacky McAxe]

DFAT and Australian Universities have been warning Australians to leave HK. It's going to escalate into a full invasion any day now.

It's a really sad situation and internationally it's a very difficult one. China has the legal rights to HK so they won't back down. But most protesters would rather die than back down.

 

[Wahesh]

My cousin was there in July. He said the media is making it out to be bigger than what it is. There was a heavy Police presence at the airport, and that was it. I think it's only one small section in downtown HK where the crap is taking place, but it's not like the whole city is a war zone the way the media are making it out to be. If you have plans to go there, go ahead with it. The tourist areas of the city are BAU.

 

[Memberberries]

My cousin was there in July. He said the media is making it out to be bigger than what it is. There was a heavy Police presence at the airport, and that was it. I think it's only one small section in downtown HK where the crap is taking place, but it's not like the whole city is a war zone the way the media are making it out to be. If you have plans to go there, go ahead with it. The tourist areas of the city are BAU.

How do you say the media exaggerate!
Lol I am a part time independent journalist!
This post offends me!

 

[CroydonDog]

Got to love how the global leaders are largely quiet over it.
Gutless wonders they are!

What should they be doing?

I like Hong Kong and have several friend either living there or from there. I feel for the people of HK as this will likely only accelerate the inevitable being of the peninsula into the fold. But, this is an internal Chinese issue at the moment. The Police reaction, whilst it appears harsh, is hardly causing a major human rights violation when looking at what else is going on in the world.

If this situation was happening in Paris, Philadelphia or Jakarta, the reaction we wouldn't be reacting other than the standard urging calm.

 

[CroydonDog]

If you did would you travel there now?

if I had already booked a holiday? Yes.

If i was looking for an Asian getaway and was deciding on a location? Probably not.

I've been to HK/Macau 3 times and its one of my favourite places. I've also been in Thailand during a both military coup and and during the red/yellow shirt riots. Not ideal, but its a matter of being sensible, be respectful of locals and the political sensitivities and listen to any instructions from DFAT etc if is goes pear shaped.

 

[Hacky McAxe]

My cousin was there in July. He said the media is making it out to be bigger than what it is. There was a heavy Police presence at the airport, and that was it. I think it's only one small section in downtown HK where the crap is taking place, but it's not like the whole city is a war zone the way the media are making it out to be. If you have plans to go there, go ahead with it. The tourist areas of the city are BAU.

Yeah, it's not the whole city. It's just where protests are happening. They organise a protest and wherever that protest happens, it turns to shit. Other than that it's business as usual. That said, I don't think I've seen any media report that the city is a warzone. The first time I saw them mention "warzone" was the current University one that's going on. And they only said that the University was like a warzone. Not the whole city.

The University one is getting bad though. Police have started ejecting reporters and have the Uni surrounded. Any protesters that try to leave are being tear gassed. They're holding everyone in the Uni which makes people very concerned. The only reason you do that is if you want to arrest everyone there or worse.

 

[south of heaven]

Their tourism is copping a bit of beating ,I've been keeping an eye out on cheap deals ,even with what's going on I'd feel safer walking though that then I would going to through wespoint shopping center in Blacktown

 

[CroydonDog]

Their tourism is copping a bit of beating ,I've been keeping an eye out on cheap deals ,even with what's going on I'd feel safer walking though that then I would going to through wespoint shopping center in Blacktown

Bit like flying Malaysian Airlines after their twin disasters. It was really cheap to fly there for a while afterwards.

 

[south of heaven]

Bit like flying Malaysian Airlines after their twin disasters. It was really cheap to fly there for a while afterwards.

Still reasonable cheap ,but that one scares me a bit lol I'm not the most comfortable flyer as is , I got a trip in April so far my cheapest options are Jetstar,and phillipine airlines I'm half tempted just pay double and go Qantas or Ana

 

[Alan79]

Got to love how the global leaders are largely quiet over it.
Gutless wonders they are!

It seems like governments really dislike the general population protesting against the implementation of laws that can impact democratic process.

I'm not an expert on the goings on in HK. But from what I've read it's feared that China might have implemented a law that gave them the means to arrest and extradite political opponents. Hong Kong is currently supposed to have an independent government.

I think Australia probably should have been more outraged when John Howard introduced sedition laws back in 2005 as part of the anti terrorism act. Although it hasn't been freely used as far as I know, if Australia decided to protest about any changes to policy it basically gives a legal pathway for them to imprison the organisers for 7 years if it can be argued that they're inciting the use of force to overthrow the constitution or government.

This basically means that if Australia was taking part in the protests that are occurring in Hong Kong, numerous people would be potentially in line for 7 year prison sentences based on their involvement.

I think that the citizens protesting in Hong Kong are doing a good thing. They're basically protesting against a law that would allow China to extradite political prisoners and further erode their ability to run a democratic government.

 

[Alan79]

Still reasonable cheap ,but that one scares me a bit lol I'm not the most comfortable flyer as is , I got a trip in April so far my cheapest options are Jetstar,and phillipine airlines I'm half tempted just pay double and go Qantas or Ana

Quantas just faced the potential of having a huge number of planes grounded for testing regarding maintenance after dangerous cracks were found in some 737's. Quantas have a historical reputation for excellence in safety. But I don't know if they still deserve it.

 

[south of heaven]

Quantas just faced the potential of having a huge number of planes grounded for testing regarding maintenance after dangerous cracks were found in some 737's. Quantas have a historical reputation for excellence in safety. But I don't know if they still deserve it.

All airlines ground planes air new Zealand are having problems with their dream liner rr engines and cancelled a ton of flights, Qantas being one of the world's oldest airlines and no major fatalities in the jet age era still gives me confidence although their food on a red eye from Perth is total dogshit

 

[Hacky McAxe]

I'm not an expert on the goings on in HK. But from what I've read it's feared that China might have implemented a law that gave them the means to arrest and extradite political opponents. Hong Kong is currently supposed to have an independent government.

They're kind of already doing it. There's an election coming up in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong police under Chinese instruction arrested all the political opponents under claims that they broke the law, therefor giving the pro-China leaders no competition.

 

[Alan79]

They're kind of already doing it. There's an election coming up in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong police under Chinese instruction arrested all the political opponents under claims that they broke the law, therefor giving the pro-China leaders no competition.

It makes the protests more critical. I haven't looked into this all that deeply. It's a pity the media aren't giving a better idea of why this is happening. I tend to skim through information about these issues a little bit. I should take a more in depth look.

 

[GoTheDoggies]

China have learned well from America.

Step 1: Start a 'pro-democracy' movement in the country/territory you want to take over

Step 2: Fund both sides, so they do as much damage to each other as possible

Step 3: When both sides are weakened move in and take control + take resources

 

[CroydonDog]

China have learned well from America.

Step 1: Start a 'pro-democracy' movement in the country/territory you want to take over

Step 2: Fund both sides, so they do as much damage to each other as possible

Step 3: When both sides are weakened move in and take control + take resources

Not sure if this is the case here (although the thoery has merit). China has (sort of) control now, and can just keep eroding things away until the end of the 50 year agreement (which, they really could evoke anytime anyway).

 

[Hacky McAxe]

China have learned well from America.

Step 1: Start a 'pro-democracy' movement in the country/territory you want to take over

Step 2: Fund both sides, so they do as much damage to each other as possible

Step 3: When both sides are weakened move in and take control + take resources

Two main problems with your theory:

1) The Hong Kong government is backing China. It's only the public that are protesting against it. So China could realistically just step in and take it but the protests have made it very public and China are afraid of backlash

2) Due to the way China is handling the Hong Kong situation, several countries including the US have put sanctions on China which is financially ruining them

 

[Hacky McAxe]

That said, China are the kings of propaganda. Just look at their religious re-education camps. They keep bringing reporters in to sell fake reports on their camps.