Hong Kong’s security law is going to devastate its economy • Hacker News Board

Re: Hong Kong’s security law is going to devastate its economy

#151

Post by blackrock » Thu, May 28, 2020, 9:30 AM UTC

Obsnold wrote: post #150

ww520 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What these companies do are selling/shipping components to China for assembly and then re-export the final products, which make the biggest revenue and profit. It's relatively easy for these companies to shift the manufacture (assembly) to other countries to keep the same revenue and profit. An India or Vietnam assembled iPhone generates the same profit for Apple. Foreign companies have difficult time making profit i…

I think a lot of people underestimate how difficult it is to move manufacturing out of China. Manufacturing isn't all unskilled labour that can be moved to whatever the cheapest country is. There is a lot of expertise needed in modern manufacturing and these days China has most of the experts. I'm not saying it won't happen but it will be a more gradual shift over time than a sudden change.

This is correct. And China isn’t really interested in low quality sweat-labor manufacturing anymore. This brings in very little added value, and it damages the environment. But these jobs keep the lesser educated people from the villages occupied, and it gives them a chance to get their children a formal education.

Instead, they want massive robotic, automated, and mechanized manufacturing. Where a technician is standing by, and just watching the robots, for quality control.

All those assembly line technicians at Foxconn can go to college and train to be a Computer Scientist or Engineer. Then in another 10 years, China will have a massive amount of computer programmers, engineers, and AI scientists.

Re: Hong Kong’s security law is going to devastate its economy

#152

Post by mamborambo » Thu, May 28, 2020, 5:28 PM UTC

m-p-3 wrote: post #8

And the real losers in this fight here are Hongkongese citizens, who fought for their freedom and ultimately are losing it, on top of facing an economic crisis.

Although HK appears to be the direct casualty of US change of trade status, the reality is that China is one who will bleed once the HK trade window is closed.

For too long China practised a kind of hostage diplomacy where it solves its problems by taking hostages and then negotiating for concessions. For instance the two Canadians detained to pressure Canada to release Huawei CFO.

Hong Kong is now another hostage of CCP, Xi betting that the US dare not tighten the screw on its tariff as long as HK is a hostage in its grip. But most likely China will fail, as HK people have prepared themselves to be sacrificed to bring down the CCP. On an individual level HKers will begin another mass exodus like in pre-1997.

Re: Hong Kong’s security law is going to devastate its economy

#153

Post by mamborambo » Thu, May 28, 2020, 5:39 PM UTC

supernova87a wrote: post #90

spyckie2 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The founding fathers of the US did not write the US constitution with practical freedom in mind. They wrote it with the principles of freedom as sacred. The battles they fought weren't for being able to buy groceries or walk the streets. They fought the battles over things like the right to not being taxed, to not be under the bank of England's monetary regulations, to have their own voice in the political system and…

Well, I ask again -- the specific proposed laws under discussion don't touch on any of those principles. They're about sedition, secession, national security, terrorism, etc. We have laws about those things too in the US. So is this actually an argument about the influence / authority of China and the extent of their power, or about the specific laws being passed? Or is it about making sure the 27 years left on the c…

Carrie Lam is a Quisling -- people who become enablers for an invading regime, like when the Soviet forces trying to take over Finland and were able to use the Finnish politicians. Why do they do it? Probably a combination of having dirts, or lack of political courage, or a mistaken belief that they are not really responsible if they just follow order.

Re: Hong Kong’s security law is going to devastate its economy

#154

Post by f00_ » Fri, May 29, 2020, 5:29 AM UTC

pkaye wrote: post #35

f00_ wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, hopefully they just move to taiwan

Elsewhere I've ready that Hong Kong and Taiwan have a lot of differences like Mandarin vs Cantonese. Also Hong Kong has a much higher GDP per capita.

true, but the written language is exactly the same.

taiwan has national health care, really good public transportation system, really liberal government (gay marriage recently) despite the low gdp. I would move there if they legalized weed which is sadly unlikely

now that hong kong is a part of the PRC, maybe they'll be forced to use the national language (mandarin) lol

Re: Hong Kong’s security law is going to devastate its economy

#155

Post by throwaway1997 » Fri, May 29, 2020, 4:34 PM UTC

blackrock wrote: post #124

You have to wonder about the hypocrisy about all this. Every country, every territory, all over the world, has anti-sedition laws. Hong Kong, as part of the agreement between China and Britain, must enact their own security and anti-sedition laws. They had 23 years to do it! Hong Kong failed to do so. Now, a security law, is going to be shoved down their throats, whether they like it or not. Foreign forces have succe…

What are you even talking about. Hong Kong has one of the strongest legal systems in Asia, although it's being slowly eroded by the government. Have you even visited or do you just watch shitty Kung Fu movies and assume the whole place is Kowloon Walled City or Chungking Mansion?