If you look at the history, China did much better under colonialism. Compare how much nicer Hong Kong looks to the average Chinese city, with waste and trash everywhere and heavy pollution being spewed in the air. It’s time we had an honest conversation about the benefits of colonialism, not just discussing the negative aspects of it.
US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China
101–110 of 274 posts
Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
For Australia as well. They recently gave an Australian citizen a death penalty sentence in retaliation for the ongoing conflict between Australia and China. At the rate things are going, in another five years nobody from a liberal nation will be able to safely visit Xi's new hermit kingdom. It's a shame. I always thought it would be nice to visit Hong Kong.
> Karm Gilespie, had been sentenced to death for attempting to smuggle 7.5kg of methamphetamine through a Chinese airport in December 2013. The death penalty threshold is 50 gram for methamphetamine in China, in absence of other 'good behavior' such as collaboration, etc. If any Chinese citizen attempted to smuggle this much drugs into China, it's going to be the same fate, except maybe faster. Drug dealers in China…
So the police can conveniently plant an amount of drugs that fits in their hands quickly into your pocket and you get the death penalty?
Sounds like a super convenient way to kill off politically inconvenient people.
Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Law and Order the euphemism is not the same thing as Law and Order as it's commonly understood, even if the euphimistic usage appears more often in modern politics than the common usage. It's unfortunate that euphemisms dillute meaning (and it's probably unfortunate that they must exist at all), but that doesn't mean the actual meaning no longer exists.
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Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China
#104Not just arrested but tortured, as we've seen with the two Canadian Michaels and the British Simon Cheng. Edit: British-employed not actually British
Leaving the discussion on right or wrong aside, the 2 Canadians were not targeted at random and were clearly on a Chinese government list of foreigners with close links to foreign governments' agencies that the Chinese let operate "at their pleasure". A bit like when e.g. Russia arrests and expels/imprisons Western spies the US/UK immediately know which Russians on their soil to target in the same way in a tit-for-tat response.
There are plenty of Canadians and Americans in China, including students, language teachers, expats, etc. and I don't think that they face any particular danger as long as they don't make waves. "Without explanation" (as per the article) is not the same thing as "at random".
Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China
#105Note that US citizens have long been warned about stuff like this, especially exit bans. From the state department in 2018: > Exercise increased caution in China due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws and special restrictions on dual U.S.-Chinese nationals. > Chinese authorities have the broad ability to prohibit travelers from leaving China (also known as ‘exit bans’); exit bans have been imposed to compel U…
> Chinese authorities have the broad ability to prohibit travelers from leaving China (also known as ‘exit bans’); exit bans have been imposed to compel U.S. citizens to resolve business disputes, force settlement of court orders, or facilitate government investigations. Individuals not involved in legal proceedings or suspected of wrongdoing have also be subjected to lengthy exit bans in order to compel their family members or colleagues to cooperate with Chinese courts or investigators.
AKA taking hostages.
Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China
#106I get the impression that we're now in an undeclared Cold War with China.
The Cold War had regular threats of nuclear annihilation as well as constant military testing of each other's response times and perimeter. There are no Chinese nuclear bombers violating US airspace forcing USAF jet scrambling. This is far far less antagonistic. ...at least for now.
Maybe not with US territory directly but China has been extremely aggressive in the South China Sea. Despite this being international waters, Western aligned nations and US ships have been directly harassed and threatened. The Chinese island military bases are a direct move to allow area denial. They [the CCP] also export Chinese-style internet controls and ideological ideas around censorship and the acceptability of mass surveillance and targeting of dissidents. The loans given to countries by China are often neo-colonial in nature, tying African countries to China by debt.
This is definitely Soviet-Era style cold war tactics. Could be ripped out of the 60s with the names replaced.
Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
Posted 10 mins ago and already downvoted. Do HN not have algos to stop this astroturfing behaviour? It’s becoming very prevalent for anything that criticises the CCP.
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These isn't something vague, we're talking about a specific authoritarian government who's already been caught manipulating social media.
Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
China's state-sponsored IP theft has been called the largest transfer of wealth in history. I'm honestly curious what the best diplomatic strategy is to combat it, other than declaring war.
I doubt this claim very much. How was such a calculation made?
It was in the book "Dawn of the Code War".
Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China
#109I've visited China nearly every year for the past 6 years and never had any sort of issues. I thought all the security personnel I encountered at the airport, immigration, subway stations etc in China were very professional and respectful. In contrast to one of the last times I was returning from China to the U.S. and witnessed a highly unprofessional U.S. CBP officer who was yelling and berating incoming internation…
Not sure how you went from an article warning people that the new security regulations to well they're ok people. This security letter means that could have non-citizens detained/charged (penalties range from 10 years prision to life). Their decision to charge you is very badly defined. The offense doesn't even have to happen in their own country. Mentioning how Hong Kong is an independent region is one of those violating items in that letter.