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Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under national security law

reuters.com

121–130 of 372 posts

Re: Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under national security law

#121
We should immediately end any special relation we have and apply PRC rules.

China uses HK to access world markets, to launder their money etc. - ending that ability would really hurt them a lot.

World nations have no qualms investing in HK entities, for PRC entities it's just a world of confusion.

HK is PRC so no more special privileges.

Re: Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under national security law

#122
This is going to be very unpopular.

History repeats itself. Just 30 years ago the Soviet Union was dissolved. If you study this dissolution process, you see that demonstrations and the ambition to sovereignty was nothing new in the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, but in comparison to the 50s, 60s and 70s, Gorbachev did not use military force to prevent countries from splitting off.

If China lets HK go independent, there is a chance of a chain reaction: Guangdong, Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia.. just to name a few. This would mean to total collapse of the PRC.

But in comparison to the USSR, China's economy is highly intertwined with the global economy.

I would even go that far and say that a successful HK independence movement could have the chance to lead to a total collapse of the global economy on a scale that makes this Corona recession look like a Kindergarden.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE HK, I lived and worked there. I have also lived and worked in Mainland China. It is sad to see that HK will likely become just a random Chinese city and lose its uniqueness. I just wished that there would be a mutual process of this unification and China would move slower towards it, while HK would accept that the China of 2047 will look different from China today.

Re: Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under national security law

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on board as soon as we explain why we allow Donald Trump to have the launch codes.

Because no matter how depressing it is to say/hear, he was elected democratically.

What kind of excuse is that?

Are you going to stick to that when one of your Nimitz class carriers is sitting on the bottom of the Pacific and China and Russia have occupying forces on mainland USA?

Re: Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under national security law

#124

Why are we empowering this regime? Shouldn't we force companies like Apple to make a statement of why they manufacture their goods in China? Apple is happy make a statement about BLM - it is cheap, doesn't cost them anything. But when it comes to things that actually harm profits and challenge shareholder responsibilities, they stay mum. We need to force Apple (and other giant corporations) to speak up about atrociti…

Companies like Apple are just greedy, for the cheap labor, the market shares as well as no need to pay for the environment costs. however, it's short sighted, they really need to realize that CCP is always hunger for power. Sooner or later, they can use their money and market to first influence, then eventually own or destroy if they don't think they have full control of you.

For the whole world, people need to wake up too. just do some research on the Chinese textbooks from elementary school to college, and see what kind of mindsets they are instilling to their population, you will realize this is a monster.

Re: Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under national security law

#125

Why are we empowering this regime? Shouldn't we force companies like Apple to make a statement of why they manufacture their goods in China? Apple is happy make a statement about BLM - it is cheap, doesn't cost them anything. But when it comes to things that actually harm profits and challenge shareholder responsibilities, they stay mum. We need to force Apple (and other giant corporations) to speak up about atrociti…

I share your sentiment on this. Among all the big tech, Apple is the only one which has a significant foothold in China and can possibly have an impact. But they have failed to live upto the ideals they speak about when it comes to earning easy money. BLM is easy to speak about and acts as good marketing for them. At least at one point Google stood up for its ideals and quit Search in PRC, which I highly respect. Wit…

> BLM is easy to speak about and acts as good marketing for them.

Considering a good chunk of the US population (15-30%?) is vocally "anti-BLM" - it is somewhat ballsy for a high-profile company to wear pro-BLM in their corporate messaging - I'm sure we've all seen people on Facebook vow to boycott Apple or other "liberal" organizations.

Re: Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under national security law

#126
post #106
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Before I answer that, you are aware that we casually started two wars last decade that directly killed 200,000 innocent civilians, right? And that we reliably do that every other decade?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

communist tactics haven’t changed

Re: Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under national security law

#127

This is crazy. First the Muslim concentration camps, now this. Why won't the Western world impose any serious sanctions against China? We have invaded others countries for less

Let's dont forget that the US invasions of the Middle East have a significant contribution to the camps in China.

Re: Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under national security law

#128
post #119
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you sink to the 90th percentile of privilege from the 99th, you'll become a "second class human" That isn't what the person you're responding to said at all. They were observing the discrimination against those who are not Han in China and extrapolating that it would apply to them as well in a China-centric world. They don't want to be discriminated against. That's all that's being said. (Well also they're sayin…

The "discrimination" they fear is no longer automatically being worshipped the second they step foot in a non-Western country, for being the richest guy in every room. In other words, what they actually fear is dropping from 99th percentile to 90th, and they think that possibility is worth starting World War III over. That attitude is typical, and precisely why people in China find the West so unconvincing.

> What they actually fear ...

That's a baseless claim not related to the original comment. Why are you making things up and trying to derail productive discussion like this?

Re: Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under national security law

#129
post #128
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "discrimination" they fear is no longer automatically being worshipped the second they step foot in a non-Western country, for being the richest guy in every room. In other words, what they actually fear is dropping from 99th percentile to 90th, and they think that possibility is worth starting World War III over. That attitude is typical, and precisely why people in China find the West so unconvincing.

> What they actually fear ... That's a baseless claim not related to the original comment. Why are you making things up and trying to derail productive discussion like this?

Do you really think agitating for World War III was productive to start with? I pointed out rationally and straightforwardly where such extreme opinions come form.

Re: Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under national security law

#130
post #58
post #4

As an anecdote, someone I know is an immigrant from HK and has lived in the USA for many years, and this person is afraid of saying anything publicly against China out of fear. Fear for their family in China and fear for their personal safety even in the USA. Similar to how Russia murders defectors [0], it’s not a good idea to be an expat and criticize China. It is an authoritarian regime, bottom line. [0] https://en…

The fear is real - A lot of pro-democracy Hong Kong activists in US are harassed and threatened by PRC government agents, many of them Chinese students studying in US. [1] https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2019/08/30/hong-kong-activist... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/26/us/hong-kong-protests-col...

Forget Hong Kong which actually people seem to care about. A Tibetan origin student president at University of Toronto was harassed for photos on her personal Instagram account. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/china-tibet-student-e...
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