[rad-green] The Nature of the Hong Kong Protests

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/11/26/the-nature-of-the-hong-kong-protests/

*Consortium News          November 26, 2019 *

The Nature of the Hong Kong Protests

*Democratic freedoms aside, many nations in the world but particularly the
U.S., Britain and China have interests to protect in Hong Kong.*

Entrance to the Cross-Harbour Tunnel in Hong Kong. (Hokachung, CC BY 3.0,
Wikimedia Commons)

*By Mary Beaudoin*
*WAMM Newsletter <https://www.womenagainstmilitarymadness.org/news-letters>*


*S*hould peace and justice advocates support pro-democracy efforts whenever
they arise in the world? Even some U.S. alternative media identifying as
liberal and progressive have joined the chorus, portraying the protests in
Hong Kong as the noble pursuit of democratic freedoms, brave resistance to
the authoritarian Chinese government oppressing the people.

Democratic freedoms aside, many nations in the world but particularly the
U.S., Britain and China have interests to protect in Hong Kong. The
island-city is a special administrative district within China with a unique
history. It was subject to British colonial rule for approximately 150
years but, under an agreement with the People’s Republic of China, in 1997
it was returned to China and governed as “one country, two systems” with
its own legal and administrative systems. Hong Kong’s special status
enabled it to become a leading financial center and tax haven for
international corporations. Its free market is so free from regulation and
accountability that the conservative American think tank, the Heritage
Foundation, has consistently ranked the city as No. 1 in its Index of
Economic Freedom <https://www.heritage.org/index/>.

The arrangement has been of mutual benefit to both foreigners and the
Republic of China. As a Reuters primer explains
<http://tinyurl.com/y39vl9zq>: “China uses Hong Kong’s currency, equity,
and debt markets to attract foreign funds, while international companies
use Hong Kong as a Launchpad to expand into mainland China.”

Waters of then-British Hong Kong as viewed from space in 1994. (Wikimedia
Commons)

Hong Kong’s particular legal characteristics have not only enabled China to
rise as an economic power and shelter foreign corporations from taxes and
tariffs but they have also allowed an individual to get away with murder.
That’s because Hong Kong lacks an extradition treaty for those who commit
crimes in Taiwan and China. When a resident of Hong Kong was alleged to
have murdered his pregnant girlfriend while on vacation in Taiwan in 2018,
the accused fled back to Hong Kong where he couldn’t be prosecuted. Hong
Kong’s administrative government attempted to amend its extradition law as
a result of the incident. But protesters claimed extradition would extend
to overreach by the People’s Republic and cause Hong Kong citizens to be
deprived of their freedoms.

*Anti-Extradition Protests*

The following commentary, complaining of Washington’s and London’s
interference in Chinese internal affairs, appeared in the
government-sponsored *China Daily, HK edition <http://tinyurl.com/yxqvwb6b>*
:

“There are two reasons why they chose the extradition law amendment bill as
a turning point in their disruptive Hong Kong strategy. One is their
failure to seize Hong Kong’s governing power through their political
proxies with ‘true democracy’ as an excuse. The other one is the need to
facilitate the U.S. government’s updated global strategy since 2018 that
regards China as its main rival.” – Zhou Bajun.

The protesters looked to London to assist them in their cause. Wearing
hardhats, they smashed into the Hong Kong legislative chambers and raised
the Union Jack <http://tinyurl.com/yxg2tuxc>. On the street, people could
be heard singing the British anthem “God Save the Queen” while waving the
flag of their former colonial master.

Video: *Hong Kong protesters sing 'God Save The Queen' in plea to Britain
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=98I4luNNai4&feature=emb_logo>*

But it’s not just the British that protesters appealed to for support.
American flags were also prominent in street protests. The leader of the
Hong Kong activist organization Demosisto, Joshua Wong, called for outside
intervention by the U.S., Western Europe and Japan to “liberate Hong Kong.”

*And U.S. Officials Responded*

With Wong by her side, on Sept. 18, 2019, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a
press conference <http://tinyurl.com/y3zfm353> in Washington on human
rights in Hong Kong. Something not lost on astute observers was that she
made a statement reminiscent of one delivered by Undersecretary of State
Victoria Nuland in 2013, when, against the backdrop of a Chevron logo,
Nuland praised “the brave people of the Maidan” as she encouraged the
overthrow of the Ukrainian government in a color revolution. Pelosi welcomed
<http://speaker.gov/newsroom/91819-0.> the “very brave champions for
democracy, for freedom of expression in Hong Kong,” advocating for the Hong
Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 (H.R. 3289) “to send an
unequivocal message that the protesters of Hong Kong have the full support
and backing of the United States in their quest for justice and freedom.”

On Oct. 13, in an interview with CBS *“**Face the Nation**,”*Ted Cruz, the
U.S. senator from Texas, in a new rad persona, announced from Hong Kong
<http://tinyurl.com/y5hgp9ys>: “I’m here, I’m dressed in all black standing
in solidarity with the protesters.” (When asked about reported violence,
Cruz later claimed not to have observed any.)

Hong Kong protesters waving U.S. flags. (YouTube)

This color revolution is characterized by wearing black clothing. Fewer in
number than the masses of protesters in the street were those among them
disguised by masks and with helmets protecting their heads, causing mayhem
by destroying the commons – subway stations, buses, and the Hong Kong
International Airport – as well as local businesses. These actors wielded
steel rods, have beaten people considered the opposition, and threw
gasoline bombs at police. *Asia Times* columnist Pepe Escobar, who lived in
Hong Kong, describes the destructive acts <http://tinyurl.com/y2ru5dwo> as
black bloc tactics borrowed from anarchist groups but more incendiary than
the usual.
[image: image.png]

Back in the U.S., the House of Representatives passed additional
legislation based on the “responsibility to protect,” the humanitarian
interventionist policy used to defend people in foreign countries from
their own governments on the premise that they need to be protected and the
U.S. should do it. The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act passed the
House with bipartisan support on Oct. 15. The House also passed a
resolution condemning the Chinese government in Beijing and, in addition,
the Protect Hong Kong Act <http://tinyurl.com/yyt9pkcl>, which restricts
non-lethal crowd control equipment exports to Hong Kong. (While in July,
the U.S. State Department had approved <http://tinyurl.com/y6afguby> $2
billion in arms sales to Taiwan and continues, under the 1033 program, to
allow local U.S. law enforcement agencies to obtain surplus military
equipment.) As of this writing, the Hong Kong bills are expected to pass
<http://tinyurl.com/y3qqqy9a> in the Senate.

Comparing this to American media and government reactions to our own
protests, the *China Daily* commented: “It’s not hard to imagine the United
States’ reaction if Chinese diplomats met leaders of Occupy Wall Street,
Black Lives Matter, or Never Trump protesters.”

The ordinary people of Hong Kong do have reason to be angry. The city is
the most expensive in the world to live in with the highest rent, according
to Deutsche Bank’s 2019 “Mapping the World’s Prices.” Many people
experience extreme poverty. But their anger is directed at the Hong Kong
city administration and Beijing, not the wealth gap.

Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong billionaire and media mogul, widely believed to be
funding the Hong Kong protests, came to the United States
<http://tinyurl.com/y4a5ubja> in early July to meet with Vice President
Mike Pence, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor
John Bolton, and some senators. His visit to Washington was preceded in
March by a delegation of Hong Kong <http://tinyurl.com/yyaejgxt> “democracy”
advocates.

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) fosters movements in foreign
countries. Since its inception during the Reagan administration in 1983,
the NED, a private foundation funded by the U.S. government but for which
there is no government oversight, has been providing grants to nonprofit
organizations, labor, and political parties in foreign countries to
influence their populations. It boasts of the ability “to respond quickly
where there is a need for political change.” In 1991, Allen Weinstein, NED
founder and acting president said, “A lot of what we do today was done 25
years ago by the CIA.” David Ignatius as the foreign editor of the *Washington
Post*, referred approvingly to the NED as “the sugar daddy of overt
operations.”

“The NED should be called the “National Endowment for Attacking
Democracy,” says
Stephen Kinzer <http://tinyurl.com/y542wkd9>, who wrote “America’s Century
of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq” (Henry Holt & Co., 2007).

In a not to be missed video
<https://mintpressnews.cn/hong-kong-protest-united-states-destabilize-china/261712/?jwsource=cl>
, *Mintpress News* Editor Mnar A. Muhawesh pointed out that neo-cons, the
notorious Elliot Abrams and Victoria Nuland [*her* again] sit on the NED
board of directors <http://ned.org/about/board-of-directors>. Muhawesh
reports that:

“Since 2014, the year of Hong Kong’s Umbrella protests, the NED has
officially poured over $29 million dollars into the island city in order to
identify new avenues for democracy and political reform. But as the NED has
already identified the Chinese government as despotic and a threat to
democracy, this means that much of that money is de facto supporting groups
to undermine that government and as *Mintpress* has previously reported
much of that money went to the current groups that organized the protests.”

*Dimsum Daily,* a Hong Kong-focused internet publication reporting from
Norway on Aug. 16, 2019, also traced the current anti-extradition protests back
to Hong Kong’s 2014 Occupy Central (part of the Umbrella movement of
agitators):

“In an article
<https://www.dimsumdaily.hk/exclusive-organisational-structure-and-modus-operandi-of-front-line-anti-extradition-protesters-exposed/>
we
wrote yesterday, we detailed that the frontline anti-extradition protesters
were potentially funded by Jimmy Lai and the American National Endowment
for Democracy. Co-incidentally, Oslo Freedom Forum is also a New York-based
non-profit Human Rights Foundation
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Foundation> founded by human
rights activist Thor Halvorssen
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Halvorssen_Mendoza>. As exposed by the
BBC documentary (website), 10,000 protesters during Occupy Central were
trained as early as two years ago. Hence, it is highly possible that
thousands of anti-extradition protesters were trained in 2017 or even 2018
to prepare themselves for the current anti-extradition protest.”

*NOTE**: Since this writing there is no longer access to* Dimsum Daily *through
Google. The search engine is reported blocking sites
<https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3023997/googles-youtube-suspends-210-channels-alleged-have-ties>*
 *critical of the Hong Kong protests.*

Sara Flounders <http://tinyurl.com/y28ja3z9> of the New York-based
International Action Center, which advocates against war and racism,
locates the Hong Kong demonstrations within a true global perspective of
empire: “The escalating demonstrations are linked to the U.S. trade war,
tariffs and military encirclement of China. Four hundred — half — of the
800 U.S. overseas military bases surround China.

Our antiwar call should be: “U.S. out of Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific!”

*Mary Beaudoin is the editor of the **“Women Against Military Madness
Newsletter <https://www.womenagainstmilitarymadness.org/>**.”*

*This article is from *the Women Against Military Madness Newsletter
<https://www.womenagainstmilitarymadness.org/>*.*

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