British govt worker 'detained in China' after telling girlfriend to 'pray for me'
The Foreign Office has said it is "extremely concerned" following reports a British consulate official was detained in China after telling his girlfriend to "pray for me". Simon Cheng Man-Kit has not been seen for 12 days after he failed to return to work after a business trip to Shenzhen in China on 8 August. The 28-year-old is a trade and investment officer in the UK's consulate in Hong Kong. He works in the Scottish Development International section. Unconfirmed reports suggest he was detained in China while returning to Hong Kong - where there have been mass anti-government protests for months.
How China ’ s repression playbook backfired in Hong Kong . Beijing tried to repress Hong Kong the way it represses the mainland. The move was widely perceived as having Beijing’s backing . Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang has stated that China will “continue to firmly
The Post's View. Chinese repression is backfiring in Hong Kong . Two years ago, the Communist regime touched off mass protests in Hong Kong by refusing to allow fully democratic elections for As Mr. Obama might observe, the arc of history in Hong Kong is not bending toward China ’ s Communists.
© Miguel Candela/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images A protestor holds a banner that reads “Go Forward” as police and demonstrators clash during a protest in Hong Kong on August 24, 2019. Earlier this year, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who is close to the government in Beijing, tried to force through a draft bill that would have permitted China to extradite alleged criminals in Hong Kong for trial in mainland China.
The legislation would, in essence, link Hong Kong’s judicial system with China’s, allowing the Chinese Communist Party to seize political dissidents there and effectively ending Hong Kong’s tradition of a free and independent judiciary.
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Russia and China warned Tuesday that a new US missile test had heightened military tensions and risked sparking an arms race, weeks after Washington ripped up a Cold War-era weapons pact with Moscow.
When China took control of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom in 1997, it agreed to permit the Now with Beijing’ s power grab in Hong Kong , continental states issue weak statements of concern The potential deal would illustrate how Scharf is looking at drastic moves, beyond cost cuts, as he
Hong Kong ' s reunification with the mainland looks increasingly problematic. This week’ s scenes from Hong Kong are eerily reminiscent of another battle for Chinese democracy, one that took place just 30 years ago in Beijing.
The move was widely perceived as having Beijing’s backing. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang has stated that China will “continue to firmly support” Lam as she pushed the law. Chinese state-run media also touted it, with the China Daily calling the treaty “long overdue.”
Hongkongers were furious, seeing the move as a naked attempt by China’s leaders to assert more control over Hong Kong, and they took to the streets. The massive protests that have wracked the city for more than two months began with the largest march in Hong Kong history — almost 2 million of the city’s 7 million residents took part.
Gallery: Hong Kong protests (Photos)
After several weeks of protests over a controversial extradition bill, demonstrators are angry at Beijing’s response and are making wider demands for democratic reforms.
A Hong Kong ‘Troublemaker’ With a Clean Conscience
A Hong Kong ‘Troublemaker’ With a Clean Conscience
Hundreds of people have staged a protest in Hong Kong against what they claim is a bid to replace the widely-used Cantonese with Mandarin, China ' s national
Five Hong Kong -based book publishers linked to the company Mighty Current went missing in 2015. They eventually turned up in the custody of mainland Chinese authorities. The circumstances surrounding their disappearances have raised questions about the safety of Hongkongers who speak
(Pictured) A demonstrator throws back a tear gas canister as they clash with riot police during a protest on Aug. 24.
A flight attendant doll is placed inside a shopping mall during a rally to support Cathay Pacific staff on Aug. 28 in Hong Kong. A fortnight after saying it "wouldn't dream" of muzzling the political views of its 27,000 Hong Kong staff, Cathay Pacific faces accusations of betraying its values over pro-democracy protests, as a company tied closely to the city's ascent now tucks firmly under the wings of China.
Rebecca Sy, former head of Cathay Dragon's Airlines Flight Attendants' Association, chants slogans with a group of pro democracy protesters in a rally to support Cathay Pacific staff on Aug. 28 in Hong Kong.
A woman takes part in a rally held by the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions after a number of crew members in the aviation industry were let go for joining the anti-extradition bill protests, on Aug. 28 in Hong Kong.
Protesters stick notes on the outside of the Cathay Pacific offices during a rally against White terror and the dismissal of Cathay Pacific staff on Aug. 28 in Hong Kong.
Protesters gather to condemn alleged sexual harassment of a detained demonstrator at a police station on Aug. 28 in Hong Kong.
Protesters wave their phones in the air during a #MeToo rally against police sexual harassment on Aug. 28 in Hong Kong.
A protester carries a placard as she gathers with others to condemn alleged sexual harassment of a detained demonstrator at a police station, on Aug. 28 in Hong Kong.
People take part in a #MeToo rally in Hong Kong on Aug. 28, to protest alleged sexual assaults by police against anti-government female protesters.
People take part in a #MeToo rally in Hong Kong on Aug. 28, to protest alleged sexual assaults by police against anti-government female protesters.
People take part in a #MeToo rally in Hong Kong on Aug. 28, to protest alleged sexual assaults by police against anti-government female protesters.
Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam holds a news conference on Aug. 27 in Hong Kong.
Pro-democracy protesters gather in the lobby of the Revenue Department on Aug. 26.
A lone pro-government supporter waves a China flag on Aug. 26.
Stocks display board showing the Hang Seng index at 25680.33, down 1.91 percent, on Aug. 26.
Protesters attend a sit-in assembly at the Revenue Tower on Aug. 26.
Demonstrators, some using laser pointers toward police lines during a protest on Aug. 25.
A riot police shoots a tear gas canister during a protest in Tsuen Wan, on Aug. 25.
Riot police detain a demonstrator during a protest in Tsuen Wan, on Aug. 25.
An anti-extradition bill protester throws a Molotov cocktail as protesters clash with riot police during a rally to demand democracy and political reforms, at Tsuen Wan, on Aug. 25.
Demonstrators move road barriers as they march during a protest on Aug. 25.
Police and demonstrators clash during a protest on Aug. 24. Chinese police said Saturday they released an employee at the British Consulate in Hong Kong as the city's pro-democracy protesters took to the streets again, this time to call for the removal of "smart lampposts" that raised fears of stepped-up surveillance.
Riot police detain a protester at Kowloon Bay on Aug. 24.
A police officer fires pepper balls during a demonstration on Aug. 24.
Police and demonstrators clash during a protest on Aug. 24.
Riot police uses tear gas to disperse protesters near Ngau Tau Kok Police Station on Aug. 24.
Police fire tear gas during clashes with protesters at Kowloon Bay on Aug. 24.
Police in riot gear gather on a street on Aug. 24.
A demonstrator walks past a graffiti as he marches during a protest on Aug. 24.
Protesters hold hands to form a human chain as they take part in an anti-government rally in Central district on Aug. 23.
Protesters wave their phones and hold hands to form a human chain along Hong Kong's famous Avenue of Stars during an anti-government rally on Aug. 23.
A man lights up a laser beam at the hill top of Lion Rock in Hong Kong on Aug. 23. - Thousands of people held hands across Hong Kong late Aug. 23 in a dazzling, neon-framed recreation of a pro-democracy "Baltic Way" protest against Soviet rule three decades ago.
Demonstrators, seen from inside a tram, link hands along a street on Aug. 23.
Protesters wave their cellphones and hold hands to form a human chain as they take part in an anti-government rally in Central district on Aug. 23.
Protesters form a human chain along Victoria Harbour on Aug. 23.
People protest during a silent sit-in at Yuen Long MTR station on Aug. 21.
China’s Spies Are on the Offensive
China’s Spies Are on the Offensive
Relations between people in Hong Kong and mainland China have been relatively tense since the early 2000 s . Various factors have contributed, including different interpretations of the "one country
China warns Britain that interfering in Hong Kong ' s affairs will "definitely backfire " after London criticized plans for a national security law in the
Protesters cry during a silent moment as students attend a rally to call for political reforms outside City Hall on Aug. 22.
A student plays the violin during an anti-government student rally on Aug. 22.
A student sticks a message written on post-it notes on a wall during a rally outside City Hall on Aug. 22.
Secondary school students wave papers as they try to cool down a dog during an anti-government rally on Aug. 22.
Protesters fire nitrogen extinguishers toward riot police during a stand off on Aug. 21.
Anti-extradition bill protesters gather during a protest in Hong Kong, on Aug. 20.
Anti-extradition protesters gather at Kwai Fong MTR station in Hong Kong on Aug. 20.
The wall of a building of the Central Government Offices is sprayed with slogans in Hong Kong, on Aug. 20.
Exile Tibetans march in a candlelight vigil to stand in solidarity with the protesters in Hong Kong, on Aug. 19, in McLeod Ganj, India.
A man in the center, gives donations to young activists for pro-democracy protesters, near MTR station Lok Fu, on Aug. 19.
Supporters of the anti-extradition bill clean the ticket machine as part of the Sham Shui Po Station Cleaning Campaign, on Aug. 19.
Protesters carry placards as they gather to condemn alleged sexual harassment of a detained demonstrator at a police station, in Hong Kong, China August 28, 2019.
Protesters carry placards as they gather to condemn alleged sexual harassment of a detained demonstrator at a police station, in Hong Kong, China August 28, 2019.
In the face of near-universal opposition, Lam announced the bill would be suspended, but not scrapped entirely. The hint that the legislation might be renewed when anger died down, combined with incidents of police brutality against peaceful protesters, galvanized hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents to continue to protest every weekend for the past eleven weeks. This summer of protest has now become one of the largest protest movements in history.
Exclusive: Amid crisis, China rejected Hong Kong plan to appease protesters - sources
Exclusive: Amid crisis, China rejected Hong Kong plan to appease protesters - sources
How did China’s leaders make such a mistake?
The answer has to do with the lessons they learned from crushing the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy movement and their subsequent decades of successful repression on the mainland. The ruling Chinese Communist Party has one impulse, and one impulse only: repression.
By pushing this extradition bill, China was trying to apply the same levers of repression to Hong Kong that it uses in the mainland. Only this time, it backfired.
That’s because Chinese party officials fundamentally don’t understand how to effectively govern a free-thinking citizenry. By seeking to quash dissent in an already orderly, prosperous city, the party has turned peace into chaos.
China’s playbook for repression
China’s government has decades of experience in how to crush popular movements. It’s a skill set they’ve honed since June 4, 1989, when they sent in the People’s Liberation Army to open fire on the hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy protesters gathered at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, with official figures placing the number of dead at 300, though estimates range as high as 10,000.
The crackdown ended the period of relatively free intellectual ferment that had characterized the 1980s and ushered in a new era defined by an implicit contract between the Chinese Communist Party and the people: stay silent on politics, and the party will deliver economic prosperity in return. To enforce this political silence, China’s leaders developed a playbook for stopping popular movements before they can ever take hold.
From Asia’s Finest to Hong Kong’s Most Hated
The city’s police force was once widely respected for its restraint and trusted by the local population. No more.
© Jacques Langevin/Sygma via Getty Images A Chinese pro-democracy protester with blood on his face holds up a military helmet during the Tiananman Square crackdown in June 1989. First, the party planted the seeds for a long-term cultural change. They purged hundreds of thousands of reform-minded officials from the party. And in 1992, they instituted a nationwide patriotic education curriculum in schools that played up China’s historic victimization at the hands of foreign powers and presented loyalty to country and party as a primary virtue.
These efforts bore fruit over time. Chinese youth today, unlike their peers 30 years ago, are far less likely to admire democracy or Western-style freedoms, and far more likely to say that one-party rule is a better system for China.
Second, party officials have made it extremely personally risky to participate in protests, a task made far easier by China’s lack of an independent judiciary and the party’s control over domestic security agencies.
Participants may be disappeared and put into “black jails,” or off-books detention centers, beaten up by plainclothes thugs, or formally arrested and charged with “creating a disturbance” or, more seriously, “inciting subversion of state power.” Some have been sent to forced labor prisons. Family members of participants may also be subject to intimidation or detention. Troublemakers can be fired from jobs, removed from leadership positions, and even subjected to torture.
Third, Beijing has sought ever-greater control over the information environment. Media in the People’s Republic has never been free, but in the past decade, ever-stricter media censorship combined with innovative and sweeping internet filters have made it far more difficult for mainland Chinese to access unapproved information.
Hong Kong’s Leader, Carrie Lam, Pulls Extradition Bill That Ignited Protests
HONG KONG — Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, said Wednesday she was withdrawing a contentious extradition bill that set off months of protests in the city, moving to quell the worst political crisis since the former British colony returned to Chinese control 22 years ago.
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As messaging apps and social media have become a primary way for people to communicate and for protesters to mobilize, the Chinese government has pioneered new techniques of intercepting messages before they are even sent, crippling the ability of would-be activists to organize.
And fourth, in recent years Chinese leaders have sought to construct a comprehensive surveillance state utilizing facial recognition technology, mass data collection, and artificial intelligence. In some major cities, a network of cameras allow police to immediately identify pedestrians and even drivers. This is done in the name of fighting crime — but of course, that includes political crime. Increasingly, there is no such thing as anonymity and there is nowhere to hide from China’s security state.
It’s important to note, however, that Chinese authorities do actually permit many protests, particularly local demonstrations with modest demands, such as to reroute a proposed road or improve working conditions in a factory. Indeed, there are thousands of such incidents each year. Under some circumstances, officials may even permit larger demonstrations, such as the anti-Japan protests that swept China in 2012 amid a maritime territorial dispute.
But other types of demonstrations are quickly crushed. As China scholars Maura Cunningham and Jeffrey Wasserstrom wrote in Dissent magazine in 2011, “In post-Tiananmen China, not all protests are created equal.” Demonstrations that fit within the party’s historical narrative — that foreign powers victimized China while the Communist Party saved it — are often tolerated, unless they become violent or began to acquire a life of their own, at which point officials view them as threatening and shut them down.
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BEIJING — China’s leader, Xi Jinping, warned a gathering of senior Communist Party officials in January that the country faced a raft of urgent economic and political risks, and told them to be on guard especially for “indolence, incompetence and becoming divorced from the public.”
But “when a protest highlights divisions within the Chinese nation,” wrote Cunningham and Wasserstrom, “it almost always draws swift and harsh retaliation from the government.”
The Hong Kong protests are the epitome of such a division. That’s why Beijing is doing everything it can to silence them.
Why China’s repression playbook doesn’t work in Hong Kong
Hongkongers are committing a cardinal sin: turning the party’s preferred historical narrative of victimization by Western colonial powers on its head. For years now, the people of Hong Kong have been fighting to preserve the political legacy left to them by British colonizers, while rejecting what the Chinese Communist Party wants to replace it with.
Britain took control of Hong Kong after defeating the Qing Dynasty in a series of wars in the mid-19th century; a treaty stipulated that the city would remain under British control until 1997. Under the British system, Hong Kong gradually developed strong traditions of judicial independence, freedoms of speech and assembly, and some degree of representative government.
The British did not, however, implement universal suffrage in elections for the city’s top leader, leaving that task to China’s Communist rulers as specified in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, which laid out the framework for Hong Kong’s 1997 handover back to mainland Chinese sovereignty.
© Paul Lakatos/AFP/Getty Images According to that framework, Hong Kong would retain a “high degree of autonomy” until 2047 with explicit protections for the civil liberties its residents had previously enjoyed — giving rise to what came to be known as “one country, two systems.”
It’s no surprise, then, that the Chinese government’s reflex to attempt to deploy the same toolkit of repression in Hong Kong that it has developed to deal with protests on the mainland. But China’s single-minded obsession with stability through repression is counterproductive in a well-functioning region that cherishes political freedom. It was Beijing’s numerous attempts over the past two decades to “mainlandize” Hong Kong that stirred up unrest in the first place.
A primary barrier to Chinese social and political control of Hong Kong is the city’s political system, which protects traditional freedoms such as speech and assembly. Thus, an ongoing goal of China’s has been to recreate the legal conditions present on the mainland.
Since as early as 2003, China has attempted to push through legal changes that would allow authorities to crack down on political freedoms in Hong Kong when desired. That year, Communist Party officials in Beijing pushed Hong Kong’s leaders to introduce a sedition act that would have allowed city officials to ban speech, outlaw organizations, and conduct searches without warrants if there were suspicions of “treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People’s Government.”
But the proposed bill was shelved after Hong Kong erupted in massive protests that filled the streets — the first sign that Hongkongers were not going to simply surrender to the same fate as mainland China.
© K.Y. Cheng/South China Morning Post via Getty Images In 2014, Beijing once again sought to use legal means to assert control over the political system, proposing a legal change that would allow all Hong Kong residents to vote to elect their own leaders, but only from a set of candidates approved by Beijing. Protesters, led by high school and college students, occupied downtown areas to demand that Hong Kong residents be granted the true universal suffrage they had been promised under the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
The disruptive demonstrations that came to be known as the Umbrella Movement polarized the city, pitting powerful pro-China business interests against students and pro-democracy activists. The government, under Beijing’s watchful eye, waited out the movement until it fizzled out. No electoral changes were made; the result was, at best, a draw.
Demoralized, activists were unable to maintain mass interest in their cause, and many observers, including the Chinese Communist Party itself, believed the 2014 movement had been Hong Kong’s last stand.
© Chris McGrath/Getty Images China’s attempts to subdue Hong Kong through legalized repression gained momentum. An unprecedented cascade of prosecutions followed, with the pro-democracy movement’s top leaders arrested and jailed on dubious charges ranging from contempt of court to conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. And in September 2018, the Hong Kong government banned a small pro-independence party, citing national security reasons — the first time a political party had ever been outlawed there.
That demoralization is likely what emboldened Beijing to think that they would finally be able to achieve their goal of subverting Hong Kong’s independent judiciary, this time through an extradition treaty. This time, however, city residents aren’t nearly as polarized as before.
This time, what’s at stake isn’t just the democratic ideal of free and universal elections, which business interests and other groups have in the past been willing to give up in exchange for economic opportunity on the mainland. High school students, stay-at-home mothers, and wealthy financiers all know that the end of Hong Kong’s judicial independence will mean the end of Hong Kong’s special status and their way of life.
And China’s response in 2014 means that protesters know this may be their last chance. “They know if they give up, the crackdown is going to be worse than what happened after the Umbrella movement,” Victoria Tin-Bor Hui, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, told me.
By attempting to apply mainland-style repression in a city with entrenched political freedoms, the Chinese Communist Party has needlessly alienated an entire generation of Hongkongers.
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian is a journalist covering China from Washington. She previously covered China and national security for Foreign Policy magazine and the Daily Beast. Follow her on Twitter @BethanyAllenEbr.
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Is Xi Mishandling Hong Kong Crisis? Hints of Unease in China’s Leadership.
BEIJING — China’s leader, Xi Jinping, warned a gathering of senior Communist Party officials in January that the country faced a raft of urgent economic and political risks, and told them to be on guard especially for “indolence, incompetence and becoming divorced from the public.”
The Foreign Office has said it is "extremely concerned" following reports a British consulate official was detained in China after telling his girlfriend to "pray for me". Simon Cheng Man-Kit has not been seen for 12 days after he failed to return to work after a business trip to Shenzhen in China on 8 August. The 28-year-old is a trade and investment officer in the UK's consulate in Hong Kong. He works in the Scottish Development International section. Unconfirmed reports suggest he was detained in China while returning to Hong Kong - where there have been mass anti-government protests for months. 
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A Hong Kong ‘Troublemaker’ With a Clean Conscience 
China’s Spies Are on the Offensive 
Exclusive: Amid crisis, China rejected Hong Kong plan to appease protesters - sources 
The city’s police force was once widely respected for its restraint and trusted by the local population. No more. 
HONG KONG — Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, said Wednesday she was withdrawing a contentious extradition bill that set off months of protests in the city, moving to quell the worst political crisis since the former British colony returned to Chinese control 22 years ago. 
BEIJING — China’s leader, Xi Jinping, warned a gathering of senior Communist Party officials in January that the country faced a raft of urgent economic and political risks, and told them to be on guard especially for “indolence, incompetence and becoming divorced from the public.” 
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