Government/Politics - 80. page

On November 14, when attending the BRICS summit meeting in Brasilia, Xi Jingping made his position clear on the current situation in Hong Kong. As Xinhua News Agency reported, Xi said that the persistent violent criminal acts in Hong Kong have seriously trampled on the rule of law and the social order, seriously undermined Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability, and seriously challenged the bottom line of the principle of “one country, two systems.” Stopping the violence, ending the chaos, and restoring order are Hong Kong’s most pressing tasks at present. Xi added that he will continue to support the Chief Executive firmly, to lead the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in accordance with the law, to support the Hong Kong police firmly in their stern enforcement of the law, and to support Hong Kong’s judicial authorities firmly in punishing violent criminals. “The determination of the Chinese government to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and the interests of development is unwavering; the determination to implement the principle of ‘one country, two systems’ is unwavering; the determination to oppose any outside forces’ interference in Hong Kong affairs is unwavering.”

Hu Ping, an independent scholar living in exile in the U.S., told the BBC Chinese that Xi Jinping’s change of wording indicates that the central government’s means of dealing with the situation in Hong Kong is “clearer” and its posture “tougher.” He believes that the central government will control the situation “with more severe measures in the near future.” However, Hu believes that, at present, the central government will try its best to use the local police force to deal with street violence.

Regarding whether Beijing will dispatch the People’s Liberation Army to quash the chaos, Hu does not believe that will be the case for the time being. He said that considering that Hong Kong will hold local district council elections this month, a brutal crackdown would push the votes toward pro-democracy candidates. “Although the district council elections are low on the political hierarchy and less important, it would still throw the authorities into a defensive position.” .

Hu Ping said that Xi’s strong words also serve to warn the United States that even if the Congress passes the Hong Kong bill, its “actual effects are limited” in terms of containing China. “If the chaotic situation deteriorates to an intolerable level, the authorities may still resort to suppressive actions despite the risk of losing Hong Kong’s special customs status.”

Source: Xinhua, November 14, 2019
http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2019-11/14/c_1125233663.htm
BBC Chinese, November 15, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-50430393

A journalist with the Taiwan based Central News Agency reported that, when traveling to Nanjing on a business trip in early November, she found two copies of English versions of Xi Jinping’s Talks about Governing the Country in her hotel room cabinet. She thought that it was an impressive practice for the hotel to place the writings of the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in the hotel room, instead of the Bible, as is the practice in many hotels in the West. She later found out that the Xinhua Newspaper Media Group in Jiangsu province had actually invested in and built the hotel where she had stayed. Xinhua News Agency is the official propaganda outlet for the Chinese Communist Party.

This practice still shows China’s ambition to promote its ideology to people from other countries. As Xinhua News Agency reported, the circulation of Xi Jinping’s Talks about Governing the Country has exceeded 20 million copies and has been translated into more than 20 languages. At the end of October, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issued the “Outline for Implementing the Moral Development of Citizens in the New Era.” It included the information on the regulation of Internet contents.

In terms of book publications, the general morale in the country is not high. Since last year, the film, news, and publishing industries have been placed under the management of the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party of China. The number of officially allowed book titles is shrinking and there are more controls on what kind of books can be published. A senior editor said that it would take half a year to apply for even a book number for books in social sciences. If it were a development, arts appreciation, or health book, the book number would be approved in a week.

Source: Central News Agency, November 10, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/201911100052.aspx

China Tencent Sports suddenly interrupted a live broadcast of an important NBA game on Saturday November 9. The reason was that a member of the audience was wearing clothing with the Taiwan national flag printed on it.

Tencent Sports announced on the subtitles that the interruption was because the broadcast quality of the game between Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers did not meet the broadcast standards and it had to switch from the live broadcast to cover the game that the Portland Trail Blazers was playing.

Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that, afterwards, Tencent Sports reported the Heat’s game against the Lakers through subtitles only. More than 25 million people were said to have been watching the game at the time. Many fans posted questions in the Tencent sports discussion column asking what was going on.

The post-game highlights video posted on the NBA official website showed footage of an Asian man sitting in the first row next to members of the Heat who was wearing clothing that had the national flag of Taiwan printed on it. Since the live footage was from the NBA in the U.S., Tencent did not have control of the footage.

This is the first time that Tencent stopped the live broadcast of an NBA game following the instance of Rockets general manager Morey showing the support for the protesters in Hong Kong and triggering the first boycott of the NBA in China in early October. In that incident, CCTV and Tencent Sports stopped broadcasting the NBA’s China Tournament and almost all partners of the NBA in China stopped cooperating with NBA. Up until today, Tencent still has not broadcast all of the Rockets games.

Source: VOA Chinese, November 9, 2019
https://www.voachinese.com/a/CHINAS-TENCENT-HALTS-NBA-LIVE-BROADCAST-OVER-TAIWANESE-FLAG-20191109/5159257.html

Article 23 refers to Article 23 of the Basic Law, which states that the Hong Kong Government “shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People’s Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies.” In 2003, the Hong Kong Government made an attempt to pass Article 23. As the Hong Kong people doubted the motivation of the legislation, 500,000 people took to the streets in protest. Since then, the Hong Kong Government has not re-introduced the legislation.

On November 9th, Zhang Xiaoming, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council, the official agency coordinating Beijing’s ties with Hong Kong, published an article entitled, “Adhering to and improving the ‘one country, two systems,'” in a way to interpret the decision out of the recently concluded Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. The article stated that Hong Kong’s failure to complete the Article 23 legislation under the Basic Law is one of the reasons for the intensified Hong Kong independence movement in recent years. Zhang emphasized the need to establish and improve the legal system for Hong Kong to safeguard national security. Liu Zhaojia, vice president of the National Hong Kong and Macao Research Association of China, an NGO based in mainland China, commented that, from the perspective of Beijing, many of the actions in the recent anti-extradition law protests involved separatism and external forces, in violation of Article 23. If it had already been legislated, Beijing believes there would be a legal basis for handling the ongoing situation in Hong Kong.

On the pan-democracy camp, Tanya Chan, a Legislative Councilor representing Hong Kong Island and also a founding member of the Civic Party, pointed out that the anti-extradition law movement has nothing to do with Hong Kong independence. Chan criticized Zhang Xiaoming’s words, saying they were pouring oil on the flames. Pressuring the Hong Kong government to push Article 23 legislation will only tear the society further apart.

Source: Central News Agency, November 10, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201911100184.aspx