It appears President Xi blinked on this attempt to further crackdown on Hong Kong’s independence. The people of Hong Kong best remain vigilant because I would not be surprised if this comes up again:
A group of Hong Kong mothers attend a rally in Hong Kong, June 14. The mothers started an online petition, signed by tens of thousands, to voice their disagreement with Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s analogy likening herself and people protesting an extradition bill to a mother and her spoiled children during an interview. The petition said the mothers would definitely not use tear gas, rubber bullets and bean-bag rounds on their own children. It also urged Lam, “as the head of the city and a servant to the people,” to postpone or scrap the legal amendment in light of the strong opposition. EPA-Yonhap
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam delayed indefinitely Saturday a proposed law to allow people to be extradited to mainland China for trial after wide spread anger and large-scale protests in the Asian financial hub.
In one of the most significant climb downs by the government since Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule in 1997, Lam said the city’s legislature would stop all work on the bill. The next steps would be decided after consultations with various parties, she said.
About 1 million people marched through Hong Kong last Sunday to protest the bill, according to organizers of the march. Street demonstrations throughout the week were met with tear gas and rubber bullets from the police, plunging the city into chaos.
The extradition bill, which will cover Hong Kong residents and foreign and Chinese nationals living or travelling in the city, has many concerned it may threaten the rule of law that underpins Hong Kong’s international financial status.
This is a horrible crime committed by a South Korean man in Hong Kong:
Hong Kong police have arrested a South Korean man on suspicion of murdering his wife and seven-year-old son at the five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel, according to Reuters.
The two were found dead in a room at 8:30 a.m. The man reportedly appeared drunk and injured. He was arrested at the scene and sent to hospital.
Further details were not available immediately. [Korea Times]
Considering how China is now angered at the ROK for allowing the THAAD deployment they could retaliate by not allowing this teenage defector to leave the embassy:
A North Korean teenager sought refuge in the South Korean consulate in Hong Kong after attending an international math competition, local newspapers in Hong Kong reported Thursday.
The 18-year-old boy was in Hong Kong to attend the International Mathematical Olympiad at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the newspaper Ming Pao reported. According to the report, the student was one of the six North Korean official delegates of the competition.
According to South China Morning Post, all six members of the North’s team and the two supervisors attended the closing dinner of the competition on July 15.
At some point after that, the report said quoting a diplomatic source, one of the students vanished and later sought refuge at the South Korean diplomatic mission.
The mission asked for strengthened security protection from the Hong Kong government, fearing a possible North Korean retaliation, and armed anti-terrorist troops are now guarding the consulate around the clock.
“The South Korean government requested the Hong Kong government to allow the student’s departure, but no definite answer was given,” a Hong Kong source told the JoongAng Ilbo. “The Chinese Foreign Ministry is apparently reviewing the issue.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but it is going to be very interesting to see how this turns out.
It appears that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are reaching deep into their playbook to put down the Hong Kong protests. Instead of the world media seeing pictures of protesters being beaten by security forces the CCP has instead outsourced the beat down to organized crime syndicates:
Pro-democracy demonstrations in two of Hong Kong’s most crowded shopping districts came under attack on Friday from unidentified men who assaulted protesters and tore down their encampments, after a week of erratic and unsuccessful attempts by the Beijing-backed government to end the protests.
The protesters said the attackers were pro-government gangs, and several protest groups called off planned negotiations with the government in response.
Crowds of residents, fed up with the inconveniences of the protests, had cheered on the attacks on the camps.
On Saturday morning, a police spokesman said 19 men, including eight with links to organized crime syndicates, or triads, had been arrested in connection with the violence in one of the districts, Mong Kok, according to Radio Television Hong Kong.
The police also said that at least 18 people had been injured in the violence, including six police officers…….
They shoved and punched protesters, sometimes kicking them after they fell. Others grabbed the scaffolding of canopies and pulled them down until the tents collapsed . Residents said the police were outnumbered and slow to react, and hours passed before reinforcements arrived to protect the protesters from a hostile crowd.
Some threw cans and plastic bottles at the protesters; others spit at them. One protester was led away bleeding from his head as angry residents pressed forward, hurling insults and threats. Another was rushed out on a stretcher, an oxygen mask on his face. Several protesters said the attackers groped and sexually harassed female protesters, and Amnesty International alleged that police officers watched and did nothing. [New York Times]
You can read more at the link, but long time ROK Drop readers may remember that the Chinese government used this same tactic in Korea when the Chinese Embassy organized and bussed in Chinese students in Korea to attack and beat Free Tibet activists who showed up to protest the 2008 Olympic Torch Relay in Seoul. The Chinese government sponsored mob attacked Koreans and other foreigners at the protest:
A Tibetan protester is beaten by pro-Chinese protestors.
Seoul citizen Park Cheol-hoon is kicked and beaten by three young pro-Chinese protesters.
Some of the Free Tibet activists tried to run into the Plaza Hotel in downtown Seoul to escape the mob and the Chinese thugs followed them and beat them in the middle of the hotel:
Could you imagine what the reaction in Korea would be if a bunch of GIs ran amok in Seoul beat down Koreans like this? Well the reaction from the Korean government was to deport some of the Chinese thugs and tighten visa rules. There was no demands for an official apology from the Chinese government or removal of the Chinese ambassador from Korea.
Since this strategy worked so well in Seoul the CCP probably thinks it will work in Hong Kong as well which they are probably right about. I do not see the CCP backing down from their decision to remove democracy from Hong Kong and will use their hired thugs to wear down the protesters.
