Communist Chinese shenanigans under the cover of the Wuhan coronavirus

Of course we have not forgotten what happened

in Yuen Long nine months ago today 

 

Seen earlier today in Hong Kong

 

Hong Kong recorded zero new daily Wuhan coronavirus cases for the first time in six weeks yesterday.  Today, four new cases were reported -- but all four of them were imported ones: with two patients having developed symptoms when they were in the UK and the two other infected individuals being asymptomatic but testing positive after returning to Hong Kong from the USA.

 

While caution is urged (with social distancing measures that were due to expire later this week having been extended to May 7th), there is a sense that Hong Kongers have done a pretty good job fighting against the Wuhan coronavirus.  In fact, some have gone so far as to laud the Big Lychee's denizens as having model citizens who had the kind of mindsets that prioritized the community over indviduals, and had the ability to take the initiative rather than wait for authority figures to issue orders. 

 

Ironically, that strong sense of community and capacity for independent thinking are among the things that the Chinese Communist regime (and its Hong Kong government lackeys) seem most keen on stamping out in Hong Kong(ers).  Rather than looking to encourage or even harness those particular characteristics that surely could go towards making Hong Kong great, they are viewed as threatening the authorities -- and that can seem like all that matters to those in power over in Beijing.

 

In the week that has followed this year's "celebration" of China's National Education Security Day, the Liason Office looks to have gone into overdrive.  Not content with issuing a statement about its not being subject to the Basic Law's Article 22 on top of raising the spectre of Article 23 once more, it's now fired off another three public statements in a row today asserting its authority in Hong Kong, backing the Hong Kong police over Saturday's shock arrests of 15 prominent pro-democracy figures, and blasting the pan-democrats with such intensity and specificity that Legislative Councillor Dennis Kwok has no doubt that "the writing is on the wall" for him as a lawmaker.

 

Seemingly everywhere in the world, it seems, China appears to be on a mission to impose itself on others and in a real hurry to do so.  In the South China Sea, China is currently engaged in a standoff with Malaysia.  The Chinese military also has increased its activity in Taiwan in recent days, while much of the world has been focused on battling the Wuhan coronavirus.   

Perhaps it's because I'm in Hong Kong but it does feel like the crackdown is particularly intense here, where "One country, two systems" was supposed to be the order of the day until at least 2047 but now seems like it could be effectively done away with next month.  At the very least, quite of a lot has taken place here in the past few days, with the Communist Chinese regime attempting to use the global pandemic as the cover for their nefarious activities (particularly since much of the rest of the world, notably the USA, has been much more negatively affected by the Wuhan coronavirus cases and deaths than the likes of Mainland China (at least officially) and Hong Kong (who learnt its lessons from its SARS experience that involved Mainland Chinese government deception).

 

The thing though is that Beijing never seems to "get" -- or is it just plain doesn't care? -- that the more it attempts to push down the opposition in Hong Kong, the angrier and determined it just makes people.  So Xi Jinping's proxy over at the Liason Office -- for whom, it should be remembered, Cantonese is pretty much a foreign language -- looks to have guaranteed that Hong Kong will have no peace for some time by "taking the most divisive path possible" for the city and its wounded but still very spirited people.   

 

Adding insult to injury is the continued misbehavior of the Hong Kong police.  In recent days, we've seen the kind of arrests that involve less high profile folks and a far greater likelihood of violence, and the all-too-predictable hassling of protestors that make use of the social distancing regulations.  

 

There's also been the strange case concerning a police officer arrested "on suspicion of perverting the course of justice" after arranging for a man to show up at a police station with a bomb as well as the arrest of another police officer arrested for assaulting a fellow officer while off duty!  Throw in the fact that a grand total of zero police officers have been charged or arrested for misconduct over the course of the extradition bill protests (when so many examples of terrible police behavior have been caught on camera) and it's well nigh impossible for your blood to boil, right?