Partygate continues but what appears more chilling is the appointment of a new PLA commander to its Hong Kong garrison

A visual reminder that the People's Liberation Army

is present in Hong Kong 

 

The saga that's now been dubbed Hung's Partygate (as well as given so many other names) continues to unfold.  Among the latest developments: another local deputy to China's National People's Congress has been ordered into quarantine after confirmed that he and his wife had dined with the partygoer who has since tested preliminary positive for the Wuhan coronavirus; Legislative Council president Andrew Leung has "strongly advised" 16 legislative councillors who attended Witman Hung's coronavirus-hit birthday party to stay away from their place of work(!); and the number of party attendees keeps on rising, with the uncovering of "hidden guests", and now stands at 214 (from previous estimates of around 170 to 180)!

 

Then we have Dr Daniel Chu Wai-sing, whose individual story is full of interesting details.  The medico who gave his wife what turned out to be a false positive test by contaminating her sample because he didn't wash his hands properly when administering it (in the bathroom!) has also now admitted that he didn't use the government's Leave Home Safe tracking app that people are now required to use when going to restaurants (and so many other places).  Having upset a lot of people based on this alone, he's doubled down and accused the radio hosts who interviewed him of "inciting hatred" as wll as sought to cast doubts on whether they (always) use the LeaveHomeSafe app as required themselves!

 

And if this was not enough, details have emerged of two other mass social gatherings attended by senior government officials in recent days.  One of them involved a lunch event last Tuesday at a clubhouse in Tsim Sha Tsui Fire Station whose 100 plus attendees included Director of Fire Services Joseph Leung, Executive Council member Ip Kwok-him, Director of Architectural Services Winnie Ho, newly elected legislative councillor Kitson Yang, and Home Affairs Department directors Paul Wong and Alice Choi.  Then there was the boat party two days later to celebrate Michael Fong's promotion to director of the Civil Engineering and Development Department attended by over 20 individuals -- which, frankly, is twice the size of the largest social gathering I've attended in the past two years or so!

 

If truth be told, all this currently constitutes more of an extended opportunity to laugh at, and ridicule, the Hong Kong government for its hypocrisy than anything else.  Still, if Hung's partygate becomes a cluster and/or any of those partygoers (who have been freely wandering around Hong Kong for much of this past few days) infects other people and cause the fifth coronavirus wave to descend upon Hong Kong, it all will of course become far less funny -- and, frankly, the possibility exists for this to happen.

 

Something else that has become a far more likely possibility as a result of recent developments is Hong Kong really becoming another Xinjiang.  In particular, the announcement late last night that China’s Ministry of National Defense had appointed the chief of staff of the Armed Police Force in Xinjiang, Peng Jingtang, to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Hong Kong Garrison commander sent shivers down my spine even while I wondered if this appointment constitutes a promotion or demotion for him.

 

Political commentators seem pretty unanimous though about Peng's appointment not boding well for Hong Kong.  We're talking, after all, about a PLA general "who led China's anti-terrorism special forces in Xinjiang... where human rights campaigners say authorities have detained vast numbers of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in camps and are stamping out their culture".        

 

And even before Peng came into the picture, threats to Hong Kong's culture already existed.  Among other things, there's the film censorship law which threatens to tame, if not destroy, Hong Kong cinema.  And in the past 24 hours or so, the promotion of Cantopop music has been linked to the promotion of Hong Kong independence by a pro-Beijing commentator in a "long established" newspaper and thus a national security matter.   

 

How ludicrous this latter move has been noted by the likes of Catrina Ko, who Tweeted: "Literally they’re criminalising CantoPop as seditious now... Do they register the fact that Canto songs aren’t exclusive to HK geographically as well as culturally?"   (As evidence: I offer up the use of a Sam Hui Cantopop song in the opening credits of Malaysian film Sepet and my having attended concerts by Cantopop legends Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui in Atlantic City all those years ago.)  Sadly, apparently not.  And that just adds to the tragedy of what's happening to Hong Kong: that so much of what's been done to it doesn't make logical or rational sense; only CCP-sense, if even that!