<
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/03/15/hong-kongs-zero-opposition-legislature-aims-to-up-oppression-with-new-national-security-law/>
"A gentleman’s agreement with the UK following years of colonialism has given
rise to another form of oppression. China took over Hong Kong in 1997,
promising to stay out of the day-to-day business of governing Hong Kong for 50
years. Not even halfway through this promised period of relative autonomy, the
Chinese government began imposing its will.
Hong Kong residents were understandably unhappy with this development. Protests
followed. Every wave of protest was followed swiftly by even more impositions
by the Chinese government. In the last couple of years, it’s become apparent
the Chinese government is no longer willing to tolerate any form of dissent in
Hong Kong, despite its earlier agreement to take a hands-off position on
governing Hong Kong until the middle of this century.
Now, it’s just China, but even richer. The Democratic government has been
gutted. Nearly every position of power has been staffed by someone fully
supported by (and fully supportive of) the Chinese government. It’s an actual
police state now, thanks to the appointment of former Secretary of Security
John Lee to the position of Chief Executive. Lee was best known for heading up
the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Taking his place as
second-in-command is Hong Kong’s police commissioner, who was similarly
involved in the crackdowns.
Since then, pretty much the entire legislature has been purged of pro-democracy
lawmakers. The democratic election system has been replaced with a voting
system that only allows “patriots” to vote.
And to better serve the ongoing issue of ridding the country of dissent, a
series of steadily escalating “national security” laws have been enacted for
the sole purpose of handing out life sentences to critics, protesters,
dissidents, and opposition political leaders.
But China’s government is never satisfied. Why settle for outrageously harsh
sentences when those sentences can always be harsher? As Derren Chan reports
for
Jurist, another national security law is making its way through the
legislature, where it is expected to face little debate or opposition."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
