fazur wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 3:21 pm we're discussing the british empire and its colonial record

China have decided to take control of Hong Kong's security

clutchcargo wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 6:57 pm

fazur wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 3:21 pm we're discussing the british empire and its colonial record

No, the topic is about Hong Kong..from the OP post

China have decided to take control of Hong Kong's security

Police tried to stop protests against a proposed law banning insults to China's national anthem
Riot control police in Hong Kong fired pepper-ball rounds and arrested hundreds as they cracked down on protests against a bill being heard in the legislature banning insults to China’s national anthem on Wednesday.

Hundreds of protesters had gathered in several districts on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon to oppose the national anthem bill, which was being discussed in the Legislative Council on Wednesday

In essence, under US law that pre-dates the handover of Hong Kong by Britain to China in 1997, Hong Kong continues to be treated as if it were still a British-controlled territory. In recent times, for instance, that has meant that Hong Kong hasn’t been subjected to the tariffs the US has imposed on goods exported from China’s mainland.

If the US were to revoke Hong Kong’s special status – and it’s hard to see that not happening, given the now bi-partisan hostility towards China in the US and the impact of the fresh bouts of violence likely to erupt on Hong Kong’s streets in response to the new security laws – Hong Kong’s status as a globally significant financial centre and trade hub would be jeopardised.

All trade with the US, whether initiating within Hong Kong or transiting through it (some mainland trade has be re-routed through Hong Kong to avoid the US tariffs) would be captured by the US tariffs, and all capital flows would be more closely scrutinised and subjected to a US national security regime that is increasingly used as a weapon in America’s attempts to contain the growth in China’s economic and geopolitical influence.

It shouldn’t, however, underestimate the influence of the China hawks within the Trump administration and the US more generally, or overestimate the sophistication of an "America First" president.

Trump’s senior economics adviser Larry Kudlow said China was making a "big mistake" and the administration would welcome back American companies from Hong Kong or the mainland.

"We will do what we can for full expensing and pay the cost of moving if they return their supply chains and their production to the United States," he said. Among proposals reportedly being considered by the Trump administration is a $US25 billion "re-shoring" fund, along with new local content rules.

Diminishing Hong Kong as a financial and trade centre and the acceptable doorway for western capital and trade with mainland China, and repatriating US investment and activity would fit neatly within the administration’s trade policies and Trump’s own prejudices about trade.

Unlike the trade war with China, however, this might well be the first important moment in the Trump presidency where he might be able to gather - rather than fragment - a coalition of the major western economies to act collectively against China’s decision to effectively tear up the agreement it signed with the UK in 1997 that guaranteed Hong Kong and its people a high degree of autonomy for half a century.

fazur wrote:i see.

denial.

bye.

newkidontheblock wrote: ↑Thu May 28, 2020 10:57 pm

fazur wrote:i see.

denial.

bye.

For someone who preaches about having an open mind and being so enlightened, that’s about a closed, narrow minded view as it gets.

China’s parliament yesterday (May 28) approved plans to impose a security law on Hong Kong that has ratcheted up tensions with the US and sparked new protests over fears the city is losing its special freedoms.
The vote by the rubber-stamp National People’s Congress (NPC) spurred the US and Britain to call for the United Nations Security Council to meet informally today to discuss the issue.

And it came hours after Washington revoked the special status conferred on Hong Kong, paving the way for the territory to be stripped of trading and economic privileges.