#Newspaper #CCPRules
‘Red Roulette’ Uncovers Covert Hands in Hong Kong
//#China has long accused foreign elements of being behind the protests that convulsed Hong Kong in 2019. Authorities returned to the theme in recent days, with the foreign ministry releasing a 6,300-word “fact sheet” of U.S. interference in the territory.
None of the material in either report offers proof of the so-called black hands that Beijing has frequently invoked in its denunciations of external meddling...
There is, though, an account of behind-the-scenes manipulation by an external presence that sought to incite demonstrations in Hong Kong. It’s just that it comes from the other side.
Red Roulette: An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today's China is a memoir by Shanghai-born businessman #DesmondShum that was published this month. The book has created a stir among China scholars because of its ringside view of the nexus of business and politics in Beijing. But Shum’s description of China’s actions in Hong Kong is also revealing.
In Shum’s words, he was enlisted by the Communist Party to serve as a foot soldier in its campaign to undermine Hong Kong’s political system. As a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body that is part of the party’s united front operations, Shum says officials ordered him to go to Hong Kong to organize and fund counter-demonstrations during the 2014 #UmbrellaMovement. Those with businesses in Hong Kong were told to pay employees to march in support of China’s position, he says.
The businessman, who was raised in Hong Kong, relates how he joined one march, making sure that he was seen by officials from the Liaison Office, the central government’s main agency in the city, so that he would receive credit.
“I found the whole exercise laughable,” Shum writes. “Everyone, from the Liaison Office officials to all of us marchers, was acting. Few, if any, believed in the main idea underlying the action — that Hong Kong needed less democracy or less freedom. Everyone was there because of self-interest and to gain brownie points in Beijing.”//
Read the full article:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-10-03/china-worried-about-foreign-meddlers-in-hong-kong-plays-its-own-tacit-role
Source: Bloomberg #Oct3
Photo: Chan Long Hei
#Regime #Infiltration #ForeignPower
‘Red Roulette’ Uncovers Covert Hands in Hong Kong
//#China has long accused foreign elements of being behind the protests that convulsed Hong Kong in 2019. Authorities returned to the theme in recent days, with the foreign ministry releasing a 6,300-word “fact sheet” of U.S. interference in the territory.
None of the material in either report offers proof of the so-called black hands that Beijing has frequently invoked in its denunciations of external meddling...
There is, though, an account of behind-the-scenes manipulation by an external presence that sought to incite demonstrations in Hong Kong. It’s just that it comes from the other side.
Red Roulette: An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today's China is a memoir by Shanghai-born businessman #DesmondShum that was published this month. The book has created a stir among China scholars because of its ringside view of the nexus of business and politics in Beijing. But Shum’s description of China’s actions in Hong Kong is also revealing.
In Shum’s words, he was enlisted by the Communist Party to serve as a foot soldier in its campaign to undermine Hong Kong’s political system. As a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body that is part of the party’s united front operations, Shum says officials ordered him to go to Hong Kong to organize and fund counter-demonstrations during the 2014 #UmbrellaMovement. Those with businesses in Hong Kong were told to pay employees to march in support of China’s position, he says.
The businessman, who was raised in Hong Kong, relates how he joined one march, making sure that he was seen by officials from the Liaison Office, the central government’s main agency in the city, so that he would receive credit.
“I found the whole exercise laughable,” Shum writes. “Everyone, from the Liaison Office officials to all of us marchers, was acting. Few, if any, believed in the main idea underlying the action — that Hong Kong needed less democracy or less freedom. Everyone was there because of self-interest and to gain brownie points in Beijing.”//
Read the full article:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-10-03/china-worried-about-foreign-meddlers-in-hong-kong-plays-its-own-tacit-role
Source: Bloomberg #Oct3
Photo: Chan Long Hei
#Regime #Infiltration #ForeignPower
Bloomberg.com
‘Red Roulette’ Uncovers Covert Hands in Hong Kong
China has long accused foreign elements of meddling in the city’s affairs, yet a new book sheds light on its own role behind the scenes.