📡Guardians of Hong Kong
9.57K subscribers
21.6K photos
1.88K videos
27 files
9.99K links
We provide translation of news in English from local media and other sources, for academic use.
Facebook: http://bit.ly/BeWaterHongKong
Instagram: @guardiansofhk
Website: https://guardiansofhk.com/
Download Telegram
#OpinionArticle

Simon Shen on IPCC Effectiveness and Credibility

(11 Nov)
1. In Sep 2019, IPCC said "International Expert Panel will first examine the restructuring of the task force and the work of identifying the facts. It will focus on the work in the 2nd and 3rd phrases, which are evaluating of the policing measures and providing recommendations. "

Cheung Wah-fung, deputy Chairman of IPCC, said" the 5 board members of International Expert Panel are reputable, experienced and credible, they can improve the work and goodwill. "

2. Nov-2019, Denis O'Connor, Chairman of the Panel, criticised that IPCC was lacking of capacity and independent investigative capability. It must increase its resources and manpower to strengthen its power to obtain evidence for comprehensive investigation.

And Clifford Stott denounced that IPCC lacked investigation authority which matches the scale of the anti-elab protests in order to meet with the international standards and expectations in a society value freedom and rights.

3. Nov-2019, Cheung Wah-fung said "the Overseas Expert Panel may not fully understand the situation in HK, the procedure in investigation or obtaining evidence from police is not difficult"

According to his logic, there are two conclusions

4a. IPCC: When the Panel speaks for freedom and the truth, it lacks experience and credibility

4b. IPCC: When the Panel covers up for police, it understands the situation in HK well

#InternationalCondom
#WhoWillBeFooled
#WeDisconnect

Source: Simon Shen Facebook
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2821418687892263&id=223783954322429&sfnsn=mo

#PoliceState #IPCC #SimonShen
#OpinionArticle

One Country, Two Systems 2.0


(21 Nov) A trait of the trend towards "One Country" is the capriciousness and utter lack of integrity of the government. In the past, the government owed its effective governance to middlemen whose words can be trusted, and who can thus become a bridge between both sides in a crisis or conflict. To be honest, I have taken on similar roles in the past. But ever since Hong Kong entered "One Country, Two Systems 2.0," this kind of trust is completely gone. The government often receives different commands and vacillates; occasionally it even appears to be intentionally manipulating the middlemen to set up a trap. Add that to the tradition of never admitting to mistakes, and the result is a wasteful depletion of trust on all sides.

The deal was that secondary school students would "leave voluntarily" and wouldn't be charged, yet once they were out they had suddenly "turned themselves in"; earlier authorities even said, "everyone on campus would be charged with rioting." Such operating style is not far from that of China's National Security Police. In future cases of the same nature, who would still be able to mediate? Or had the government's aim always been to debilitate all middlemen such that all matters must only be solved in the most forceful way possible?

"It was you who taught us that private negotiations were useless." [An allusion to a viral graffiti spotted at protest scenes: "It was you who taught us that peaceful marches are useless."]

Read more:

Mask Ban Reinstated Despite Being “Unconstitutional”
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/12035

Government Bans Students from Political Participation
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/12032

Source: Simon’s Glos World
https://bit.ly/34lDjMV
#SimonShen #HKGovTrap #PolyUSeige
#OpinionArticle
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) turned its back on Hong Kong Medical Crisis

(19 Nov) Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been contributing to worldwide humanitarian relief and providing assistance to people of conflicts. However, its responses to recent Hong Kong is disappointing. Given the situation in Hong Kong appears to be worsening in the past few months and the tear gas deployment by Hong Kong riot police has been the “world-first” against population density, my friends from Iraq, Syria and the Federal Republic of Somalia also warned that Hong Kong has been an uninhabitable war zone, especially for children and elderly. In fact, loads of Hong Kong medical workers have been providing assistance to people at the frontline of the conflicts in certain adverse condition, but they were treated as “one of those rioters” by the Hong Kong Police Force. Days ago, the police arrested tens of medical volunteers in Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), leading to the delay in humanitarian aid. These volunteers may even be charged with rioting over the protests, as defined by Secretary for Security, Mr. John Lee Ka-chiu. Looking around the world, it is totally inconceivable!

Continue

Related:
Public outrage as MSF refuse to step in

#MSF #HumanitarianCrisis #SimonShen #MSFInChina
#OpinionArticle

[Logical Question of International Relations] Eight Conspiracies at Carrie Lam’s Epidemic PressCon 1/3

1. “Halt indefinitely of all flights and trains to and from Wuhan until the outbreak is clearly under control.” In fact, Wuhan has been under lockdown since a while ago. No flights or trains can depart from Wuhan, and have been already “halted indefinitely.“ Carrie Lam’s “drastic measure” is no different than “halting indefinitely spaceships from Mars to Hong Kong.” The Hong Kong government should have made the aforementioned decision before the lockdown of Wuhan. When the outbreak is spread to Hong Kong and the origins are all from Wuhan, then it is clearly government’s responsibility. Making such gesture now is clearly making a fool of the general public to evade responsibility.

2. She emphasised that “there is no upper limit to resources.” In particular, medical professionals would earn overtime pay. On the surface, this is done “for the sake of citizens’ health at all costs.” However, this is just a ploy to put pressure on the medical professionals who intended to strike. What the medical professionals are dissatisfied about is that the government let a large number of non-local visitors to overuse medical resources and increase health risks for Hong Kongers. Carrie Lam’s thinking is, however, that, as long as there is no upper limit to resources, money can solve all problems. She even smeared the original intention of medical professionals to protect Hong Kongers as “taking radical actions,” and continued the us-versus-them thinking as in the past 7 months.

3. She said she would “expand health declaration during immigration to all customs” and “measure body temperature of people departing.” But she didn’t explain further on the process, and just paid lip services. Other parts of China already enforced mandatory quarantine for people from Wuhan. Macao also forbids people with fever from departing. Only in Hong Kong, the so-called highest level of defence has no consequences.

Source: https://bit.ly/38ACCki

#SimonShen #MedicialStaffStrike #HighestLevelOfDefense #ChinesePneumonia
#OpinionArticle

[Logical Question of International Relations] Eight Conspiracies at Carrie Lam’s Epidemic PressCon 2/3

4. The key to fighting epidemic is to decrease unnecessary movements of population at the critical moments. Declaration at the immigration is a pro-active mechanism. The key point is to make it mandatory at arrival and then approve. It shouldn’t be a voluntary declaration of health conditions, not to mention when the result still objectively ends up an open door even after such declaration without any clear consequence.

Carrie Lam’s idea of fighting epidemic is to use an honour system. In contrast, other places would deny free movements of visitors from the epidemic area even when they are healthy.

5. Besides Wuhan, other places in the nation are locking down one after another. If you believe in the system in mainland, then these places should be treated the same as Wuhan. Rumour has it that Beijing will follow suit. When that time comes, even visitors from Beijing should be treated the same way. The SAR government is just focusing on the Hubei province, and has not disclosed how to identify the epidemic areas. This is not a transparent move, because the general public can decide for themselves only if they know the criteria.

6. “Send a letter to the State Council to request assurance of mask supply.” Here lies massive logical issues. First, mainland is part of the major epidemic area, and has a more severe supply shortage. Hong Kong can’t make things worse at this moment, because this would be truly disregarding people’s feelings in mainland. Second, the masks that Hong Kongers are used to use are mostly not from mainland. If the SAR government just wants to address Hong Kongers’ concern, it should ensure enough supply from all places, rather than just highlight mainland. Third, Carrie Lam said “no upper limit to resources,” and already guaranteed the supply of masks and, thus, had no need to bother the Central Government. All these are, even at this critical moment, done for appeasement by conveying a message of “Central taking care of Hong Kong.“

Source: https://bit.ly/38ACCki

#SimonShen #CarrieLam #Declaration #ChinesePneumonia
[Logical Question of International Relations] Eight Conspiracies at Carrie Lam’s Epidemic PressCon 3/3

7. She emphasised that the lack of recommendation of wearing mask has nothing to do with the Anti-Mask Law. But this can’t explain why Hong Kong has already attained the so-called highest level of alert and, yet, the government has not clearly educated citizens on the basic knowledge of wearing masks and their different types. This is contrary to what other cities in China are doing, and is also a sharp contrast with how the Chief Executive of Macao is wearing N95. When an “emergency” crisis looms in Hong Kong, the nature of mask wearing is already in complete contradiction with the Anti-Mask Law. Even if the crisis is passed, citizens will be able to, for quite some time, cite hygiene as reasons to wear masks. Even if the government insists to appeal, it will be all for naught, and is just denial on the part of Carrie Lam.

8. The government appointed Professor Gabriel Matthew Leung and other experts as consultants. This is obviously intended to use their professional authority to share risks with the government. Earlier the government had a hard time finding people to join the Independent Review Commission. They need this even more to show that they are still trusted by the experts. However, the real logic is that experts need to provide professional opinions only and don’t need to care about politics. But the Chief Executive must care about politics, for otherwise why don’t the experts make the calls themselves? In dealing with Wuhan pneumonia, the hardest part was that, for the entire December before Xi Jinping gave the order, Wuhan and the whole country intentionally hid the truth about the epidemic, causing no one to know the truth. Thus, it must include a political assessment to see how far to fight the epidemic. But now Carrie Lam just pushes everything to the experts. If the #epidemic really breaks out, even though it is her political responsibility, she can still dispose of the experts.

Source: https://bit.ly/38ACCki

#SimonShen #CarrieLam #AntiMaskLaw #ChinesePneumonia
#OpinionArticle

Macau leader Ho Iat Seng’s tactics: 4 lessons for Carrie Lam

1. Apparently, Macau’s immigration control is less tight than Hong Kong’s as it doesn’t forbid the entering of Hubei people who can provide medical proof. Yet, on a practical level, the Macau government states that no doctor, at the present stage, can produce valid medical proof that confirms that a person “is not” a carrier of the Wuhan coronavirus. The result is the same, but Macau has clearly made a better gesture to the PRC.

2. The advantages of using this method are that it fits the aim to forbid the entering of Hubei people without losing all the flexibility, and it can also test the limits of Beijing. As long as Beijing doesn’t complain about it (right now, the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government and the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office are dealing with their own problems, they will not be able to give clear direction other than empty statements like “do anything that will benefit the fighting of the disease”), Macau can use the same method in the future to restrict the entry of other Mainlanders. Whereas in Hong Kong, as our government publicly states that it needs to “take care of the feelings of Mainland China”, any further closing of borders will turn into a political problem, which puts the government in a bind.

3. By forcing the Hubei people out of Macau, not only can the Macau government keep the epidemic under control, it also sends a clear signal that all entries and exits are under its control. When this message is spread on Weibo, Mainlanders are shocked, for they realise that Macau doesn’t need to “care about the feelings of the Mainland”. As a result, it minimizes their desire to go to Macau, but at the same time, the Macau government doesn’t have to make it publicly known. Whereas in Hong Kong, our government welcomes Mainlanders to arrive and use the free medical service, saying repeatedly that we concern the feelings of the Mainland. Of course the target audience will understand the meaning behind.

4. Macau uses the police to “help” the Hubei people to leave. This approach not only shows that the government is “strong”, it also allows the police to play a positive role to gain internal support. It shows a great contrast to the image of Hong Kong police in the past 7 months, giving credit to the principle of “One Country, Two Systems”, and diffusing the charge of police brutality prevailed in Hong Kong. Beijing will be glad to see. Yet, the Hong Kong police have been flattered to become “the heroes that stop violence and chaos”, “People of the Year” on Weibo, if they suddenly have to act the role of “traitor” that expels Mainlanders, the show cannot go on. Macau grasps this opportunity quickly, and for sure does much better than Hong Kong.

“One Country, Two Systems” is a big gamble. Carrie Lam thought that handling the crises by power will be the solution. It turns out to be the very culprit of ruining “One Country, Two Systems”. Look at the extradition bill, look at the epidemic, she’s hopeless.

Source: https://bit.ly/2ROI1Pp

#OneCountryTwoSystem #Maccu #RestrictEntry #ClosingBorder #SimonShen
#OpinionArticle

[#LatestAntiEpidemicLogic]

1. The #WHO expert team visited China, but China did not allow American experts to join the group. WHO accepted.

2. Then China finally allowed American experts to join the WHO expert team, but they were only allowed to visit Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu, not the hardest hit areas - Hubei Province and Wuhan. The Chinese reason: it was the critical period of the epidemic situation, reception capacity was limited. WHO accepted.

3. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom highly appreciated China's tremendous efforts to prevent and control the epidemic, and admired President Xi Jinping's outstanding leadership and firm political confidence, and emphasized that the visit of WHO experts to China was not because of Chinese insufficient capabilities, but to show the unity and cooperation of both parties.

Conclusion: WHO is already an indivisible part of China.

Image : Eat News
Source: Simon Shen Facebook
https://bit.ly/32n8XcE

#SimonShen #Xi #Tedros #ChinaInfluence
#Investigation #SimonShen

China uses an Italian doctor’s speech to propaganda


(25 Mar) A few days ago, Chinese official media, WeChat, and Hong Kong blue media propagated overwhelmingly, "Wuhan pneumonia originates from Italy." The only source is to quote a sentence from an Italian doctor Giuseppe Remuzzi interviewed by the American radio station, and then take it out of context. We explained it yesterday.

A fellow protestor sent an email to Dr Remuzzi to inquire about the truth. From the Italian expert's reply below, we could clearly know his original intention: Not only affirmed that Wuhan pneumonia originated in Wuhan, but he suspected that as early as the end of October, Wuhan pneumonia infection in Wuhan might has appeared, but the Chinese government didn’t announced it. During this period, a large number of Chinese people may have come to Italy from Wuhan, which caused some suspicious cases in Italy. Because all information from China was not transparent, the epidemic was out of control. The whole message is completely contrary to the Chinese official media's propaganda. This clearly showing what fake news is.

Source: Simon Shen’s Facebook
https://bit.ly/2wCxIGe

#ChinesePropaganda #GiuseppeRemuzzi #VirusOrigin #Italy #HongKongProtestors

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ Continue
#Analysis #SimonShen

The National security law: the “Second handover” in the eyes of China, and the twenty steps

(20 May) I don’t agree with Beijing’s strategy. With that being said, we have to understand her logic and calculation, to find out the solutions. Actually, there is a loophole in every point on the Beijing’s plan. Let’s Brainstorm and find out what to do next.

Image: Kit Da Sketch - Kit Man
Source: Mingpao

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ Continue
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/21713