#CCPRules #PoliceState #Sanction
#China delays implementing Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law in Hong Kong

The 4-day meeting of China's CCP Standing Committee of the National People's Congress was ended on August 20, 2021. It was reported earlier that the Committee will deliberate over adding the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law into the Annex III of the Hong Kong Basic Law in the Congress meeting.

The decision, however, has been delayed.

Alibaba-owned South China Morning Post (#SCMP) cited sources who said the sudden decision to postpone the deliberation was that the Committee "could consider more views".

The Pro-Beijing newspaper Sing Tao Daily slso published an "analysis” based on an internal memo of #XinHua news agency, a CCP mouthpiece. It hinted that including the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law into the Annex III of the Hong Kong Basic Law “may not be among motions to be passed.”

Responding to media inquiry, Hong Kong senior delegate Tam Yiu-chun, a pro-Beijing figure, said that the Stand Committee did review the agenda item, but decided not to take a vote on it.

The Hong Kong SAR Government issued a statement stating that the Central People's Congress is "concerned about the well-being of Hong Kong people". The statement continued saying decisions of the Standing Committee on Hong Kong matters are "based on local interests", and the SAR Government is determined to give its full support.

#CCP #1C1S #AntiSanctionsLaw

Source: Stand News; #Aug20
https://www.thestandnews.com/china/%E5%8F%8D%E5%A4%96%E5%9C%8B%E5%88%B6%E8%A3%81%E6%B3%95%E7%B4%8D%E5%85%A5%E9%99%84%E4%BB%B6%E4%B8%89%E7%8F%BE%E8%AE%8A%E6%95%B8-%E8%AD%9A%E8%80%80%E5%AE%97%E6%8C%87%E4%BA%BA%E5%A4%A7%E5%B8%B8%E5%A7%94%E6%8A%BC%E5%BE%8C%E8%A1%A8%E6%B1%BA

Hong Kong Stock Market Plummets as #Beijing Issues New Mandates to "Regularize" Real Estate Firms

On Monday, September 20, 2021, the Hong Kong stock market plummeted following the order released by the Chinese Communist Part Government before the weekend, to have more control over the real estate firms.

The potential collapse of property developer China Evergrande in China has triggered concern.

The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong has plunged 3.3 percent (821 points) within a day.

The real estates firms owned by Hong Kong tycoons #LeeKaShing, #LeeSiuKi, #WongChiCheung and the Kwok's brothers among others have suffered a 8-10% liquidization within just one day.

Source: Stand News; RTHK #Sept20
https://www.thestandnews.com/finance/%E5%82%B3%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E5%90%91%E5%9C%B0%E7%94%A2%E5%95%86%E4%B8%8B%E6%97%A8%E8%A7%A3%E6%88%BF%E5%B1%8B%E5%95%8F%E9%A1%8C-%E6%81%92%E5%9F%BA%E6%96%B0%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E7%80%89%E9%80%BE%E4%B8%80%E6%88%90-%E6%81%92%E6%8C%87%E8%B7%8C%E9%80%BE-800-%E9%BB%9E

#StockMarket #HSIndex #Evergrande #CCPRules #Finances #Economy

#CCPRules
Hong Kong critics warned by #UK to avoid #extradition locations

Source: The Strait Times; Bloomberg #Sept22

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#CCPRules #NationalSecurityLaw
Hong Kong critics warned by #UK to avoid #extradition locations

//The UK government is alerting people in Britain who were named in a Hong Kong national security case to avoid travelling to countries that have extradition treaties with the Chinese territory...

The warnings underscore concern among US allies that China might reach beyond its borders to prosecute people for crimes under a Beijing-drafted national security law imposed on Hong Kong last year.

The sweeping legislation asserts global jurisdiction for cases involving terrorism, secession, subversion and collusion with foreign powers, which carry sentences as long as life in prison

Nine countries, including Germany, the UK and the US, suspended their extradition treaties with Hong Kong following the imposition of the sweeping legislation in June 2020.

Still, China has almost doubled its extradition treaties to more than 50 since 2012, as the country pursued fugitives overseas as part of a years-long graft crackdown under President #XiJinping.

Beijing ratified an extradition pact with #Cyprus last year, and approved a similar one with Belgium earlier this year.//

Source: The Strait Times; Bloomberg #Sept22

Read full article:
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/hong-kong-critics-warned-by-uk-to-avoid-extradition-locations

#Crackdown

#ReportersWithoutBorders and 44-NGO coalition urge Chinese President #XiJinping to release #Covid19 reporter on #hungerstrike

//On September 17, 2021, Reporters Without Borders (#RSF) and a coalition of 44 human rights NGOs urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to exonerate and release Covid-19 reporter #ZhangZhan, who has been on hunger strike since May 2020, for which she was forced-fed.

“Zhang Zhan did not commit any crime but instead courageously risked her life to inform the public on the health crisis. She should never have been arrested, let alone subjected to a harsh prison sentence”, says the head of RSF East Asia bureau, Cédric Alviani, who urges President Xi Jinping to “ensure that Zhang Zhan is released before it’s too late.”//

Source: RSF #Sept17

https://rsf.org/en/news/rsf-and-44-ngo-coalition-urge-chinese-president-xi-jinping-release-covid-19-reporter-hunger-strike

Related news:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/28615

#PoliticalProsecution #PressFreedom #Regime #CCPRules

#CCPRules #Infiltration
Concern over ‘#censorship’ rules of New Zealand-Chinese news site Skykiwi.com

Source: Newsroom #Sep20

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#CCPRules #Infiltration
Concern over ‘#censorship’ rules of New Zealand-Chinese news site Skykiwi.com

//An influential Chinese-language media outlet in #NewZealand warned its users their information could be shared with 'relevant state agencies' if they violated #ChineseLaws.

Skykiwi.com promotes itself as New Zealand’s “most influential” Chinese-language media outlet, with half a million ‘daily average user visits’ to its multi-platform website. Besides providing news coverage, the site also runs message boards where a variety of topics, including current affairs, are discussed. It claims to have 81,000 daily forum users.

...Until July, the terms of service for these forums contained clauses forbidding speech on a range of topics and said that users who violate Chinese laws in their postings could have their information shared with “relevant state agencies,” indicating China’s intelligence apparatus would be able to potentially identify them. It also meant criticism of China’s ruling Communist Party was all but banned.

...A list of forbidden conduct on the forum, as seen last month, includes “leaking state secrets”, “damaging national honour and interests”, “undermining national unity”, inciting “subversion of state power”, "undermining national policies" and promoting “cults”. Virtually identical wording was discovered on the terms of service for China’s state-backed social media platform #WeChat and a list of “prohibited content” outlined by the Chinese Ministry of Culture.//

Source: Newsroom #Sep20
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/concern-over-censorship-rules-of-nz-chinese-news-site

#CCP #PRC #UnitedFront

#FailedState #1C1S
#CarrieLam is unable to confirm whether Beijing has issued a new mandate to “Regularize” Real Estate in Hong Kong

Hong Kong's #ChiefExecutive Carrie Lam met the media before attending the Executive Council meeting on the morning of September 21, 2021 and was asked about a Reuters report published the previous Friday, Septrmber 17, 2021, regarding Beijing’s pressure on Hong Kong property developers.

At first, she said that “I cannot confirm nor comment on this since they are all rumors.” She followed by saying that Beijing is very concerned about the livelihood of Hong Kong people. After they have “improved” the election system, they hope to enhance the effectiveness of the SAR’s governance. “After improving its effectiveness, of course they would want to help solve problems for the public.”

She added that the housing issue has been substantially adjusted by the current government, and now the remaining issue is the land issue.

“The current issue is a land problem. It is true that the developers have some privately own land, but when it is necessary, public powers can be exercised to recover some of these lands to develop public housing. Thus, solving a problem that has been bothering the city for a long time.”

#Beijing #RealEstateMandate
#Economy #Finance #PropertyMarket #HongKongMarket #CCPRules

Source: Stand News #Sept21
https://bit.ly/3m0SV2n

#Newspaper #CCPRules
‘Red Roulette’ Uncovers Covert Hands in Hong Kong

Source: Bloomberg #Oct3
Photo: Chan Long Hei

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#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

#Evergrande and other Chinese property giants have sizeable off-balance sheet debt: #JPMorgan

//Investment bank JPMorgan has estimated that troubled Chinese property giant Evergrande and many of its major rivals have billions of dollars worth of off-balance sheet debt that, once added on, ramp up their leverage ratios.

"Instead of true deleveraging, we think Evergrande has shifted some of the interest-bearing debt to off-balance sheet debt," JPMorgan's analysts said. "Commercial papers, wealth management products and perpetual capital securities, etc, which are not officially counted as debt."

They estimated Evergrande's "net gearing," as debt as a ratio of a firm's equity is known, was at least 177% at the end of the first half of the year, instead of the 100% its accounts reported.

"It is possible that the real gearing could be even higher, as data on some off-balance sheet debt is not publicly available," JPMorgan added, saying the "disguised" debt as it called it added up to 55% of Evergrande's overall debt.

Other major firms whose gearing levels were likely to be higher than formally reported included R&F Properties (2777.HK) at 139% versus the 123%, #SunacChina Holdings (1918.HK) at 138% versus 87% reported and #CountryGarden (2007.HK) at 76% versus 50% reported.//

Source: Reuters #Oct7

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/evergrande-other-chinese-property-giants-have-sizeable-off-balance-sheet-debt-2021-10-07/

#PropertyAnalysis #Economy #Finance #CCPRules #Debt #ChinaMarket #Bubble

#China again blocks #WikimediaFoundation’s accreditation to World Intellectual Property Organization

//China today blocked the Wikimedia Foundation’s bid for observer status at the World Intellectual Property Organization (#WIPO) for the second timeafter the Foundation’s initial application in 2020. 

WIPO is the #UnitedNations (#UN) organization that develops international treaties on copyright, patents, trademarks and related issues. China was again the only country to object to the accreditation of the Wikimedia Foundation as an official observer.

The Foundation will reapply for official observer status in 2022, but it will only be admitted by WIPO if China decides to lift its blockade.

WIPO’s work, which shapes international rules that affect the sharing of free knowledge, impacts Wikipedia’s ability to provide hundreds of millions of people with information in their own languages

As in 2020, China’s statement falsely suggested that the Wikimedia Foundation was spreading disinformation via the independent, volunteer-led #WikimediaTaiwan chapter. The United States and the group of industrialized countries at WIPO — which also includes many European Union member states, Australia, Canada, the Holy See, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom — expressed their support for the Foundation’s application. Since WIPO is generally run by consensus, any one country may veto accreditation requests by non-governmental organizations.//

Read full article:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/10/05/china-again-blocks-wikimedia-foundations-accreditation-to-world-intellectual-property-organization/

Source: Wikipedia Foundation #Oct5

#FalseAccusation #CCPRules #Wikipedia #IntellectualProperty

#CCPRules #1C1S
#ChineseEmblem Spotted on Hong Kong Government's Websites; Spokesman Cites Requirement from Newly-gazetted Ordinance

Source: Stand News #Oct8
https://bit.ly/3DlEhtA

#CCPRules #1C1S
#ChineseEmblem Spotted on Hong Kong Government's Websites; Spokesman Cites Requirement from Newly-gazetted Ordinance

On October 8, 2021, the Chinese emblem has been suddenly added to the websites of four official bodies in Hong Kong, namely the Legislative Council, the Chief Executive's Office, the Judiciary and GovHK. Other government websites, such as the websites of the Financial Secretary's Office and the Chief Secretary for Administration's Office, remain unchanged.

The emblem of the #PRC was added to the top left of all four official websites, with the Judiciary website being the largest and clearest.

Of the four websites that have been altered, the emblem on the website of the Chief Executive's Office is the most crude, with blurred lines and fonts, and the emblem appearing pixelized when the page is slightly enlarged. In addition, the new Chinese emblem is slightly larger than the Hong Kong SAR emblem.

Hong Kong government spokesman said the National Flag and Emblem (Amendment) Ordinance was gazetted on 8 October, 2021 and the Chief Executive has amended the requirement to use the emblem on the websites of the Hong Kong SAR Government, the Legislative Council and the Judiciary.

Source: Stand News #Oct8
https://bit.ly/3DlEhtA

#LegCoElection #CCPCharacteristics
In Hong Kong: 41 Privileged voters’ power is 7,200 times a single-vote holder’s under new #LegCo electoral system

//At least 41 ‘privileged voters’ will be able to influence 1.47% of LegCo seats in Sunday’s ‘improved’ election, finds a FactWire analysis. The voting power of each of these 41 four-vote holders is comparable to that of 7,215 Geographical Constituency voters who hold one vote each.

The #LegCoGeneralElection, scheduled for Sunday, December 19, will be the first one under the ‘improved electoral system’, relevant amendments having been passed in May of this year. 

Under the Improving Electoral System (Consolidated Amendments) Bill of 2021, the total number of seats in LegCo has been increased from 70 to 90. The numbers of seats in Geographical Constituencies (#GC) and Functional Constituencies (#FC) have been reduced from 35 to 20 and 30 respectively, while the newly-formed Election Committee Constituency will comprise 40 new seats.

The FC’s composition will also see changes. The District Council sector has been abolished, and three new sectors introduced: namely, ‘Commercial (third)’, ‘Technology and innovation’, and ‘HKSAR deputies to the NPC, HKSAR members of the National Committee of the CPPCC, and representatives of relevant national organisations’. In some sectors, individual electors have been replaced by corporate electors.

The electorate of the Election Committee Constituency comprises 1,500 Chief Executive Election Committee (#EC) members, each assigned a ‘block vote’ to select 40 candidates, albeit there are only 1,448 EC members in the current term, owing to vacancies in its LegCo members subsector and the fact that certain members have,ex officio, dual eligibilities.

Under the new electoral system, EC members will be significantly influential as some of them are qualified to vote in the EC Constituency, their own GC districts and two FC sectors (as individual and corporate electors respectively) at the same time, adding up to as many as four votes per person.//

Read the full article:
https://bit.ly/3s87FRI

Source: FactWire #Dec15

#Regime #AuthoritarianRule #CCPRules #PoliceState #MadeinChina

Related news:

Hong Kong Authorities Ban Citizens from Displaying "Hong Kong Add Oil" on Outfits
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31621

#BrainWashing #Propaganda
"Don't Lie Flat": New Values Education Framework Promotes "Dilligence", Drops "Critical Thinking" and "Human Rights"

Hong Kong's Education Bureau (#EDB) issued the "Values Education Curriculum Framework (Pilot Version)" on November 30, 2021, as reference material for the city's primary and secondary schools.

The new framework adds "diligence" as a "priority value and attitude" on top of the nine existing values. It also emphasizes "[nurturing] a sense of belonging towards the country from an early age", so as to help students "understand their responsibility, as a Chinese, to protect their family and the country".

The announcement came days after an online article by Secretary for Education #KevinYeung, in which he stressed the importance of #ValuesEducation, while criticizing a trend to "lie flat" among young people.

[Editor's note: The term "lie flat" (躺平) is popularized by young Mainland Chinese netizens who felt disillusioned by long working hours and high social expectations.

In response, they opt for a lifestyle and work ethic of minimalistic survival, and refuse to spend extra effort or money to move up the social ladder, which they saw as being already out of their reach.]

In Hong Kong, the new framework is based on the EDB's 2008 Moral and Civic Education Framework.

The learning objectives in the older framework included "respecting human rights" and learning about the Motherland "through critical thinking". These wordings are no longer found in the new document; instead, a new objective is added: "love the country, love Hong Kong".

Source: Stand News #Nov30
https://thestandnews.page.link/avyAVFN42EnSoV8Y6

#LieFlat #TangPing #Education #ValuesEducation #CCPRules

#Propaganda #CCP
Buying Influence: How China Manipulates #Facebook and #Twitter

//...a new set of documents reviewed by The New York Times reveals in stark detail how Chinese officials tap private businesses to generate content on demand, draw followers, track critics and provide other services for information campaigns. That operation increasingly plays out on international platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which the Chinese government blocks at home.

The documents, which were part of a request for bids from contractors, offer a rare glimpse into how China’s vast bureaucracy works to spread propaganda and to sculpt opinion on global social media. They were taken offline after The Times contacted the Chinese government about them...

A separate document reviewed by The Times shows that the same local branch of Shanghai police purchased video-making services from a different company in November. The police asked the supplier to provide at least 20 videos a month and to distribute those on domestic and overseas social media. The document referred to the task as original video production that would be used to fight the “battle of public opinion.”

Earlier this year, a New York Times and ProPublica analysis showed howthousands of videos portraying members of the Uyghur ethnic minority living happy and free lives were a key part of an information campaign that Twitter ultimately attributed to the Chinese Communist Party...

Work like what Shanghai Cloud Link pitched is likely just the tip of the iceberg. Local governments and police across China have put out similar requests for services to influence overseas social media, but often in vague terms. Occasionally, specifics are revealed.

In 2017, for instance, the police in Inner Mongolia purchased software that allowed government trolls to post directly to multiple social media sites, inside and outside of China, according to documents reviewed by The Times.

In another case, a contractor had downloaded hundreds of access credentials for Facebook’s public feed, allowing it to collect data about who commented on which posts and when.//

Read the full article:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/20/technology/china-facebook-twitter-influence-manipulation.htmlb

Source: New York Times #Dec20

#Manipulation #PublicOpinionManagement #SocialMedia #Meta #Disinformation #MadeinChina #CCPRules

#Regime #CCPRules
#China Bans #Christmas as 'Forbidden Western Celebration'

A leaked document showed that Chinese authorities ordered limits on festive celebrations.

The document, dated December 20, 2021 was issued by the PRC's Department of Education of Rong'an county in Liuzhou city of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The directive, addressed to all elementary schools and kindergartens, is titled "Spreading the Chinese traditional culture and forbidding Western festival celebrations".

It urged people to report to the authorities immediately if anyone finds individuals and organizations arranging any Christmas event.

The directive also said a special officer has been designated at the County Public Security Bureau to handle complaints regarding the matter and urged people to contact the authorities immediately if anyone finds individuals and organizations arranging any Christmas event.

Source: Set News; #Dec24
https://www.setn.com/News.aspx?NewsID=1047163

Business connections of #JohnLee’s sons with CE electors revealed

//A #Factwire investigation reveals that the two sons of John Lee, the Chief Executive candidate likely to be running unopposed this year, both have connections with members of the current #ChiefExecutiveElection Committee in the business field, although John Lee’s team said he has not been involved in these connections.

John Lee’s older son, Gilbert Lee, is a senior executive at Hang Seng Bank, whose direct superior, Diana Cesar, is the bank’s chief and a finance subsector member of the Election Committee. Gilbert Lee was awarded a position in a government panel last year, soon after his father became the Chief Secretary for Administration.

Lee’s younger son Jacky Lee is a business partner of Li Sing-tui, a member of the Election Committee and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (#CPPCC). Together, they own and operate a kindergarten in Dongguan that costs over HKD 70,000 a year to attend.//

Read full article:
https://www.factwire.org/en/business-connections-of-john-lees-sons-with-ce-electors-revealed/

Source: Factwire #Apr15

#CCPRules #HongKongElection

#SmallCircleElection #CCPRules
Former Security Head Nominated for Chief Executive Election in Hong Kong Without Any Program

In Hong Kong, #JohnLee, a former police commissioner and the secretary for secutity until recently, claimed that he has submitted 786 nominations to the Election Committee, making him the sole candidate in Hong Kong's #ChiefExecutiveElection.

Lee was known for his pro-Beijing stance and hardliner attitude in suppressing the city's prodemocracy protests.

Lee was asked by journalists to comment on the legitimacy of the election, as he has been nominated without having any program nor statement.

Lee did not give a direct response, but said, "it takes time to write a statement." Lee claimed that he is a pragmatic person and would be able to realise the policy he proposed.

Source: InMedia #Apr15
https://bit.ly/378khQJ

#Regime #PoliceState