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[Piecake]

HONG KONG — The Chinese government effectively barred two young, pro-independence politicians in Hong Kong from taking seats in the territory’s legislature on Monday, an extraordinary intervention in the affairs of this semiautonomous former British colony that could prompt a constitutional crisis and fueled street protests that began hours earlier.

The move came in the form of a rare interpretation of the charter that governs Hong Kong, which was negotiated before the territory’s return to Chinese rule in 1997, and raised questions about the independence of the courts in Hong Kong. The charter gives China’s Parliament the right to issue such rulings, but Beijing has never before done so in a pending case without a request by the local government or courts.

People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party, had painted the two politicians, Yau Wai-ching, 25, and Sixtus Leung, 30, known as Baggio, as threats to national security for their advocacy of independence and their use of the word “Chee-na” in their oaths, a term that many find offensive and was used by the Japanese during World War II.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/08/world/asia/china-hong-kong-sixtus-leung-yau-wai-ching.html

 

[sphagnum]

Sixtus is a pretty cool throwback name.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

The unique flavor of HK being the capital of east meets west should not be undermined by unification, and I get the impression that most HK'ers feel similarly.
Many countries response to Chinas human rights violations have been absolutely pathetic. While it's much easier to decide go sanctions on Russia, a country with an economy the size the of the Netherlands, any country that does not want to do trade with China will seriously hurts itself.
So pretty much everyone looks the other way as China does what it pleases, and with regards to Tibet it's been very upsetting to see this level of apathy.

One would wish that a series of countries would make the effort to make their stuff in Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi factories instead, but the truth of the matter is that China are masters of SCM in both volume, quality and low cost. There are few industries that would yield better results by taking your business to Pakistan or India.
This surprises many of us because people always walk around with a notion that "made in china" means its garbage. That simply isn't true. Things are made in china due to cost effiency. They are generally wizards when it comes to making good product in gigantic volumes, and in those sort of volumes they can shave off a lot of cost which really adds, particularly for the big players.
So we're stuck. It seems unrealistic that any country would do to China what it has done to Russia. Because it stands to reason that if enough countries jumped on a sanctions wagon on china, it could seriously make them reconsider shifting their international tone.
I fear Chinas rhetoric and attitude will grow worse if the international community don't really force consequences.

 

[Borboleta Amarela]

What were people expecting? HK and Macau aren't "autonomous" nor "semi-autonomous". That's just BS people are fed and the sad thing is a lot of people believe it.


I find it praise worthy to take such stands since it's an almost impossible to win battle. Although It would be nice for the people of HK to enjoy self-determination I'm not seeing it happening. China is only growing more powerful. The central government in Beijing doesn't need to create another "tiananmen" to resolve this issue. They have all the right players in government key positions that have too much to lose if they betray Beijing's expectations.

Beijing has been grooming people since the early 80's to put them in positions of power in the government, both in HK and Macau. What this means is that, regretfully, the government will never go against Beijing.

 

[Timbuktu]

Hong Kong is never in any position that could win any argument with Beijing, so I'm not sure what the endgame these guys have in mind being so blunt in their approach. At the same time, Beijing being so heavy hand with the likes of Hong Kong and Taiwan isn't likely to make the problem go away, the youth there are getting more fed up.

 

[andythinkpad]

The fallout of this ruling kind of make the legal gray area between China and HK a lot smaller.

These two guys basically threw a fit at the Blackjack table when they are dealt hands of shitty cards and hope the dealer doesn't kick them out. Except the Casino boss came in and did kick them out the casino. On top of them, they lost all the chips paid for by their sponsors!

 

[norm9]

Just because they haven't meddle before in HK politics, doesn't mean they were always going to be off limits. Hong Kong is a part of China.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

This was going to come the moment the UK handed over possession

 

[Valkerionseven]

It sucks but China really had the jump on this situation and always have had it. They are gonna keep transforming Hong Kong into line despite what some may or may not want.

 

[Espada]

The unique flavor of HK being the capital of east meets west should not be undermined by unification, and I get the impression that most HK'ers feel similarly.
Many countries response to Chinas human rights violations have been absolutely pathetic. While it's much easier to decide go sanctions on Russia, a country with an economy the size the of the Netherlands, any country that does not want to do trade with China will seriously hurts itself.
So pretty much everyone looks the other way as China does what it pleases, and with regards to Tibet it's been very upsetting to see this level of apathy.

One would wish that a series of countries would make the effort to make their stuff in Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi factories instead, but the truth of the matter is that China are masters of SCM in both volume, quality and low cost. There are few industries that would yield better results by taking your business to Pakistan or India.
This surprises many of us because people always walk around with a notion that "made in china" means its garbage. That simply isn't true. Things are made in china due to cost effiency. They are generally wizards when it comes to making good product in gigantic volumes, and in those sort of volumes they can shave off a lot of cost which really adds, particularly for the big players.
So we're stuck. It seems unrealistic that any country would do to China what it has done to Russia. Because it stands to reason that if enough countries jumped on a sanctions wagon on china, it could seriously make them reconsider shifting their international tone.
I fear Chinas rhetoric and attitude will grow worse if the international community don't really force consequences.

It'll be healthier for the people there to accept that the change will have to come from within the country, because as you said China has the world by the economic balls. And as they get stronger, any action taken to harm them will come at great cost to you and your citizens. Sucks, but that's the shitty hand those wanting improvements in human rights have been handed.

This was going to come the moment the UK handed over possession

Yup, I'm surprised HK got this far before the changes and increased influence started being felt. I wonder if this will cause HK residents to flee to other countries.

 

[jellies_two]

Come on China show the world what you are about, send in the tanks.
OK don't but you know what I mean.