關於 global sanctions and enforcement ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

It is too late to “chicken out” now (Lee Yee)

Pro-establishment camp keeps spreading news about postponement of the Legislative Council (LegCo) elections. Following Tam Yiuchung, Tong Kawah said the government could put the elections on hold for 14 days as many times as necessary. Tanya Chan pointed out that the government seems to intend extending the current LegCo session in view of the absence of gazetted announcement of when it will end.

Communist China and Hong Kong originally planned to threaten Hong Kong people with the National Security Law, then browbeat candidates into signing a confirmation in support of the law that is to be used as evidence to disqualify (DQ) the opposition faction from the elections. By doing so, they are to get the elections in the bag. However, to everyone’s surprise, the National Security Law has stirred up worldwide backlash, putting China under siege. Meanwhile, Hong Kong have not overawed, as evidenced by their will to resist demonstrated in the primary elections of pro-democracy camp, in which a large number of young pro-resistance hopefuls were elected. So long as the Carrie Lam regime massively disqualifies candidates, it will certainly give rise to an even fiercer global backlash. Providing that the anti-China measures escalate, neither will China be able to stay authoritative in front of its compatriots by showing the white feather, nor will it be courageous enough to wage a head-to-head battle.

It seems that the DQ strategy has been relinquished. Swift and decisive enforcement of the National Security Law was seen merely on the first day of its implementation. Since then, it has rarely been cited for law enforcement. Even though Communist China and Hong Kong stubbornly refuses to admit a fault, they are inarguably aware of having been a bit “cheeky”. Ditching the DQ strategy, they may suffer a crushing defeat in the elections. What should they do now? To counterplot, the epidemic could be a convenient pretext for putting off the elections.

Nonetheless, while the plight in which China is under siege by the world has gotten in shape, it is too late to “chicken out” . On July 21, Pompeo met with Nathan Law, an activist from Hong Kong. Law said to him that disqualifying candidates from elections amounts to a severe challenge to the values of democracy, calling on the international community to respond to it with a tough stance. So, even if the elections are put off, the U.S.’s sanctions will not be delayed.

On the same day, a fire outbreak broke the news to the world that the U.S. ordered closure of the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China(PRC) in Houston. The U.S. State Department said: The consulate was directed to close in order to protect American intellectual property and Americans' private information. China has been engaging in espionage and infiltration for decades, and in recent years, it has gone deeper and more extensive.

U.S. senator Marco Rubio said the Consulate General of the PRC in Houston is not a diplomatic unit , but the central point of China’s enormous operation network of espionage and infiltration, which should have been closed. Holding a concurrent post of the Deputy Chairman of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, Rubio has access to the classified information of the U.S. Congress.

Gordon G. Chang, a prominent American academic, said the U.S. should direct the Consulate General of the PRC in New York to close as well for it is the core operation center of the CCP in eastern America.

Trump said yesterday there is a possibility that other consulates of China are ordered to close as well.

China indicated that “necessary reactions would be made”. According to Reuters, China is considering closing the Consulate General of the U.S. in Wuhan for retaliation. Global Times Editor in Chief Hu Xijin said “80%” of the Reuters’ coverage is “wrong”, being of the opinion that Beijing would highly likely adopt a tit-for-tat strategy to close the Consulate General of the United States in Hong Kong, which is as equally important as the one in Beijing, or expel half of the personnel from Hong Kong.

China had better ditch the rhetoric and do it fast. Although “80%” of Reuters’ coverage may be “wrong”, I’m afraid what is wrong is China dare not even close the Consulate General of the U.S. in Wuhan. The response yesterday of the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC to closure of the Consulate General of the PRC in Houston was also empty rhetoric. And its reaction to the UK offering BNO holders right of abode in the UK was: “China will consider denying BNO passports as valid travel documents.” It is not only empty rhetoric, but literally moonshine.

Earlier on, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PRC Wang Yi said in a forum held by China-U.S. Think Tanks that the Sino-U.S. relations should “activate and open conduits for dialogues” and “get back to the right track”. On July 21, being asked about the Sino-U.S. relations on CCTV, Cui Tiankai, the Ambassador of the PRC in the U.S., remarked: “It is necessary to activate and open conduits for dialogues. Now that there isn’t even a conversation, it should be deemed abnormal”. It has suggested that China craves reopening a dialogue with the U.S.. However, Trump openly said he did not want to talk to Xi Jinping. The U.S. has already turned a deaf ear to China.

The Hong Kong version of National Security Law certainly plays a major role in contributing to the current predicament. The law has shown to the international community China would not live up to any promise. When the basic trust is gone, the basis for a dialogue is gone. Action is way more down-to-earth than rhetoric!

Theatre of the absurd for real (Lee Yee)

Carrie Lam said last week she was not worried about “being included on the sanction list” and had no assets in the U.S., nor did she aspire to America, so without a visa, she might as well exclude America from the list of countries she would travel.

Being the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and asked whether she was concerned about being picked on by a foreign country, she should have answered appropriately that she was worried about the overall Hong Kong issue instead of uttering personal affairs. In fact, her son is doing his doctorate in America. If the sanction against her threatens his resident visa, how could she not be worried? Worse still, if the sanction is stringently put in force, the banks that service the sanctioned will become embroiled, and will thereby revoke the accounts of the latter.

Chip Tsao said on his Facebook page, “Her saying ’I have no assets in the U.S.’, deemed by netizens in the mainland an innuendo against members of the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) moving their assets to America, has unexpectedly made her one-night heroine in the mainland.” Some mainland netizens said they were moved by the firmness and unyieldingness of Carrie Lam, and if all their officials and party members were the same as Carrie Lam, no one would give a damn about the U.S.’s sanctions.

The media disseminated that the U.S. government is considering banning all CCP members and their families from traveling in the U.S. and expelling those currently in the U.S.. When White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked about it, she answered that she had nothing to announce regarding that aspect, but with respect to issues about China, they reserved every possible option. It means the abovementioned measure is not obviated.

Global Times Chief Editor Hu Xijin said on his Weibo page: “This has been the most insane envision of U.S.’s diplomatic measure made by Washington, D.C. so far, and leaking the news to the media is also an evil act”. Mainland netizens jeered at him by saying, “What are you jittering at, Hu? Now that you are so contemptuous of American Imperialism, why do you take a U.S. visa to heart? A ban on CCP members and their families from traveling in America is no big deal. We don’t care for it! It has nothing to do with ‘insaneness’ and ‘evilness’. ”

Honestly, “insaneness” and “evilness” are just words of exaggeration. In actuality, the measure pertains to U.S. domestic affairs. The U.S. Immigration Act stipulates that all subordinates to communist party and members of its affiliates cannot enter or immigrate to the U.S., surely with clauses of exemption. If the U.S. wants to do it, it can simply enforce it without unnecessary legislation.

Carrie Lam‘s “not worried” and Hu’s “insaneness” have in fact laid bare their genuine worries at heart. When sanctions befall individuals, it is all about personal interests instead of state’s interests. Carrie Lam’s son is in the U.S.; Xi Jinping’s daughter is said to be in the U.S.; a lot of other officials’ offspring and assets are also in the U.S.. It seems that the sanctions will be extended to the U.K. and other countries.

The National Security Law takes the cake. In less than a month since its promulgation, the U.S. and China have been at daggers drawn with each other. It has also put China in a situation in which it is beleaguered by countries all around the world. All of these amount to the theatre of the absurd. Everything stems from a book about Xi Jinping’s private life to be published. Then, five stakeholders of Causeway Bay Books disappeared. It was suspected that Paul Lee, one of the owners, was carted off to the mainland. Amidst an uproar in the media, the extradition amendment bill was tabled for deliberation early last year upon the question “Why can’t we nab a person in Hong Kong?” put forward by Beijing. “Extradition to China” was to be legalized by communist Hong Kong in collaboration with China so that cross-border law enforcement would be made legitimized. However, the backlash from Hong Kong people against it was unexpectedly ferocious and extensive, even making an impact on the international community. After the withdrawal of the bill, the National Security Law, which is even sterner, was then introduced. To everyone’s surprise, the evil law triggered off backfire from all around the world, followed by countries laying siege to China in tandem on end.

How to make an elephant out of a fly

What is weirdest is Carrie Lam tabled the extradition amendment bill to allegedly remedy a “loophole” in the extradition treaty with Taiwan, yet in the end she prompted those countries including the U.S., Canada, Australia, the UK and Finland that have signed an extradition treaty with Hong Kong to rescind the treaties which were based on the promise that criminals would not be extradited to China. With the National Security Law having taken effect, the basis is gone. More countries are believed to follow suit.

The loophole is not remedied, but keeps on festering. There could be a complete collapse of Hong Kong and China’s diplomatic relations with the world. The calamity stems from just a little book. What else could be more absurd?

Living on in fear (Lee Yee)

Hong Kong people have been living on in fear. Contrary to the saying that since the implementation of the National Security Law, violence has been curbed, whereby peace has been restored and normality has returned, everyone, including law enforcement officials and those who have shown support for the law on orders, has been living on in fear. One of my friends, a journalist, said if one craves living on and working as usual, one should stay oblivious of the National Security Law, which will bring calmness and transcend fear and emotional entanglements. Contrariwise, getting overawed amounts to helping those in power that enacted the National Security Law gain their purpose. Yet sadly, by and large, the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) has had its way instantly.

Human fear is constituted by two elements: experiences and unknowable future.

Take the pandemic that has been ravaging across the globe and resurged in Hong Kong as an example. Firstly, COVID-19 keeps the world in fear because of the horrible experiences that it spreads fast and extensively without a trace, with the contracted and carriers showing no symptoms initially, and sustains a pretty long incubation period. Secondly, its resurgence and scale are both unpredictable. Precisely, the experiences and the unknowability have put a halt to the Book Fair, which was supposed to start tomorrow, and made all economists incapable of forecasting the world, China and Hong Kong’s economy. So people live in fear, for they do not have a clue how their lives are impacted by the economy.

Even though it is said that China’s legal system is being perfected day by day, that extradition to China is not hair-raising, that there will be very few cases in which the suspects are extradited to China, that the Chief Executive will keep tabs on the cases, that most cases will be heard by Hong Kong judges…those tranquilizers, which cannot pacify Hong Kong people, cannot even sedate the advocates who put forward the above pretexts for the experiences that there are a lot of uncertainties, flexibility and possible manipulation with National Security Law making breaches of law unknowable. Experiences and unknowability bring about fear.

Under a system in which state power is unchallengeable, the objective of enacting laws is to get the people intimidated. A despotism can definitely do so if it wants to slap the people down.

Sanctions from the U.S. could be actualized, but its intensity and scale are unknowable. If they are applied to big banks in Hong Kong, it will a disaster. Based on experiences and unknowability, officials and the pro-establishment camp are bound to be frightened.

The overwhelming majority of Hong Kong investors chose to put money into Hong Kong in the past for good experiences and knowability. In terms of experiences, business operations were not bothered by politics, and were benefited from the simple taxation, free economy and foreign exchange. When it comes to knowability, the implementation of common law and case law were not totally dependent on judges’ interpretations on laws and were free from political manipulation, therefore were comparatively predictable. It was not without reason that other cities were unable to squeeze in among the three international financial hubs known for adopting common law - New York, London and Hong Kong.

Since the National Security Law taking effect, not only has the number of emigrants increased, but there have also been signs that foreign investments will haul off while Facebook and Google were rumored yesterday to consider withdrawing from Hong Kong in the wake of the fact that quite a number of foreign internet companies have announced suspension of dealing with requests from the HKSAR government for users’ data. If these two most influential global companies pull out, the unknowability of the future economy of Hong Kong will become knowable pessimism.

Freedom from fear is most fundamental among the Four Freedoms proposed by the late U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. Being free from fear is a prerequisite for freedom from fear of saying something wrong, freedom of religion and freedom of pursuing a better life.

In view of the experiences with the CCP and Hong Kong communist regime, and the uncertainties of the articles of the National Security Law, Hong Kong people and investors cannot stay away from fear. The protesters on the frontlines last year also admitted that they feared, but they went head-on against it for carrying on the movement, crystalizing in the end a new Hong Kong spirit named “mutual destruction”, which means being free from fear in protests. The primaries of the pan-democracy camp last weekend showcased to the CCP and Hong Kong communist regime that thousands of Hong Kong people would still come forward with a big NO even if a machete is pointed at them.