CHINAMacroReporter

'Beijing won total control of Hong Kong. Now, the "brainwashing" begins.'

April 15 was not a normal Thursday in Hong Kong. That occasion, the first “National Security Education Day” since China imposed a tough security law in June, was the most visible display of Hong Kong’s fall from a relatively free, boisterous territory to an ­Orwellian place that resembles the repressive mainland.’
by

|

The Washington Post

April 20, 2021
'Beijing won total control of Hong Kong. Now, the "brainwashing" begins.'
BIG IDEA | ‘April 15 was not a normal Thursday in Hong Kong. That occasion, the first “National Security Education Day” since China imposed a tough security law in June, was the most visible display of Hong Kong’s fall from a relatively free, boisterous territory to an ­Orwellian place that resembles the repressive mainland.’

The China Macro Reporter has tracked Beijing’s takeover of Hong Kong each step of the way.

  • For me, reading and selecting those articles and analyses has probably been the hardest task I’ve had as your editor.

But reading about 'National Security Day' was especially tough.

  • Because, as the article's title suggests, it means Beijing's control of Hong Kong is complete.
  • And the 'brainwashing' can now begin.

National Security Day itself is not especially significant.

  • Instead, the Day’s significance is as a symbol of the far-reaching changes in school activities and curricula.
  • All designed to engender among the most easily persuadable love of the Motherland and support for the policies – especially the new ‘National Security Law’ - that stripped Hong Kong of its rights. Catch ‘em while they’re young.

As the article reports:

  • ‘The day started with flag-raising ceremonies at most schools and the singing of the Chinese national anthem, the “March of the Volunteers.” ’
  • ‘Many schools also organized national security puzzle games and asked students to write “wish cards” pledging support for the new law — the resulting works resembled the message-covered “Lennon Walls” synonymous with the ­democracy movement.’

‘Teachers were told to make the point that adhering to the national security law is as simple as following school rules.'

  • ‘One elementary school teacher, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said she had to play a cartoon for her students about “national ­security,” featuring an owl in a scarf [this is truly worth watching], and distribute a booklet ­explaining the new law.'

'Kindergarten students, many as young as three, were spared the booklets because they cannot read.'

  • But they still 'had to participate in various National Security Education Day events, including smiling for photos that would fill a mosaic wall of those dedicated to protecting national security.'  
  • 'The mosaics appeared at locations across the city; throughout the day, small groups of Beijing supporters turned up to add photos of themselves in hues of blue, the color of the establishment.'  

‘Hong Kong’s law enforcement agencies also arranged an “open day” for the public.'

  • [There are reports that most of the participants had relationships with the cadres and were not everyday citizens.]

'At the Hong Kong Police College, the visuals were a mix of cute and cuddly, dark and authoritarian.'

  • 'Reporters and photographers were led to a courtyard where, under a light drizzle and dark clouds, we would watch Hong Kong police officers goose-step for the first time [see the gif, above].'
  • 'This is the marching style of the People’s Liberation Army, which Police Chief Chris Tang said was fitting for the occasion, a day to mark how proud the force was to be Chinese.'
  • 'Also for the first time, commands were given only in Cantonese, not English.'

‘There were commemorative items:'

At the Hong Kong Police College, children could also buy whole sets of riot police figurines, holding various police flags reading exhortations like “WARNING TEAR SMOKE” and “DISPERSE OR WE FIRE."

And just so the children have no doubt about their country’s boundries, here is screenshot from the cartoon ‘Let’s Learn about National Security’ with the Smart Owl, aimed at primary school children – complete with the Nine-Dash Line outlining China’s illegal claim to the South China Sea and including Taiwan.

There were lots more fun activities to teach children about the National Security Law and what a wonderful change it is for Hong Kong.

  • But this is about all I can take.

More

CHINAMacroReporter

July 10, 2022
Building Biden's 'Great Wall' Around China
Whether you view it as an aggressive adversary or a nation asserting itself in ways commensurate with its rising status, China is creating risks – some subtle, some obvious - that, along with reactions of the U.S. and its allies, have to be factored, into every related business, investment, and policy strategy.
keep reading
July 1, 2022
A Debt Crisis of its Own Making
Ever since Xi Jinping announced ‘One Belt, One Road’ in 2013, I watched it expand China’s economic and geopolitical influence and lay the foundation for projecting its military power – and become by many accounts an exploiter of the developing world itself.
keep reading
June 22, 2022
No. Ukraine Won't Change Xi's Plans - or Timetable - for Taiwan
Ukraine won't speed up or delay Mr. Xi's timetable. (But it may cause him to work harder to strengthen China's military and insulate its economy from external pressure.)
keep reading
April 15, 2021
'TSMC faces pressure to choose a side in US-China tech war'
‘Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has maintained its historic position of neutrality, reflected in the company’s strategy of “being everyone’s foundry”.’
keep reading
April 14, 2021
The Belt & Road in the Post-Pandemic World
In this issue of China Macro Commentary, I have focused just on the ‘Digital Silk Road’ and how it supports the business expansion of Chinese tech companies, and on BRI ‘connectivity’ projects: ports (China is involved in 93 around the world) and on the growing China-Europe freight trains traffic (This wasn't covered sufficiently in the Report, so I included a recent article from the Wall Street Journal), plus on the U.S.'s failure to meet the BRI challenge.
keep reading
April 13, 2021
'2021 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community'
‘China increasingly is a near-peer competitor, challenging the United States in multiple arenas—especially economically, militarily, and technologically—and is pushing to change global norms.’
keep reading
April 13, 2021
In Battle With U.S. for Global Sway, China Showers Money on Europe’s Neglected Areas
‘The number of freight trains running between China and Europe topped 12,400 last year, 50% higher than in 2019 and seven times that of 2016, according to Chinese authorities.’
keep reading
April 11, 2021
'Why manufacturing matters to economic superpowers'
‘Whether such reshoring matters for national economies depends very much on the industry.’
keep reading
April 11, 2021
China in Jamie Dimon's Letter to Shareholders
‘China does not have a straight road to becoming the dominant economic power’.
keep reading
April 11, 2021
'Alibaba’s rivals on alert after China’s regulators hand out record fine'
“Everyone with a clear mind won't self-regulate, you just pretend that you do. Who will pay for the loss if you lost your competitive advantage because you self-regulated and others didn't?”
keep reading
April 10, 2021
Alibaba: 'Promote the healthy and sustainable development of the platform economy'
‘From the perspective of the long-term and healthy development of the platform economy, regulation by law and support for development are not contradictory, but are complementary and mutually reinforcing.'
keep reading
April 9, 2021
'The Best Explanation of Biden’s Economic Thinking I’ve Heard'
‘When President Biden’s thinking about the infrastructure investments necessary, a lot of it is in contraposition to what he is seeing China doing in terms of strategic investments.’
keep reading
April 8, 2021
Liu Ge: Competing with China a farfetched guise for US’ infrastructure plan
‘Historically speaking, it seems the only way for the US government to make costly public investments was to create an adversary that is presumed to threaten its security.’
keep reading
April 8, 2021
'Antony Blinken interview: The secretary of state offers a window into Biden's foreign policy decisions'
‘ “Our goal is not to contain China, hold China back, keep it down,” Blinken underlined.’
keep reading
April 8, 2021
'US adds Chinese supercomputing companies to export blacklist'
‘The Biden administration took its first trade action against China on Thursday, adding seven Chinese supercomputing developers to an export blacklist for assisting Chinese military efforts in a move that will likely further escalate frosty tensions between the world's two largest economies.’
keep reading
April 7, 2021
'Remarks by President Biden on the American Jobs Plan'
‘Look, do we think the rest of world is waiting around? Take a look. Do you think China is waiting around to invest in this digital infrastructure or in research and development?’
keep reading
April 7, 2021
China: 'Power Trader'
‘The theory of power trade better explains China’s economic and trade policies than does the theory of free trade or protectionism,’
keep reading
April 6, 2021
'Train Wreck: Ultimately companies have to choose.’
MUST READ: Bill Reinsch succinctly but brilliantly summarizes the situations in China and the U.S. and between the two.
keep reading
April 6, 2021
'Buy American!': Pushing U.S. Companies to Onshore Supply Chains
The debate about how to deal with China commercially ‘has moved in two directions: running faster—improving our innovation capabilities in critical technologies to better compete with China—and slowing China down by restricting its access to U.S. technology.’
keep reading
April 4, 2021
'Why Defending Taiwan is in the U.S. National Interest'
‘As long as Washington assesses that American security is best served by defending forward—an approach that has served the United States well over the past 70 years—Taiwan’s de facto independence will remain a key US interest and driver of American policy in Asia.’
keep reading
April 4, 2021
'Why China Is Going All "Wolf Warrior," All the Time'
‘All this is to say that, living in Beijing as I do, I think the current approach is predictable and consistent with everything else we are seeing in China in the New Era.’
keep reading
April 3, 2021
'With Swarms of Ships, Beijing Tightens Its Grip on South China Sea'
‘Not long ago, China asserted its claims on the South China Sea by building and fortifying artificial islands in waters also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia.’
keep reading
April 2, 2021
'Genesis Celebrates Launch In China With Dazzling, World Record-breaking Drone Show Over Shanghai's Iconic Skyline'
'The spectacular visuals were coordinated to present the world of Genesis, delivering an audacious storytelling concept while also breaking the Guinness World Records for "The Most Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) airborne simultaneously".’
keep reading
April 2, 2021
Mo' Infrastructure, Mo' Problems Copy
‘China’s reliance on building roads, railways and airports to support growth has caused a spike in debt, with some of that money funneled into unnecessary infrastructure and uneconomic boondoggle developments.’
keep reading
April 2, 2021
How Does the U.S. Compare to China?
Two reports from Bloomberg – ‘Biden Starts Infrastructure Bet With U.S. Far Behind China’ and ‘Biden’s Biggest-Ever Investment Plan for U.S. Still Trails China’ – highlight a few of the differences.
keep reading
April 2, 2021
USTR | '2021 National Trade Estimate Report on FOREIGN TRADE BARRIERS'
‘Made in China 2025 seeks to build up Chinese companies in the ten targeted, strategic sectors at the expense of, and to the detriment of, foreign industries and their technologies through a multi-step process over ten years.’
keep reading
April 2, 2021
‘2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure’
‘The 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure reveals we’ve made some incremental progress toward restoring our nation’s infrastructure.’ ‘For the first time in 20 years, our infrastructure is out of the D range. America's Infrastructure Scores a C-.’
keep reading
April 2, 2021
'US to make it easier for diplomats to meet Taiwanese officials'
'Plan to loosen restrictions on contacts with Taipei threatens to provoke China.'
keep reading
April 2, 2021
Biden Starts Infrastructure Bet With U.S. Far Behind China
Even though he didn’t rely solely on the China challenge to justify his new American Jobs Plan; devoted to infrastructure and more, President Biden certainly he had China in his sights. Because as Jonathan Hillman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote“The United States is entering what could be a decades-long competition in which economic and technological power will matter just as much, if not more, than military might.” “Starting this race with decaying infrastructure is like lining up for a marathon with a broken ankle.”
keep reading
April 2, 2021
President Biden Lays Out His ‘American Jobs’ Plan
‘It has become a cliché in U.S. policy circles that the best China policy is to invest in core U.S. capabilities: education, infrastructure, and research and development,’ writes Evan Medeiros of Georgetown University in ‘How to Craft a Durable China Strategy,’ in Foreign Affairs.
keep reading
April 2, 2021
'China’s Dangerous Double Game in North Korea'
‘Beijing’s North Korea policy is primarily motivated by a desire to counter U.S. power in the Asia-Pacific region and increase Chinese influence on the Korean Peninsula.
keep reading
April 2, 2021
'Japan’s Suga to Be the First Foreign Leader to Meet With Biden'
‘Japan walks a narrow line as it seeks to maintain close ties with its only military ally, the U.S., while avoiding damage to economic ties with its biggest trade partner, China.
keep reading
April 1, 2021
'Convicted in Hong Kong'
‘Everyone in the former British colony understands the message being sent from Hong Kong’s new masters in Beijing:’
keep reading
April 1, 2021
'U.S. dollar at risk as China races ahead on digital yuan'
‘So why should America care about any of this?’
keep reading
April 1, 2021
PRC Foreign Ministry Response to the USTR's 'National Trade Estimate Report'
‘The accusations and slanders made by the US against China's industrial policies are groundless.’
keep reading
March 31, 2021
'Consumer boycotts warn of trouble ahead for Western firms in China'
‘Western executives in China cannot shake an unsettling fear that this time is different.’‘Their lucrative Chinese operations are at rising risk of tumbling into the political chasm that has opened between the West and China.’
keep reading
March 31, 2021
'How the Pandemic is Changing the Belt & Road Initiative'
‘The building of roads, railways, ports, and power plants is giving way to a BRI centered on technology—primarily telecommunications, connectivity, health care, and financial services.’
keep reading

Heading

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.