Hong Kong holds first 'patriots only' local elections

"unified" thoughts.

Bye bye Hong Kong. It was nice knowing you.

So, only the pro-Communists are permitted to run. The pro-democracy candidates- who won in a landslide last election - are banned.

No, that's not a free and fair election. That's a totalitarian farce.

Hong Kong would have had more freedom and equality if it had not been returned to China.

As China has come to rule, one country, two systems has become a mere facade, democracy has already become a mere formality, and citizens are being oppressed.

The agreement with the UK is to maintain one country, two systems for 50 years. However, its contents no longer make sense as a democracy.

Taiwanese citizens should carefully consider what will happen if they are incorporated into China.

More than 2,000 people are still missing from previous protests in Hong Kong. The fact that China is a country that cannot be trusted can be clearly seen from the way it governs Hong Kong.

In areas controlled by China, the people are monitored, ethnic minorities are oppressed, and they are forced into camps and forced to follow communist ideology. It can only be described as a dystopia.

Most people will rightly stay away from this total sham of an "election" [sic] resulting in a record low turnout. The choice between "one CCP bootlicker" and "another CCP bootlicker" is no choice at all.

Hong Kong's first "patriots only" district council election

Patriotism means loving one's country, but the CCP deliberately misuses it to mean "obeying the CCP."

There are, and have been, countless people in both Hong Kong and China who love their country, but hate the CCP: people such as Jimmy Lai, Joshua Wong, and Lu Xiaobo. These are the kind of leaders that China desperately needs.

City leader John Lee said that one of the main criteria for district councillors -- after "passion" and "diligence" -- must be "unified" thoughts.

"Unified thoughts". Like something out of 1984.

Pathetic, Hong Kong. Pathetic. Sewer of China.

Hong Kong holds first 'patriots only' local elections....

Couldn't make that up, really.

Quote

China pledged to preserve much of what makes Hong Kong unique when the former British colony was handed over more than two decades ago. Beijing said it would give Hong Kong fifty years to keep its capitalist system and enjoy many freedoms not found in mainland Chinese cities. 

A lie, falsehood day one.

Mr KiplingToday 04:54 pm JST

And yet still more democratic than at any time during British rule. It's a funny old world isn't it?

Hong Kongers had more freedom of expression under the British.

First CCP rubes only “election”.

The vote should be boycotted. A ridiculously low turn out would deny the Mandrins in Beijing the credibility they so obviously desire.

Mr KiplingToday 07:38 pm JST

The flawed voting system of Chinese rule is still better than the total lack of any democracy of British rule.

It doesn't matter which is "better" in your or anyone else's opinion. What matters is that China is in flagrant violation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-British_Joint_Declaration

The people made their voices heard through their protests (and they certainly weren't marching in support of the "flawed voting system of Chinese rule," by the way). However, the Chinese government does not respect the law or human rights, and likely never will. That's the issue.

Mr KiplingDec. 10 10:05 pm JST

Agent....

The agreement with the UK is to maintain one country, two systems for 50 years.

This was a two way agreement. Staying the same is not the same as "independence" that the collective anti China crowd are calling for.

But it did not stay the same for 50 years: it got completely subsumed by the garbage CCP system.

ensuring positions of power are filled only by people considered by Beijing to be "patriots".

Sounds like what the Kremlin do, and what US Republicans want in the US to ensure their continued control; the US Republicans also call themselves 'patriots', but many are more supportive of the Russia/China bloc than they are of the US and its systems, and other democracies.

Would not have thought Hong Kong would be on a list of places to avoid.

Patriots of Hong Kong have mostly left the country or gone underground. What is left are treason suspects beholding to Beijing.

This is a good reason for all citizens to have a fundamental right to own firearms that aren't in a national database. Beijing would use the database to knock on each door and search until they found each registered firearm. The world is learning the price of freedom far too often these days.

Terrible isn't it. But that is 18.7% more than under British rule.

What? Locals elected 50% of the Legislative Council in the 1990s. Actually, the CCP was very unhappy that the British allowed locals that level of control.

Further,

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated the following year that the democratic election of all Legislative Council members by universal suffrage was "a question to be decided by the Hong Kong SAR itself and it needs no guarantee by the Chinese Government".

The Legislative Council set up by Patten to be partially elected by universal suffrage was dismantled by the PRC and replaced by an entirely unelected provisional legislature. Elections in May 1998 to fill a new legislature saw only 20 seats directly elected, with the remainder determined by a layered selection procedure designed to ensure maximum representation by pro-establishment parties at the expense of pan-democrats.

Beijing reduced the directly electable people on the Hong Kong SAR Legislature. Facts are facts.

So, they will allow residents to vote for only 18.7 percent of the council seats, with the remaining decided by the chief executive, of which over 70 percent are committee members? Makes residents want to protest?

Key will not be encouraging others to cast an invalid ballot (despoil or to leave it blank without checkmarks next to candidate names), since under HK law anyone encouraging that sort of thing face three years imprisonment and a 3,709,563 JPY fine, along with seizure and confiscation of all of their electronic devices (phone, computer, etc).

Plus HK wasn’t taking any chances this time. What with redrawing constituency boundaries, shutting out any serious opposition party, and requiring candidates to undergo national security vetting (to ensure loyalty and minimum ‘patriotism’ levels), and requiring local council to be chaired by a government official.

All sounds kind of like colonial rule, doesn’t it?

Mr KiplingToday 02:16 am JST

China is not in violation

It is in violation (in diplomatic parlance, "in a state of ongoing non-compliance") according to the other party in the agreement, the UK:

https://www.dw.com/en/uk-says-china-noncompliant-with-hong-kong-joint-declaration/a-56862202

You can try to spin it any way you want. China's actions are simply wrong, and the entire world can see this.

theFu

This is a good reason for all citizens to have a fundamental right to own firearms

I can't see any good uses of firearms in Hong Kong except for sports like competitive shooting. It's not as if you could go hunting or anything.

that aren't in a national database. Beijing would use the database to knock on each door and search until they found each registered firearm. The world is learning the price of freedom far too often these days.

Why? Why would Beijing would use the database to knock on each door and search until they found each registered firearm? What would the purpose be of that?

It's not as if you could use your firearms to topple the government. That's a silly idea.

lol

So, they will allow residents to vote for only 18.7 percent of the council seats

Terrible isn't it. But that is 18.7% more than under British rule.

Agent....

The agreement with the UK is to maintain one country, two systems for 50 years.

This was a two way agreement. Staying the same is not the same as "independence" that the collective anti China crowd are calling for.

It doesn't matter which is "better" in your or anyone else's opinion. What matters is that China is in flagrant violation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration:

China is not in violation but is not holding to the spirit of the agreement because the collective anti China crowd are trying to move the goal posts in breach of the agreement. Its a two way street and China is the traffic cop.

Hong Kongers had more freedom of expression under the British.

Freedom of expression? They probably had more UK Royal Family news and football on TV. But they had less freedom to express a vote ! A fact which was the subject of my post. The flawed voting system of Chinese rule is still better than the total lack of any democracy of British rule.

And yet still more democratic than at any time during British rule. It's a funny old world isn't it?

Can you remember the calls for "free and fair" elections then from the Western powers? No? Neither can I.