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China orders Cathay Pacific to suspend staff backing Hong Kong protests

15 Comments
By Noah Sin and Stella Qiu

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15 Comments
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This sort of behavior makes China look bad to the rest of the world, but dictator Xi doesn't care. Like all dictators, he is primarily concerned with holding onto absolute power, and how he looks is much less important.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It is perfectly legal to protest in Hong Kong-not against the law as the article states!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

And then we have to believe Huawei was with no link to communist party spying...

China in all its (wrong) splendor.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Hello lucabrasi, it's ok either way you won't be flying Cathay anymore as they appear to be obliging to the request. It's not like they had a choice, their livelihood relies on access to China's airspace, so it was either oblige or go under.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Hello again, Janet.

Another thought: I’ve already paid for the ticket. Cathay have my money.

Refusing to fly with them would do nothing to hurt Cathay but leave me considerably worse off.

How would that benefit the protesters?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@Janet

It’s not just a question of a hit to my wallet; I literally couldn’t pay for another ticket right now. And I’m due back at work at the start of September. And my wife (possibly) wants me back : )

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Chinese people need to decide if they want a govt that ties their jobs to their political activities, social networking, and their freedom of travel. Oh, wait, there is no freedom to travel in the mainland.

I've never flown on Cathay. They are just a pawn here.

I bet this is how Chinese vendors will be told to insert spying modules into their networking equipment by the CCP, except there won't be a public announcement.

Cathay could call China's bluff and only use crews who were part of the protests, if they are willing. Then every person on the flight would have a story to tell their families for why they weren't allowed to land on the mainland. Print up some short papers with explanations to hand to the passengers.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@ Janet Toop

 if you truly cared, money wouldn't be an issue - just take one for the team.

Tell you what, let's me and you swap places, shall we? You obviously have a considerably higher income than do I and probably most on this thread for you talk about taking one for the team this way. Personal finance in issues like this must ALWAYS takes precedence....just not in your ivory tower, I guess.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

lucabrasi - if you truly cared, money wouldn't be an issue - just take one for the team. But as usual, people end the social issues when it affects their wallets.

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

China has already forced Qantas, Cathay etc. to declare Taiwan to be part of China, or lose their permission to operate into China, so this is part of a bigger pattern.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

One has to remember that the protests are against "The Chinese Communist Party" rather than the "Chinese". The CCP is forcing these Laws upon the HK'ers before the end of the transition period.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Did China really request CX to suspend the staff? There are other news which report that China told CX that Staff that took part in violent protests - like one CX pilot - and several flight attendants are banned from flying into China and/or on transit routes crossing China. Since HKG's airspace falls under the Civil Aviation Administration of China they have to follow this order or CX can be banned/closed completely. Cathay does not have much choice but could still employ the staff on ground. The main reason for this strict order is safety which everybody can understand. If a pilot hates China so much he could certainly also be a very dangerous terrorist threat. Just remember Malaysian Airlines flight several years ago where most probably the pilot was on a suicide mission and took hundreds of passengers with him.

It will be interesting to see whether more HK companies where employees took part in the 'black riots' will follow soon. This is at least expected by many. It looks like time for repay has arrived.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

@Haaa Nemui

Agree 100%. I'm due to fly back with them from England in a couple of weeks, so it's too late and too costly to do anything about that, but if they do follow through, then it'll be my last Cathay flight.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Don't think I'll ever fly Cathay again if they follow through with that order.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

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