Need to Know: April 22

Beijing Tightens Grip On Hong Kong

The Chinese Communist Party has upped its attempts to control Hong Kong, possibly in violation of the international “One Country, Two Systems” agreement that governs the city.

Luo Huining: Beijing’s man with a plan

In recent days, Beijing through its Liaison Office has been behind arrests and a slew of aggressive statements targeting pro-democracy figures. It has also been accused of interfering with Hong Kong’s independent judiciary.

On Saturday, Hong Kong police arrested 15 prominent activists, including pro-democracy media owner Jimmy Lai and Democratic Party founder Martin Lee, on charges of joining a number of unlawful assemblies in the semi-autonomous region last year.

The Liaison Office also launched an unprecedented attack on pro-democracy legislators who filibustered during debate in Hong Kong's Legislative Council (LegCo) over a law which would outlaw any disrespect to the anthem of the People's Republic. The bill was introduced after Hong Kong soccer fans repeatedly booed the anthem at the start of matches.

In doing so, the Liaison Office may have violated Article 22 of the Basic Law, which states that departments of the Chinese government must not interfere in the day-to-day running of of the city. In response, the Liaison Office said Article 22 does not apply to it. If nothing else, that violates its own working practice since 2000.

Reuters also reported that Hong Kong’s judicial independence and rule of law had been threatened by Beijing’s interference, citing three anonymous senior judges. The story says Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma had to contend with Communist Party officials’ stance that “the rule of law ultimately must be a tool to preserve one-party rule.”


The takeaway?

Beijing has lost patience with One Country, Two Systems.

Carrie Lam is the just the latest local Chief Executive to fail to deliver the kind of order Beijing expects. The paradox: she inflamed the public and created the mass protests trying to deliver the kind of order Beijing expects.

Even so, Beijing is sidelining her. And perhaps the office of Chief Executive until 2047 when the Basic Law expires and Hong Kong will be just another Chinese city.

It’s doing it with the Liaison Office, which will pull the puppet strings. Which is why in January in a shock move it brought in Luo Huining as Liaison. Luo had no experience in Hong Kong. But he is a Xi Jingping loyalist and is known for “enforcing Communist Party discipline.”

He has clearly decided at the very least to more overtly insert the Liaison Office in local politics.

Beijing also expects the pro-Democracy camp will win a majority in the LegCo in November and is moving to neuter the impact. Bear in mind, the LegCo’s convoluted electoral process is designed to make it very difficult for the pan-Democrats to win a majority.

Hanging over it all, Beijing is also making it clear to Hong Kongers it will continue to tighten its grip; and wants them to think it would launch a Tienanmen style crackdown in a heartbeat if it feels control is genuinely threatened.

What deters Beijing is the international opprobrium and sanctions China would face if it acts violently in Hong Kong. But Covid-19 is a wild card. If anger over China’s role in spreading the disease to the West means significant decoupling - then Beijing has less to worry about.

Missouri Sues China

The state of Missouri filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the Chinese government over Covid-19, alleging that nation’s officials are to blame for the global pandemic.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court by the state’s top lawyer, alleges Chinese officials are “responsible for the enormous death, suffering, and economic losses they inflicted on the world, including Missourians.”

Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt in a written statement said the Chinese government lied about the dangers of the virus and didn’t do enough to slow its spread.

“The Chinese government lied to the world about the danger and contagious nature of Covid-19, silenced whistleblowers, and did little to stop the spread of the disease,” he said.

"They must be held accountable for their actions.”

Those paragraphs above are basically copied from an Associated Press story. AP is part of the China echo chamber in the American media. So it then goes on to debunk and downplay the story by quoting legal experts who say China can’t be sued.

As we’ve noted here before, American law has already been changed to allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) have introduced a bill that would allow Americans to sue China in federal court for “death, injury, and economic harm caused by the Wuhan Virus.”

We also note: perhaps the place where President Trump has had the greatest impact has been appointing judges. Working in conjunction with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Trump has installed 51 circuit judges and 193 judges to Article III courts overall.

To put than number in perspective, the most recent president to have more than 30 circuit court judges installed by March of his fourth year was Bill Clinton, who managed to secure the confirmations of 33 circuit judges by that time.

Even if Trump loses in November, the Democrats will have a hard time undoing that if the Republicans keep control of the Senate, which is most likely.

I’m not a lawyer. But I do know this will create uncertainly around Chinese investment in the U.S. going forward.

I also suggest reading this about the impact to business and international relations of South Korea allowing Japanese corporate assets to be seized to re-pay victims of Japan’s 35 year occupation of Korea.

America’s “Brain Dead” Media

I feel I need to address this strongly since it looks like this site got caught up in the American media’s wild speculation over Kim Jong-un’s health. In case you missed it, CNN’s still slightly respected International division kicked off the conjecture by “breaking” this story:

NBC’s inane anchor Katy Tur followed up shortly after with this:

I assure you, the only one brain dead is Tur.

I have a young son. So in the midst of this quarantine where we’re at home all day, I stay up so I can work. When I saw Tur’s story, nothing about it smelled right, so I did no update here. Sure enough, within 30 minutes Tur tweeted this:

The only thing Tur has in abundance is incompetence.

I included the “Where is Kim?” story in our last Need To Know because I thought it indicated North Korea has a Covid-19 problem that might be significant. I certainly didn’t include it because I thought Kim Jong-un was “brain dead.”

South Korean media say Kim may have had heart surgery. However, the official line out of Seoul is that there’s been nothing out of the ordinary giving reason to be suspicious about the state of Kim’s health — that the 36-year-old Kim appears to be conducting “normal activities” in a rural part of the country — and that there’s no evidence of an emergency in the North.

If Kim is unwell, his sister Kim Yo Jong, has been steadily rising through the ranks and amassing power over key portfolios.

More than anything, this underscores why the U.S. media is just a disaster. You do not run a story like this that put a world leader on his death bed, tanked stock market futures, and potentially triggered North and South Korean troop movements without having it air-tight.

No knowledge, no judgement and no standards is a very bad combination.