Global Voices Online » Winglok Hung

China and Hong Kong: Ex-president's life sentence, a farce or a victory?

Winglok Hung — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 05:00:19 +0000

Former Taiwanese leader Chen Shui bian was sentenced to life imprisonment on 11 September and Portnoy has made an excellent summary of Twitterers' responses from Taiwan. Here I would like to add to the discussion by collecting more opinions and discussions from mainland China and Hong Kong, which, very interestingly, are pointing at very different conclusions.

China: A farce of Democracy

There is a hot debate on whether Chen's life sentence is a farce or victory of democracy.

Wuluwufu from state-owned Qiangguo Forum argued that Chen's life sentence is a farce of Taiwan's democratic system.

陈水扁是靠操弄民主而上台的,一个操弄虚假利益冲突而捞个人实际利益的政客欺骗得了大多数民众,也太小看民众的智商了,它只不过表明一个最低政治操守都没有的政客是不能被利益强势集团容忍的,清除出局应是陈水扁注定的结局.

Chen came into office by manipulating democracy. He is a politician who is stealing personal gains by defrauding the public. He has underestimated people intelligence and his life sentence shows that a politician with low integrity cannot be intolerable be the interest groups in power. It is inevitable that Chen be kicked out from the political scene.

从这个意义上说,民主是局部地胜利了,法制也如帮规一样惩戒不守规矩的前帮主.但这种胜利如果超出这个范围去宣讲,甚致说是人民民意的胜利就太可笑了,反而,从大的角度看,说是民主法制的胜利勿宁说是民主法制的又一丑剧

It may be valid to say that it is a partial victory of democracy as the legal institution had punished the former outlaw leader. However, it would be a joke if we overstate such victory as a manifestation of “people power”. On the contrary, from a broader point of view, it is a farce rather than a victory of the democratic institutional system.

111.167.234 added in the comment section,

记住了，陈水扁是卸任成了老百姓之后，台湾司法才敢制裁他。在任上的官僚陈水扁，台湾司法屁也不如。所以，台湾司法只敢欺负百姓。

Remember, Taiwan’s court started to sue Chen only after he became an ordinary citizen. Taiwan judiciary was in a mess when Chen was still in power. We can say that, Taiwan legal institution only bullies the ordinary people.

Hong Kong: A victory of Democracy

However, Xiaoren from Hong Kong celebrated Chen’s life sentence as a victory of democracy in his blog,

台灣民主o既成功，證明法院係由人民開，而唔係政府。

有民主先有民生，如果香港呢家已經好似台灣咁民主發展得咁成熟，真係唔知會有幾多官員因為某 d 事件而下台。

The success of Taiwan’s democracy proves that the court is for the people, not the government,
People’s livelihood is based on democracy, if Hong Kong’s democratic progress is as mature as Taiwan’s, I cannot estimate how many governmental leaders have to step down…

Several netizens from Hong Kong Golden Forum used the graphic picture below to celebrate Chen's sentence. It said: “let's sing and dance!”

In Hong Kong Discussion Forum, a netizen udbkam posted a question, asking “Do you agree that Chen’s corruption is a minor problem because Taiwan enjoys universal suffrage?”

Helios agreed

呢個我同意，
至少陳水扁貪污之後唔會不了了之，
對岸嘛，想知邊個唔貪都難．．．．．．

I agree with that,
at least Chen’s corruption case comes to a conclusion.
Across the strait, people do not even know who’re involved (in corruption)…..

Eric_from_1986 further elaborated,

將陳水扁「手多多」得來的錢跟大陸貪官比較，簡直蚊脾同牛脾，輸足十條街

但係阿扁咁樣已經要坐穿牢底，大陸呢？

The amount of money taken away by Chen's dirty hands is only a fraction of the corrupt officialdom in the mainland China, but Chen was punished for life sentence, will that happen in mainland China?

Carlucci also shared similar view,

今天我很羨慕台灣人. 能把前貪污總統判無期徒刑. 公義得以申張. 中國人民共和國? 何時才能這樣???

Today I am so envious of Taiwan people that they could sentence their former corrupt president to life in prison. Justice has been served. Until when the People’s Republic of China will be able to do that?

Anti-CCP sentiment at work?

Another debate among Hong Kong netizens over Chen's sentence is on whether or not Chen's sentence is a result of the anti- Chinese Communist party's sentiment in Taiwan (as corruption is the biggest problem in China). It is interesting to note that such opinion is very different from some Taiwanese netizens viewpoint that the Taiwanese ruling party KMT is trying to please CCP with Chen's life imprisonment (via Portnoy's post).

Helen17162 in Hong Kong Discussion Forum disagreed with such association,

陳水扁的例子同反共有什麼關系呢？法律面前人人平等，人類生存才有希望，台灣加油啊，給中國共產党一個好好的警鐘，貪官的下場，沒有明天社會是黑暗的。中國要同台灣談統戰，共產党好好改革喇，走向民主法律的社會才是中華民族之褔。

I don't see the relation between Chen’s case with anti-communism? People are all equal under the law so that there is hope for our future. Add oil Taiwan! and alerts the CCP and its corrupt officials the consequence of corruption. Our society will be in darkness if we can't see the future. Chinese needs to reform itself if it wants to apply United Front strategy with Taiwan . A society that moves towards the institutional democratic system will bring fortune of all ethnic groups in China.

(P.S the thumb nail picture is from NF daily news)

China and Japan: Chinese people's reaction to the Japanese general election

Winglok Hung — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:36:44 +0000

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won the August 30th general election by landslide victory, bringing an end to more than 50 years of almost continuous rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 1955. The victory of Yukio Hatoyama-led DPJ has been perceived as the beginning of a new era of Japanese politics. Apart from its implications on the Sino-Japanese dynamic, it would be interesting to see how Chinese people reacted to the political change in their neighbor country.

NeiC from Tianya forum compared the fate of LDP with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP):

自民党被赶下台单独成栏的有三
　　1.“铁饭碗”不复存在
　　2.老龄化严重
　　3.住房问题尖锐
50年，不长不短的时间，我党也正好成立60周年。不得不让人不做比较~

(According to news commentaries from UK) There are three major reasons for the LDP having been kicked out by voters:
1. “Iron bowl” no longer exists
2. Aging problem is getting worse
3. Housing problem is elevated

50 years of continuous rule is about time for change, our party is now in its 60 anniversary. People are temped to draw direct comparison between the two.

Vitamin214 reposted a commentary from ifeng.comon the result of the Japan election in Tianya forum. The article argues that the Japan election manifests the advancement of a liberal democratic polity in reforming itself. However, in the comment section, many disagreed. For example, guolurens said

自我纠正能力？？？

日本经济已经低迷了快20年了，日本也不是觉得民主党怎么样，只是觉得自民党实在没有办法忍受了，就算是民主党上台，日本的问题还是没有办法解决

Able to reform???

The Japanese economy has already been in recession for nealy 20 years. Japanese do not have much confidence in DJP, they just simply they cannot withstand the poor LDP leadership. Nevertheless, even the Democratic Party is in office, Japan’s problems remain unsolved.

Kabaico also argued,

有区别吗，不过是美国肯尼迪家族和布什家族的翻版而已，这个家族不行就换那个家族，弄来弄去都是那帮大名家族在把持政权，所谓的更换政党也只是两个政党之间重新分配权力吧。

What’s the difference? It resembles the choice between Kennedy’s family and the Bush family. If this family screws up, then the power will be passed to the other family. The power is under the control of one of the big families. The so-called Party changes is simply the redistribution of power between two major parties.

Guolurens added,

就好比是在中国电信，中国联通之间选，没有本质的差别

It’s similar to the choice between China Telecom and China Unicom, there is not much difference in nature.

In Qiangguo Luntan, one Chinese netizen believed that,

日本的总统一年一换, 再好的民主制度都是不正常的,也是注定要爆发内乱的.哈哈

Japan's Prime Minister changes almost every year. It is an abnormal situation even for the best democratic system and eventually, it will lead to civil riots. Haha

China: Han's prejudices and discriminations towards Uyghur

Winglok Hung — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 06:44:48 +0000

The July 5 Xinjiang riot has passed over a month and the majority of Chinese netizens are still blaming the West and Rebiya Kadeer for promoting Xinjiang separatist movements. Nevertheless, there are some whispering voices popping up here and there in the Chinese Internet, like this one sentence comment at the BBS of people.com , which suggested that the unrest in Urumqi was a result of long term oppression:

一次一次的被欺压，却没地方说理，当然就要暴力！

There was no place to voice out after being bullied again and again, violence becomes ultimate answer!

The Han's ethnic discrimination towards Uyghurs has been a source of conflict in China long before the July unrest. Searching from the online discussions on Tianya forum, there are many stories about Han's prejudice against Uyghurs. Here is one of the stories:

先就我亲身经历来说说。我在乌鲁木齐上大学时，那时候中央电视台很出名的一档节目——非常6+1，有一期的电话幸运观众是个新疆人，主持人问他最大的梦想是什么？他的回答竟然是:希望到首都北京去住上几天旅馆。他的这个梦想把主持人都弄蒙了，问其原因才知道，原来90年代初的时候他带儿子去北京治病，结果就因为是新疆人，竟然没有一家旅馆敢收留他们的

Let me explain my personal experience. In my university years in Urumqi, there was a popular CCTV programme titled as “Special 6+1”. In one of the episode, the host interviewed a Xinjiang people (translator note: many Han Chinese called Uyghur Xinjiang people) about his wish. His answer was, surprisingly, his answer was simply that he wish to stay in a hostel in Beijing for a few days. The host was stunned and asked for the reason. The interviewee explained his experience back in early 1990s when he brought his son to Beijing for better hospital care. In the trip, they were rejected by all hostels in Beijing merely because they were Xinjiang people.

People's press also has similar experience back in 2006:

2006年圣诞夜，我正好在北京。北京任何一家酒吧都不必在门口挂出“不欢迎新疆人”的牌子。但无论我走到哪家都被门口保安拦下。

In 2006 Christmas Eve, I was in Beijing. Though none of the bars put on notice “No Uyghurs” on the doors, I was checked by the security guards all the time.

Apart from all the everyday life conflicts, many are frustrated by Hans people's misunderstandings and prejudices. Looking at cloud and water flow, yelled out loud on Tianya forum that he is a Xinjiang people to express his anger on such prejudices,

我要大声说我是新疆人…. 新疆是有小偷，可是哪里没有小偷？难道新疆有小偷，就说小偷都是来自新疆么？去做小偷的少数民族很容易被认出来。好么这就将小偷的帐全都算在了新疆人身上。我去过几次内地发现内地的治安远不如新疆。

I want to yell out loud that I am an Uyghur!…. There are thieves in Xinjiang, but thieves are everywhere. Can it be reasonably assumed that all thieves are from Xinjiang? It is of course easier to identify a thief with an ethnic minority outlook. Then you conclude that all thieves are Xinjiang people. In fact I have visited many other places in the mainland and I found that Xinjiang is much safer.

Even the government wants to adjust policy for preserving Uyghur's language and culture, many Han Chinese refuse to support. A recent example is the Central government's plan to invest double amount of funding (USD 121 million) on bilingual kindergartens education in Xinjiang. Again, there are many complaints on such kind of policy favoritism:

Liar without draft was angry about the policy:

为什么其他地方幼儿园严重不足，而政府却不予重视呢？

Neither do other regions have enough kindergartens, why doesn't our government act on that?

Shenqike replied:

会闹的孩子有奶吃啊！~~~其它地方没人闹啊！

Crying babies get the milk! No babies are crying in other regions!

Xwni added,

坏孩子有糖吃.

Bad kids get the candy.

China and North Korea: Kim is like Chairman Mao?

Winglok Hung — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:05:05 +0000

On 4 July, the United States’ National Day, North Korea has launched seven missiles tests again and some of them were medium-range rockets that pose threat to Japan and South Korea. While Kim Jong Il has been portrayed as a crazy and authoritarian figure, Chinese netizens are eager to compare him with Chairman Mao.

An article titled “Kim Jong Il is just like Chairman Mao!” received a lot of attention in the Qiangguo Forum, a website run by state-owned the People’s Daily. In the article, chibilanting associates Kim Jong Il with Chairman Mao when dealing with military threats. As chibilanting argues,

我们看看毛主席的时代。新中国刚一解放，美国就联合诸国侵略朝鲜。我们保家卫国，支援朝鲜，我们打了过去，美国还是在自己没有胜利的协议书上签了字。印度占我领土，我们打了过去，剑指新德里。苏联占我珍宝岛，我们打了过去，珍宝岛还在我们手中。

Let's examine Mao's era: the United States joined force with other countries to invade North Korea soon after China has been liberalized. We defended our country and supported North Korea. We survived through the war and the U.S was forced to sign the peace agreement without victory. India occupied our territories, we targeted at New Delhi and survived through the war. The Soviet Union invaded our Zhenbao Island, we fought and now Zhenbao Island is in our hands.

朝鲜射出了卫星，美日韩没敢拦截，成了这一世纪的笑柄！紧接着，朝鲜又进行了核试验。联合国出了个什么几号决议，朝鲜的立场更加强硬。自称可以根据联合国决议可以检查朝鲜“江南号”货船的美国，动用了第七舰队，可是最后还是没敢拦截检查！朝鲜人在挨饿！这也许是真的。但是，金正日没输给奥巴马、李明博、麻生！正像中国的毛主席，没有输给世界一样！金正日就像毛主席！

When North Korea launched the satellite, USA, Japan and South Korea dare not intercept. It is such a joke! North Korea then launched a series of nuclear tests and the United Nations proposed several resolutions, but North Korean became ever stronger in its stand. The United States claimed that they could check upon North Korea's Cargos under the United Nations' resolution, eventually its Seventh Fleet did not make any interception. North Koreans might be starving, but Kim Jong Il did not lose to Obama, Lee Myung-bak and Aso. Just like China’s Chair Mao, who did not lose to the world! Kim Jong Il is like Chairman Mao!

A lot of comments followed, 221.205.34 said,

金正日只不过是毛主席的一名学生罢了!!!

Kim Jong Il is only one of the Chair Mao’s students!!!

Another netizen, Caiyunchangzai also agreed,

金正正在学习毛泽东精神，正在学习和运用毛泽东思想！

Kim is learning Mao’s spirit and his beliefs!

Gaoshanmei said,

不要说，金正日的硬骨头的确像毛主席！我们如果有这样像毛主席的领导，人民会感到多么幸福啊！

Needless to say, Kim’s bones are as strong as Mao’s. If our leaders resembled Mao, people will be very fortunate!

222.50.82 also said,

和老毛不是一个级别的，不过骨气倒不错，至少比我们的政府强

He (Kim) cannot compete with old Mao, but his bones (characters) are stronger than our government.

Another Chinese blogger, Enjoy Drawing, also compares Kim with Mao in his comment on Kim's portrait,

当年毛主席说：“枪杆子里面出政权！”现在时代进步了，应该说：“核导弹可以保政权！”

Chairman Mao has once said, “regime vests in gun”. Now the world has advanced and it should become “regime vests in nuclear bomb!”

The blogger explains why Kim was portrayed in an upright position:

他也很明白，他和萨达姆不一样，萨达姆在中东是孤家寡人，孤军奋战。而朝鲜身后—站着一个比上世纪抗美援朝时更加强大的中国！

He understands that he is different from Saddam Hussein, Saddam was alone fighting. While behind North Korea, stands a strong China, which is much stronger than the time when it fought against the United State during the Korea War in the last century.

Chinese people's reaction to North Korea missile test

Winglok Hung — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:21:49 +0000

While the international society is working hard to maintain the security and peace on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea has conducted the second nuclear test on 25 May and launched several missile tests the following days. As the Chinese government has been in good relation with North Korea, it would be interesting to see the mainland Chinese people's opinions on the recent North Korea’s military provocation.

Yide, a mainland blogger predicted that China would not show a strong military alliance with North Korea as it did during the Korean war. He listed out three reasons as below:

1）與美國再度軍事對抗不符合大陸的核心利益，大陸早就步入了以經濟建設為中心的軌道，實行的是市場經濟，並實現著與世界經濟之融合。大陸的經濟已與美國的經濟密不可分，兩相依賴；其政治權威之的合法性很大程度上依賴于持續繁榮，而繁榮能否保持則在於能否進入美國市場。

1. Military confrontation with the United States is against Chinese national interests. China has entered into the track of economic centric development and integrated with the global market economy. Economic relation between the US and China is mutually dependent and inseparable; The political legitimacy of the state has been heavily depending on the sustainable prosperity and such prosperity was relied on China's success in entering the U.S market.

2）自中韓建交之後，北韓便認為中國背離了傳統的社會主義軌道，兩國在意識形態領域出現著巨大分歧，諸多大陸資深評論家已對北韓持嚴厲批評的態度。如張璉瑰說：“相對於穩定而言，我更關心的是朝鮮半島的無核化。我們的鄰國進行核子試驗不符合中國的利益。”、張玉山則說：“北韓已成為中國的一大問題。它已成為世界上一個危險的角色。”

2. After the establishment of formal bilateral diplomatic link between South Korea and China, the North Korean government believed that China has been departed from the traditional socialist track. There is a huge difference between the two nations’ ideology and critics from mainland China have made some very harsh criticism on North Korea diplomacy. As Zhang Liangui argued, “Apart from stability issue, I have greater concern over North Korean peninsula's denuclearization. Nuclear test in our neighboring country is definitely in conflict with our national interest”. Zhang Yushan added, “North Korea has become one of the biggest problems for China and it plays a dangerous role in the world.”

3）中韓兩國高層領導多次互訪，並在國際多邊活動中會晤，增進了相互理解和信任，推動了兩國關係的發展。…相比之下，大陸與北韓2008年經濟貿易額僅20多億美元，不足中韓數字的半個零頭。

金正日政權抱著“會哭多鬧得奶吃”的邏輯行事，不顧大陸之感受，逼奧巴馬讓步，這次大約再也不靈。如今的現實是：朝核問題已經成為中國身邊的火藥桶。

3. There have been several senior bilateral and multilateral meetings between China and South Korea to consolidate the mutual understanding and trust. These meetings helped to promote the relation between two countries…..On the contrary, the total amount of foreign trade between China and North Korea is only USD 2 billion, much less than Sino-South Korean trade.

Kim Jong Il is indeed following the logic of “crying over spilled milk” to push the Obama’s administration for more concession regardless of Chinese government's standpoint. However, this tactic can no longer work. Now the fact is: the Korean nuclear problem has become the barrel of gunpowder next to China.

Another Chinese blogger in Shangdong was outraged by North Korea's nuclear test. As she shared in her blog,

正当国际社会最近一在努力争取恢复朝核六方会谈的时候，朝鲜忽然反其道而行之，于5月25 日再次进行地下核试验。到这则新闻时，我真的无语了。无赖！当前的朝鲜局势看上去是稳定的，但朝鲜拥有了核武装之后，其局势或稳定或动荡，最大的承受方就是中国。当然，朝鲜之所以发展核武器，公开目标是指向美国，日本和韩国，但在客观上，她是中国周边地区的新隐患

While the international society has been trying hard to resume the six parties talk, North Korea suddenly moved into the opposite direction and launched the underground nuclear test on 25 May. I was stunned when I read the news. It is a complete rotter! The situation in Korea peninsular has been quite stable in the past few decades. However, once the North Korean owned the nuclear weapons, the regional stability has been upset and China has to bare the consequence. No doubt, the evident target for the development of North Korea nuclear weapons was the United States, Japan and South Korea. But given its geographical position, it is also a potential threat to China.

On the Qiangguo forum, an official website which is run by China’s state owned The People’s Daily, netizens spelled out their anger over the nuclear test in the comment section:

Fengfeng diandian sen wrote,

朝鲜是唯一依靠别国的经济援助试验核武器的国家。也是是唯一在人员密集区进行核爆炸的国家。中国试验地点在新疆罗布泊无人区，而法国是在国外的一个荒岛，由于造成附近土著人患有原子病，要求赔偿的呼声一直缠绕法国政府。而朝鲜试验地点竟在中朝边境地区….

North Korea is the only country which relies on other countries’ economic assistance to develop their nuclear weapons. It is also the only country which launched the test in the densely populated areas. China tested its nuclear in desolated region in Xinjiang and France did the same in a no man island. With all the precaution taken, the French nuclear pollution had affected nearby indigenous groups and the French government has been entangled in indemnification claims and protests. This time, North Korea tested the weapons along the borders of China and North Korea

这种以邻为壑的行为实在令人失望！要知道中国几乎是朝新在世界上仅存的朋友，每年向它无偿提供了大量的石油、粮食。只是靠中国不断的输血朝鲜才能勉强维持至今。但是朝鲜未别国宝贵的援助用于民生，却直接威胁援助国的安全。

Turning its neighbor's land into a battle field is a shameful act. China is the very few friends of North Korea in the international platform and aids it with large amount of oils and food each year. North Korea can only sustain its life with China’s assistance. But now the North Korean government is using other countries civilian assistance to threaten the donor’s security.

Another comment said,

朝鲜核动作，其出发点是要美国的承认，其宿命是核绑架中国

The political gesture of North Korea was to gain American recognition. However, in order to do that, its politics has kidnapped China in term of our national security.

Mexico and Hong Kong: Fears over the fatal swine flu virus

Winglok Hung — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:02:56 +0000

Confirmed and suspected cases of swine flu keep increasing and the fatal influenza epidemic has spread worldwide at an alarming speed.

As of 28 April 2009, more than 100 people have been killed by the disease in Mexico, and more confirmed cases have been found in Canada, the United States, Spain, Britain and South Korea. Suspected cases have also appeared in Brazil, France, Israel and Australia.

Margaret Chan who is now the Director-General of World Health Organization (WHO), previously served as Director of Health in Hong Kong and led the Hong Kong government to tackle the 1997 H5N1 avian flu and 2003 SARS outbreaks. Nevertheless, Hong Kong residents are expressing their fears over the leadership of Margaret Chan to fight against the recent swine flu.

Martin Oei, a senior journalist in Hong Kong, is skeptical of Margaret Chan's capability to handle another outbreak:

相信年資十年以上的記者或評論員，都不會忘掉現任世衛總幹事陳馮富珍醫生，她在擔任香港衛生署署長時，對抗H5N1和SARS時的表現，她在中國政府全力支持下居然做到世衛總幹事，簡直可以用無天理來形容。我在這裡的博客文章都講，我寧可支持日本的尾身茂醫生擔任總幹事。
豬流感蔓延全球，這次是對陳馮富珍一次重大考驗，但作為香港人，見她H5N1和SARS時的表現，你敢對她有信心？所以，香港人絕對要自求多福…

I believe any journalists or news commentators who have been working for over ten years shall not remember Dr Margaret Chan, the current the Director-General of the World Health Organization. When she served as Director of Health in Hong Kong, with her performance in the fight against H5N1 and SARS, it was absolutely ridiculous that she could earn massive support from China to be elected as the Director-General of the WHO. I have mentioned in the previous article that I would have rather chosen Dr Shigeru Omi from Japan.

As swine flu is spreading across the world now, it will be a big challenge for Margaret Chan. As a Hong Kong resident, looking back for her performance in H5N1 and SARS, do you have confidence in her? So, Hong Kong people have to wish for good luck and fortune by ourselves…

Other Hong Kong people also joined the discussion on Hong Kong Discuss in mocking Margaret Chan for her advice, “I eat chicken everyday,” during the early outbreak of avian flu in 1997.

Reader Phmo wonders:

唔知陳馮富珍今次會唔會日日食豬呢！

I don’t know whether Margaret Chan is eating pork every day this time too!

And Edric taunts her with:

佢會日日食國內空運豬肉

She will eat China imported pork every day

Meanwhile, the past dismal experiences of 1997's avian flu and 2003's SARS outbreak might trigger Hong Kong people’s fears over the recent swine flu. There are currently five students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong on exchange in Mexico and one of them, Daydrew Ng, wrote on Facebook of his decision to leave Mexico immediately:

Daydrew Ng at 3:55pm April 27
我同sandy 會這個星期走…我知我冇什麼資格影響你的決定…但大家都係係mexico exchange 的香港人…算係比較了解你現在心情的人….我真係覺得…我地應該走!!!

我唔知係唔係傳媒誇張…也唔知真實的情況去到幾嚴重…其實應該無人會知…我都無需要知…

因為我肯定的係…我有好多愛我的朋友和家人…佢地都好擔心我…我唔想佢地為我擔心, 佢地支時我每一個決定, 但我都要正面回應佢地的支持…唔可以令佢地失望!…

Sandy and I will leave this week. I know I cannot affect your decision, but I understand your feeling at this moment as we are all Hong Kong people now on exchange in Mexico…..I really believe….we should leave now!!

I am not sure whether mass media are exaggerating…I don’t know the real situation either…but there is no need to know….

I know for sure that I have many friends and family members whom I love very much….they are worrying about my situation…I don’t want to let them down….they will support my every decision and I have to respond positively to their support….can’t let them be disappointed!!

China and Hong Kong: Can Shanghai be a new international financial center?

Winglok Hung — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:02:26 +0000

On 25 March 2009, Xinhua News reported China’s State Council has endorsed a statement to urge Shanghai to be developed into an international financial center by 2020 in order to keep up with “China’s economic influence and the Chinese yuan’s international status”.

The idea generates discussion in the Beiyouren Forum (http://forum.byr.edu.cn) on which city, among Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong will become China’s international hub. A mainland blogger, luoluokaikai, forwarded a post which states that Shanghai has a great potential to develop China’s financial services,

从外部条件来看，花旗、汇丰、渣打、东方汇理、荷兰银行等１９家外资银行都不约而同地选定其驻上海机构为主报告行。当中国成了世界上主要的资本输出国之一时，上海就会自然成为一个国际金融中心。目前国外看好上海，这是非常可喜的现象。…上海自己的经济实力和她的经济腹地是香港都无法比拟的，这是上海最大的竞争优势。

From external condition, Citigroup, HSBC, Standard Charted, Banque de l'Indochine, ABN. AMRO etc more than 19 foreign-funded financial corporations have set up their primary reporting banks in Shanghai. When China becomes one of the major capital export countries in the world, Shanghai will naturally become the global financial hub. It is a good sign that the current foreign outlook on Shanghai is favourable. [….] Hong Kong is not competitive as the Shanghai’s economic power and its financial region. These are the greatest advantages of Shanghai.

However, a Hong Kong blogger, lu miguan argues that it is hard for Shanghai to replace Hong Kong status,

上海要做金融中心，到2020年，世事難料，能否真正的「國際」，以現階段的政治環境的話，可能只會做到北亞區或者是中國境內的國際級數。這是因為有兩個核心問題未能解決，就是制度與自由。…當中「政治」就踩中了中共的地雷，所以youtube最近不能夠在內地登陸。如果一個網站都不能夠正常上客任人看，這是一個國際城市嗎?是一個大都會嗎?連觀看的自由也沒有，怎能讓外國人願意走進這個地方做生意呢?

Shanghai wants to be the financial hub by 2020, things are unpredictable, it is still hard to say whether it can be really “international”, according to the existing political environment, perhaps it only can be the Northern Asian or the China’s financial center. Because there are two core problems unsolved and they are system and freedom. […] For example, Youtube cannot land in the mainland China because it steps upon the “political” land mill of the communist government. If there is one globally recognized website cannot be free for visiting, can it be an international city? A metropolis? There is no freedom in accessing information, how are those foreign investors willing to start their business in this place?

Another Hong Kong blogger, Eyrnnyes also shares similar views,

上海，要成為「真正」的國際金融中心，不在是否齊心，又或是國家政策是否支持，那在於人民幣是否可以自由兌換！一天外資不可把他們在中國資金，自由兌換成本國貨幣或美金，再自由地匯出中國，上海，一天也不可能成為真正的國際金融中心！那更不可能取代香港地位！又正如利世民君和某在香港、國內有頗大的金融生意A君說，一天上海股市，除了熊市、牛市之外，還有一種叫政策市（以前叫朱市，即前總理朱融基市）存在，上海一天也不可能取代香港，成為亞太區的國際金融中心！

Shanghai, to be the “real” international financial center, the success is not based on Chinese people's will nor the support from the central government. It is based on the fact that whether RMB can be exchanged freely! When the foreign capital cannot be freely exchanged to local currency or US dollar and export from China, Shanghai cannot be the real international financial hub! And it cannot replace Hong Kong! Same as the comment from Li Shimin, in the stock market of Shanghai, except for the common bear market and bull market, there is one called “policy market” (in the past call “Zhu market” because of the former Premier Zhu Rongji). So Shanghai cannot replace Hong Kong as the Asian financial center!

Hong Kong: Defending freedom of speech

Winglok Hung — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:18:29 +0000

On 22 Feb 09, more than a hundred Hong Kong people took on the street to voice out their concerns about the alarming shrinking of freedom of speech in Hong Kong. The protest was proposed by the Citizens’ Radio and supported by other democratic institutions including Save RTHK Campaign, Hong Kong Human Right Monitors and the pan-democratic political alliance in Hong Kong.

“Supporting Citizens’ Radio” and “Supporting RTHK” are the most frequent slogans chanted by the demonstrators. The protesters were unsatisfied with selective prosecution on Citizens’ Radio talk show’s guests including Mr Szeto Wah, a 78 years old prominent pro-democracy figure and the former chair of an anti-communist organization, Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. At the same time, protesters were also anger with the refusal of transforming RTHK, a quasi public broadcaster but critical towards the government, into an independent public broadcaster.

Mr Szeto Wah bravely said he would not be afraid of spending the rest of his life in prison in order to fight for the free speech zone in Hong Kong! One of the masters of ceremony of the event, Angel Lee wrote in her blog that:

本身我都很少參與遊行, 今次站出來是因為重視言論自由, 香港這個國際大都會絕對有能力容納到不同發聲的平台, 讓市民可以多個選擇, 這樣香港這美麗之都才得以發展。

I seldom participate in demonstration. This time I step out because I care about the freedom of speech. As an international city, Hong Kong has the ability to absorb diverse channels from different opinions, let’s citizens have more choices and it makes Hong Kong prettier for development.

Another participant, XOX also supports the struggle for freedom of speech in Hong Kong:

Still a bit tired after yesterday march. But it is worth it. The selective persecution in the People Readio so bloody unfair. […].So, freedom! Kind of touched when the uncle Wah (Szeto Wah) said he rather go to jail. I really really don't want him to go to jail, considering his age and everything.

In a reply to a forwarded post on Seven Deadly Sins of Donald Tsang’s leadership, pangtszyin sighed,

我覺得現在無論是香港新聞透明及自由度,己大不如前了.

In my views, Hong Kong media used to have high degree of freedom and transparency, but now all are fading.

The facebook event page also have some discussions and the youtube video below shows the concert outside the government central office after the rally:

China: Does the government still concern about the “kidney stone babies”?

Winglok Hung — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 03:08:11 +0000

The coverage of the tainted milk scandal in China has been gradually faded away from the mass media with the bankruptcy of Sanlu company. In December 2008, the Chinese government comes up with an initial compensation plan, however, to some victims' disappointment. And according to Hong Kong's newspapers' report (Mingpao), some parents put forward their proposal in early January, 2009 were detained from voicing out.

Government compensation plan

Local news (via sina) reported that the total compensation amount will be around RMB 4 billion (USD 0.6 billion) shared by the government and 22 other corporates. The government's share (RMB 2.6 billion) will be allocated directly to the hospitals for paying the bill for the victims. The compensation for the death caused by melamine claim is up to RMB200,000 (USD30,000), for serious kidney disease victims, it is RMB30,000 (USD3,000). As for minor illness the victims receive RMB2,000 (USD300) subsidy. A health fund (RMB 0.2 Billion) was set up to help victims for their future hospital treatment. Some parents, especially those getting the RMB2000 offer, refused to sign the compensation agreement.

Some bloggers joined in the discussion, for example, Wuhangmin criticized:

早就有人指问题奶粉的赔偿方案不公正，既没有患者代表参加，赔偿金额也不尽合理。而如今在赔偿方案启动后暴露出来的问题，更是令人费解。“结石宝宝”究竟有否免费救治？倒底有多少“结石宝宝”享受到了免费政策？为何报道中提及的患儿都是在自掏腰包自费救治？不知道国家规定免费治疗后是否下拨了专项资金，如果有，这笔资金究竟是如何使用的？为何还有家长要自掏近5万元看病?

Some people had pointed out the unjust compensation for the tainted milk case: there was no representative for the victim and the amount for compensation was unreasonably low. Moreover, the consequence of signing the compensation plan is unclear. For instance, does free medical treatment apply to those “kidney stone babies”? How many “kidney stone babies” can benefit from the policy? Why did so many media mention that the victims were paying for their babies' medical treatment all these time? Is there a regulation or foundation set up by the central government to finance the medical fee? If so, how to apply for the funding? How come some parents had paid 50,000 RMB for medical fee?

Mu mian 7 suspected that the Chinese government is deliberately slowing down the process:

政府不是信誓旦旦的表态吗，现在呢？怎么都没反应。他们只会拖延时间，让民众遗忘这件事，达到最后不了了知的结局，政府和企业皆大欢喜，民众只能偷偷地流眼泪！！！

Hasn’t the government vowed to support (the victims)? How about now? There are no further measure to help. They are prolonging the schedule so that people are slowly forgetting the issue. Eventually a no one known result can be obtained and both government and enterprises celebrate, while the poor people sob in silence!!!

Liu Changfeng, another Chinese blogger added a legal dimension to the discussion:

政府部门与有关企业达成协议，匆匆出台补偿标准。尽管表达出了相当的诚意，但在不少人看来，赔偿标准显然是低了很多，大大超出人们的预料。从政府的本意来说，显然是为了尽快促成赔偿的实施，尽早消除事件的负面影响。但无论如何，此举都无法让公众信服。一方面，就当下的经济形势而言，在不少并非当事人的网友看来，这个赔偿标准都低得有些离谱，赔偿标准的合理性有几多？公众无法不对其提出疑问。另一方面，法庭的审判只认定了的违法行为，而对受害者的赔偿只字不提。作为司法干涉的最后也是最关键的环节，赔偿问题并非来自司法部门的解释，而是来自政府官员的说法。那么，赔偿标准究竟该由法律认定还是由政府行政决定？公众质疑的是行政决策究竟能否代替法律审判？

The government and related department had made a prompt agreement for the compensation. Although this showed the satisfactory sincerity towards the victims, the compensation standard was far below people’s expectation. Obviously the government wanted to implement the compensation quickly to eliminate the negative impacts in the first place. Nevertheless, this action was hard to convince the public. On one hand, even from the views of outsiders and the existing economic environment, the compensation standard was much less than it should have. Can the compensation standard be justified? But the public cannot have the channel to question the plan. On the other hand, the judicial decision only affirmed the criminal nature of the incident but made no words on the compensation of the victims. In the end, the compensation plan came from the administrative government officials but not from the judicial body. Which body is in position to make the ultimate decision? Judicial or administrative body? The public doubted whether if the administrative decision could replace the judicial judgment.

Up till now, there are around 290 thousands children developed symptom related with melamine poisoning. 51.9 thousands have entered hospital and 154 of them are suffered from serious kidney disease and 11 of them have died.

China and Hong Kong: Views on Gaza Conflicts

Winglok Hung — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:09:08 +0000

After the first intense air strikes in the Gaza Strip at the end of 2008, Israel continues the attacks on the densely populated Gaza in 2009 and it is expected to cost more Palestinian lives. While there are mass demonstrations against Israel’s military actions in London, Paris, Berlin, Athens and several Muslim countries, what are the reactions in Hong Kong and China to this humanitarian crisis?

Will peace come?

Jackhomme, a Hong Kong blogger is rather cynical towards the situation and believes that we can do nothing to stop the current Gaza conflicts.

戰爭不是今天的事,沒人能保證有天會和平,我們安坐在千里之外很多事可以選擇,選擇早上吃什麼早餐,放工後去不去看場戲,約朋友去那間酒館飲酒,而在戰爭中的平民連生存的權利都沒有,連人最基本尊嚴都失去,選擇是多麼奢侈,生命就是如此輕渺,我們只好在外旁觀,看新聞把死亡當做娛樂,把戰事寫在blog上扮高深,我們沒有能力停止改變事實,一少人把世界搞亂卻要全人類陪葬.

War is not a new matter and nobody can guarantee there will be peace tomorrow. We can comfortably sit far away from the battlefield and make our daily choices, like to have what kind of breakfast, or whether to watch a movie or go to pub after work. Such kind of choice is a luxury to the civilians in war as they even do not have the basic human rights and dignity. Life is like that. We can only watch from the outside; read the death tolls on the newspapers as entertainment and write a sophisticated blogpost on warfare. We have no ability to change the fact that a minority of people mess up the world and expect the whole of people to be buried with them.

CodeBlue, another Hong Kong blogger, also feels that it is too naive to believe that the conflicts between Israel and Palestine can come to an end.

外人無論怎樣做和事佬, 也不能完全了解他們之間的死結, 更何況又有誰能百分百可以預計以巴何時有永久停止衝突的一天呢? 世界和平? 這種想法是否過於天真?

Outsider peace makers can never fully understand the dead knot (between Israel and Palestine) . So who can predict when will the conflict between Israel and Palestine comes to an end and peace to the world? Isn't such thought too naive?

Anti war protests and petitions

Nevertheless, some disagree to stand aside and watch. Hoidick started translating reports on the situation in Gaza at inmediahk.net and stirred up some discussions, in which fc said:

A lot of people feel that the Middle East is so far away that it's not relevant. The fact is everything in this world is related. Think of it this way: For every person killed in this Gaza attack, probably 100 terrorists were born. The net result is that the whole world (including Israel itself) has become more unstable, and there's a much increased risk of another 9/11. What the current Israeli and American administrations refuse to accept is that military force simply DOESN'T WORK.

In the facebook, a Hong Kong resident, Hong Wilson, creates a group to campaign against war in the Gaza strips on and there are 426 members up to 6 Jan 2009. They are planning to collect online petition to the Consulate General of Israel in Hong Kong and Macau. Members of the group suggested other means to express anger towards the Israeli military actions, including hanging a Palestinian scarf outside the window and deleting all the Israeli friends on their facebook accounts. Cheuck Hang suggests to demonstrate at the Consulate General of Israel in Hong Kong.

我認為香港人至少應該要到以色列的領事館示威, 以前在youtube看過梁國雄有到海富中心示威,可惜人數很少,希望能不斷發起示威,引起香港人注視這個問題

I think Hong Kong people should at least organize a demonstration to the Consulate General of Israel. I have seen Leung Kwok-hung (a social activist) visited the Admiralty Center to protest in the past on Youtube but there were only a very few people. Hope this can arouse Hong Kong people’ attention to the problem (The Gaza conflict).

Apart from joint signature petitions against the war in Taiwan and Hong Kong, a number of demonstrations against the war have happened this week at the Israeli Consulate General in Hong Kong and more to come in the weekend.

Tibet and Gaza, China and Israel scenario

While many in Hong Kong and Taiwan condemn Israel for invading Gaza and killing of civilians, the position and opinions in Mainland China are rather ambivalent. Most of the articles are speculations on the reason behind the military action.

Mengshaosan criticizes Western government's double standard in the Israel military action:

只有美国和英国与国际社会作出了大相径庭的反映，都拒绝了呼吁以色列停止对加沙地带的武力行动，那个自以为是世界之王的“萨狗屎”（萨科奇）和那些所谓的人权斗士也都闭上了他们的狗嘴。哈哈，想想真是好笑，想当初，在3月14日的西藏骚乱事件之后，那些所谓的斗士们纷纷张开那张狗嘴，对中国政府的正当行为强加谴责，给中国军人强加戴上了“镇压”的帽子。一时间，在西方人的眼中，中国成了一个十恶不赦的国家。然而，好笑的是，在今天，犹太人空袭了加沙，短短的三天内，三百多名无辜的平民成了战乱中的亡魂。但是那几张狗嘴却闭上了，而且，还闭得那么的严实。

Only the U.S and U.K governments' reaction were different from the international society. They refused to urge Israel government to seize fire in Gaza strip. The Sar-dog-shit (Sarkozy) and other human rights fighter have also shut their mouth. This is a joke, remember during the 3.14 Tibet riot, all these fighters opened their dog mouths to criticize Chinese government and labeled Chinese military force's action as “oppression”. In the eye of these westerner, China has become a evil county. And today, the Jew launches air strike to Gaza, and in three days, more than 300 innocent civilians have died in the war. Those dog mouths had shut up, so completely!

Chenglong also co-relates the Israel attacks on Gaza with the Tibet issue in China by examining the Chinese government moderate position towards the military action:

中国对以色列空袭哈马斯采取冷眼旁观的态度，实际上是在暗示美国及其他国家（尤其是印度），如果境外的藏独势力（包括疆独势力）对中国进行恐怖袭击，中国将有权效仿以色列采取一切可能的行动。

Chinese government adopted an observer position to Israeli air strike in Gaze against Hamas is a hint to the U.S and other countries (in particular India) that if Tibetan independent sector (including Xinjiang independent sector) launched terrorist attack in China, the Chinese government will take action similar to Israeli government.

Compensation on life

However, a blogpost titled as “Israel is a good nation” occupies the highest rank in the Chinese blogoshpere (via google search), in which Zhengkoupinghei believes Israel is a good nation because of its monetary compensation on life:

我就當前以色列和巴勒斯坦沖突談談個人看法，我的第一個觀點是，在信息不對稱的情況下，不要輕易下自己的結論；第二，我個人的知識和經歷告訴我，以色列是個好國家。

Let me express my views on the current Israeli and Palestinian conflict. My first point, in this asymmetric information circumstance, it is hard to make a personal conclusion. Second, according to my knowledge and personal experience, Israel is a good nation.

The blogger's impression comes from a story told by a senior governmental officer in Fujian province.

福建省政府的高官講了這麼一個故事︰
幾年前，耶路撒路發生了一起公交車爆炸的恐怖襲擊，炸死了十來個人，其中包括兩名中國人，此兩人系偷渡客，屬于非法入境。[…]後來，以色列政府專門開了一個會，會議認為，在以色列國土上無辜死亡的人，政府都有責任對其負責，至于這個人偷渡與否，那是另外一回事。會議最後決定，對兩名死難的中國人一視同仁地按照國民待遇善後。[…]一個這樣對待它國和自己死去國民的國家，不管你怎麼說，我都堅信，這是個好國家。

A high ranking governmental officer in Fujian province tells a story:
A few years ago there was a terrorist car attack in Jerusalem and ten people were dead, including two illegal Chinese immigrants. […] Later, Israeli government started a conference and decided that the government should be responsible for the victims, regardless whether he or she was an illegal immigrant. The conference finally settled that the two Chinese victims should receive the same national treatment as local Israeli citizens.[…] A country with this kind of settlement to local and foreign victims, whatever you says, I firmly believe, it is a good nation.