Who said this? I'm sure the majority of forum members know it was Patrick Henry in 1775.

But, check this out:



It did give me chills. God bless those freedom fighters in Hong Kong.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: synthplayer,

“God bless those freedom fighters in Hong Kong.”

Amen.

My sympathies are with the people of Hong Kong, but I can't see a smooth, happy path for them in the long run.

The reason I don't see a happy path is that their very existence is a continual poke in Beijing's eye.
As historians will recall, Hong Kong got carved out of China after the opium wars, as a settlement given the British.

This at a time (First Opium War - 1839) when the Brits were the world power and defied China's desire for the Brits to stop pushing Afghan opium to their people. The Chinese tried to stop the opium dealers, Britain (and others) went to war and won. So bits of China were given to the victors.

You may wonder why Britain was pushing poppy-milk.... economics, pure and simple. Recall back then there was no paper money. The Brits liked Chinese products (tea, silk, etc.) to the point a lot of silver was headed from London to China to buy those products, but none was coming back because nothing Britain had or made would sell in China. This got the British Exchequer in a tizzy. If they didn't want all of the silver in Britain to wind up in East Asia, they needed to equalize the balance of trade somehow, and then some genius thought, 'Hey, we control Afghanistan, and they grow opium poppies, and...hmmmm'

Thus, my comment that it's existence is a poke in their eye: even the mention of Hong Kong as a separate entity has to be a reminder of those days and China's weak, backward status at that time.

Anyway, absent some out-of-the-blue solution like the some other country offering 100% of Hong Konginans permanent residency and offering to transport them there, I don't see an end game other than everyone there winding up eventually under Beijing's control.

And in the absence of that out-of-the-blue option, I'd be suggesting to the HK folks to be cautious about poking the dragon too hard because the dragon is a past master at surveillance and population subjugation, and historically that's not been pleasant.

One thing to consider that may help Hong Kong protestors is that we are living in the Information age. Thanks to the internet and it being in a digital wild west phase if you will is that images and video of the protests and police reactions are able to be broadcast in real-time and without a lot of censorship by government and/or major media corporations in bed with the Chinese government. I don’t know about mainland China but the whole rest world has the ability to see what is going on over there like never before.

They saved the best for last. Toward the end of the video that young protestor screaming at the police and quoting Martin Luther King Jr. & Patrick Henry was incredible.

The Chinese government could shut down the Internet in HK with one phone call. But that would bring business in HK to a grinding halt.

While the Chinese Communist Party would love too crush the orotssts, they, somewhat ironically want to preserve Hong Kong's status as a world financial center. If they did a military crackdown, the first result would be all the big financial companies would evacuate their people, and shut down their HK operations. That would be a major ding to the Chinese economy and prestige.

I have no doubt the Han Chinese are willing to kill all these protesters.

Their value system is clear. They won't throw money away but they will trade a loss of money for gaining/maintaining control.

These are the folks who pulled the trigger on Tiananmen Square. They negotiated a return of HK with the written agreement to only allow limited freedom to exist until 2049. They are playing a long game that most of the West just can't comprehend or is unwilling to admit exists at all.

quote:

Originally posted by Yanert98:
I have no doubt the Han Chinese are willing to kill all these protesters.

Their value system is clear. They won't throw money away but they will trade a loss of money for gaining/maintaining control.

These are the folks who pulled the trigger on Tiananmen Square. They negotiated a return of HK with the written agreement to only allow limited freedom to exist until 2049. They are playing a long game that most of the West just can't comprehend or is unwilling to admit exists at all.

And yet all we hear from network news is how wrong Trump is for standing up to this horrible communist government. They believe he should kowtow to them like their beloved Obama did.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
The Chinese government could shut down the Internet in HK with one phone call. But that would bring business in HK to a grinding halt.

While the Chinese Communist Party would love too crush the orotssts, they, somewhat ironically want to preserve Hong Kong's status as a world financial center. If they did a military crackdown, the first result would be all the big financial companies would evacuate their people, and shut down their HK operations. That would be a major ding to the Chinese economy and prestige.

Ayup. The Chinese have the ability to shutdown any export of content other than possibly over satellite phone, and they may have a way block that too. The problem is that they like having the financial center that is Hong Kong and all the advantages it brings. They just don’t like the freedom that it takes to make Hong Kong the financial center it is. They were probably smart to start this cluster now as it gives them some time to figure out just how much freedom they can get rid of and still maintain the financial center. Waiting until 2047, then announcing, “Okay, you’ve had your fun, you’re fully part of China now, Chinese rules apply, suck it up buttercup.” would be the immediate end of the financial center and they’d have gained a burden, not an asset.

The sticky part is just how much can you tamp down HK freedoms without losing the HK financial center, and is that far enough that you don’t have huge problems on the mainland with folks saying, “Why do they have that and I don’t?”.

I’m glad that it is not my problem to figure out...

If I was a resident of Hong Kong I'd be making moving plans by now. They should have been making them years ago.
The Chicoms will prevail there. Just a matter of time.

Prior to the hand over from Britain to China, Billions of $$$ were moved out to Vancouver BC, USA and Swiss banks.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
The Chinese government could shut down the Internet in HK with one phone call. But that would bring business in HK to a grinding halt.

While the Chinese Communist Party would love too crush the protests, they, somewhat ironically want to preserve Hong Kong's status as a world financial center. If they did a military crackdown, the first result would be all the big financial companies would evacuate their people, and shut down their HK operations. That would be a major ding to the Chinese economy and prestige.

Yep... The ChiComs will be like a boa constrictor to Hong Kong. They won't let go and they will slowly squeeze harder and harder.
They will eventually ruin what the British left behind. Hong Kong will no longer have the freedom to be what it was, though it will likely remain a place to trade with the ChiComs.

quote:

If I was a resident of Hong Kong I'd be making moving plans by now.

I'd get out too.

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
Prior to the hand over from Britain to China, Billions of $$$ were moved out to Vancouver BC, USA and Swiss banks.

I believe this was part of the Bitcoin price frenzy.

They don't call the city in British Columbia Hongcouver for nothing.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
If I was a resident of Hong Kong I'd be making moving plans by now. They should have been making them years ago.
The Chicoms will prevail there. Just a matter of time.