I recently attended some seminars and heard from various channels the negative propaganda of the United States and the West against Hong Kong, which has indeed had some effect.
Some American students want to come to Hong Kong to participate in exchange activities. Their parents will ask, “Is Hong Kong safe?” It was not until the American students came to Hong Kong that they discovered, “Hong Kong turns out to be so fun.”
There are also American business people who meet Hong Kong friends in the United States and ask, “Can I still come and go freely in Hong Kong?” The Hong Kong friend responded angrily: “If I can’t come in and out freely, how can I come to the United States?”
Foreigners, especially Americans, don’t know much about Hong Kong. Since Trump came to power in 2017 and launched a “new cold war” against China, American society has quickly become anti-China, or at least China-phobic. After Biden came to power, he ignored Trump’s anti-China policies and the situation has not changed much. Among American elites, those so-called “China-savvy” people who make a few realistic comments about China will immediately be labeled as “pro-Communist”, so it is better not to say anything. Due to the collateral effects, Hong Kong has also become very scary. Americans even thought that Hong Kong could no longer enter and exit freely.
In fact, Americans think that the situation in the United States is very good and the situation in Hong Kong is very bad, which is far from the truth.
Take San Francisco, which is about to hold the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), for example. It is also busy “dressing up” before the meeting to make this once beautiful city no longer so scary.
Holding an international summit in downtown San Francisco, the biggest problem is: homeless accommodation. Because there are 8,000 zombie-like drug addicts living on the streets in San Francisco. The main venue for this summit is the Monscone Center in the city center, and all roads around it will be under guard during the summit. But just a few streets away, there are a large number of homeless people sleeping rough. The local police were forcing them to pack up their belongings and leave as soon as possible.
Reynolds, a homeless man who lives at Harrison Avenue and Fourth Street, said city officials came last week to throw away his belongings and force him to leave. Reynolds knew that APEC was going to be held in San Francisco and that 21 world leaders were coming here, but what he didn’t understand was: “Why do these leaders want to walk down the street where he lives? Do they really want to come and see it? ?」
Since June this year, the San Francisco city government, the California state government, and the federal government have begun to work hard to clean up the “most troublesome corners” of San Francisco so that San Francisco can dress up for APEC. But I believe that after APEC, things will be business as usual. Whether there are “zombies” filling the streets or a large number of robberies known as “zero dollar purchases”, they will all come back. Countless homeless people on the streets and the spread of drugs are making this city decline in danger and filth.
In San Francisco’s pre- and post-masquerade neighborhoods, tents of homeless people have temporarily disappeared.
In contrast, Hong Kong, which is safe, prosperous and international, is really not worth being badmouthed by the United States.
In fact, as long as Americans are not in official positions, they will be more practical in their speech.
Former U.S. Consul General to Hong Kong and Macau Weikang Tang recently attended a lecture in Hong Kong and said that Sino-U.S. relations have created some difficulties, but he emphasized that for international investors and businessmen, Hong Kong is still an international transportation hub and a center for Sino-foreign exchanges, especially in the field of artificial intelligence. , Fintech has great development prospects, and Hong Kong’s competitiveness still exists.
If Tang Weikang were still the U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong and Macao, I believe he would not be able to use “Hong Kong’s competitiveness remains” as the theme of his speech.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po went to San Francisco to attend the APEC meeting. He said he hoped to “expand his circle of friends” through bilateral talks with different economies and build a better foundation for future cooperation. He also visited local companies to encourage them to develop business in Hong Kong.
These actions to promote Hong Kong are very important. Even former US officials cannot “pretend not to see” Hong Kong’s unique advantages. Comparing Hong Kong and San Francisco, it is actually obvious which city is rising and which city is declining.
Lu Yongxiong
The United States’ refusal to “rescue” Joshua Wong in Hong Kong is reminiscent of Snowden’s different treatment in Hong Kong. This is a very sharp contrast.
In June 2013, Snowden, a former employee of the CIA, secretly came to Hong Kong and stayed at the Miramar Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. Snowden stored 1.7 million top-secret U.S. documents in advance and brought them to Hong Kong. On June 9, he accepted an interview with the British “Guardian” and disclosed U.S. secret intelligence surveillance projects, including the U.S. “Prism Project.”
The secret documents disclosed by Snowden show how the US “Prism Project” conducts deep intrusions or surveillance on instant communications and online servers, and the targets of surveillance even include the leaders of the United States’ Western allies. Snowden said he disclosed the classified information because he believed “the U.S. intelligence community has gone too far and violated civil liberties.”
A freedom fighter was hunted thousands of miles by the United States.
Since Snowden exposed his crimes during the interview, he was at risk of being hunted down or even assassinated. Therefore, after Snowden accepted the interview on June 9, he immediately left the Miramar Hotel and disappeared from the public eye. Between June 10 and 23, he was hiding everywhere in Hong Kong.
Snowden was first arranged to move from a five-star hotel to a subdivided apartment in Lai Chi Kok, where he lived with a Sri Lankan family who was waiting for their refugee application to be approved. The head of this family is Ajith, a former Sri Lankan soldier, who is waiting for the SAR government to approve refugee status. Snowden was in the subdivided room and did not leave the room for a full week. The arranger told Agesser that Snowden was a very famous person and needed protection.
Snowden then moved to a Filipino refugee family in Sham Shui Po. Four days later, he hid in the residence of a Sri Lankan male refugee and other places. He lived with four refugee families.
At that time, Snowden had realized that he might not be able to obtain political asylum in Hong Kong if he stayed in Hong Kong, so he decided to leave. He applied for political asylum in many countries. However, due to the threat from the United States, no European and American countries dared to provide Snowden with political asylum. shelter.
By June 21, the United States had completed the process, and the Department of Justice announced two charges against Snowden for violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and stealing government property. The U.S. State Department immediately revoked his passport. The United States also wants Snowden on charges of espionage, theft and unauthorized disclosure of national defense and intelligence information.
The U.S. arrest warrant quickly arrived in Hong Kong, but on the relevant documents, Snowden’s English name had one letter wrongly strung together. The SAR government (of course with the consent of the central government) told the United States that Hong Kong does not have the person on their wanted list.
This dragged on for more than a day, and this was a crucial day.
With the help of lawyers appointed by WikiLeaks founder Assange, Snowden found Russia willing to accept him first. On June 23, Snow boarded a plane and fled Hong Kong to Moscow.
When the wanted order with the changed name in the United States was sent to Hong Kong, the SAR government also responded that there was no such person in Hong Kong because Snowden had already left.
Under the Sino-US relations at that time, Hong Kong, China, indeed could not tolerate Snowden. However, when possible, the SAR government still provides a small favor to those it deems worthy of help.
On the other hand, the United States did not provide any help to Huang Zhifeng. Maybe the United States thinks it can’t help, or maybe it thinks it’s not worth helping at all. In the eyes of the United States, this is the fate of the chess pieces.
Lu Yongxiong
2023-11-13 11:24:29
#Hong #Kongs #advantages #United #States #pretend
