On the wall of the League of Social Democrats office, the Chinese characters for freedom are spelt out with court admission slips.
Members of the party take turns speaking into a microphone connected to a loudspeaker. They stand in front of a banner that reads “rather be ashes than dust”, written in Chinese. Founded close to 20 years ago, the party is known as the last protest group in Hong Kong.
“The red lines are now everywhere,” Chan Po Ying, the chair of the party, tells the BBC. “Our decision to disband was because we were facing a lot of pressure.”
Watching Hong Kong get amalgamated into the rest of China after it was returned by the British has been so sad. They’ve raged. They’ve fought. But slowly they’ve been consumed.
Were they supposed to stay British?
If they wanted to, or be independent. Whatever really, but very few there wanted to be part of china.
"FATHER: You remember? In the streets…hundreds of thousands marching shoulder to shoulder… Biggest demonstrations in HK history. The world watched it all happen. Heard our voices. Saw us bleed.
MOTHER: So?
FATHER: So if we stayed silent? didnt stand up for ourselves? They would say…this is how it always was. They would say…this is what the people wanted. But no. They can’t say that. Because it has gone down in history… That we resisted fiercely. That we fought for a different future…until we couldn’t. That legacy lives in us."
Just watched the short 25min documentary “Hong Kong: As Democracy Dies” by Antoine Védeilhé (France, 2024) https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/120606-000-A/arte-reportage/ so sadly quite timely.
What’s so sad about Hong Kong is I know we’re probably all going to watch this go down again in Taiwan.
Not quite. Hong Kong is a devolved democracy, the PLA has already occupied since 1997 when the british handed it over.
This is more like the US sending troops to Los Angleas.
The PLA does not occupy Taiwan. They don’t even occupy Kinmen Islands that’s very close to Mainland China (not sure why they still haven’t taken it). They’ll need to send troops to even control it in any way, where as in Hong Kong, they are already there.
Under Britain, Hong Kong was a literal bourgeois democracy. Like not as in “the capitalists are really in control”, but “only 18 of the 59 seats weren’t appointed by major companies, representatives of the crown, or the governor”. Hong Kong has only known anything remotely close to democracy under China.
Lot of bruised western egos down voting you right now.
Highly unlikely, there’s us military stationed on Taiwan and it’s not connected to the mainland by train like HK
There’s no US military stationed in Taiwan. The closest US bases are in Okinawa and the Philippines.
The only “military” the US has in Taiwan are some training consultants for the taiwan army, there’s no boots on the ground.
No, and there weren’t in Ukraine, but the US has spent half a century and billions of dollars to ensure every last person on that island is ready to be sacrificed when the time comes.
Amazing how you attribute no fault to China, who would be doing the actual killing. No, instead it’s the US’ fault that China wants to murder these people.
China doesnt want to murder them, but America would sacrifice every person on the island if needed. They are separate points.
China: We came here to rescue you. Please do not resist.
The CCP can’t hold its iron grip on power forever. One day HK will regain its ability to choose its own destiny. I only hope these people will still be around to see it.
The CCP is no longer what it was decades ago, it has morphed itself into a weird amalgamation between communism and capitalism… and seeing how it can change itself without great upheaval shows it has a lasting strength that should not be underestimated.
It’s current strategy is that of patience and time, slowly it will erode away resistant forces or laws in a territory it wants to incorporate.
For the ccp time is not a pressing factor in this period, nor are human lives and living years of their ruling populace.
They currently have what they need and what they covet is extra, there is nothing that they urgently require.Likely the same strategy is playing out in Taiwan, already there is a big political party that wishes to tighten bonds with “the mainland”, in 5-10 years time there will be a loud voice, created through years long whispers and propaganda, to join China directly as a state-aparte … soon after, the merger will be completed and laws and freedoms will be eroded away until Taiwan is as much China as Hong Kong is now.
And, for now, it looks like the West will bow out, they will have build their own semiconductor facilities, both Europe and the US are already working on this.
Which causes Taiwan to have less value to keep under its wing at any cost.Looking at Hong Kong, I don’t think the CCP would ever allow it to go its own way again, it is as it is with Tibet…
The CCP is now what it was before. There was just a brief period inbetween horrible dictators after the last one died and before the new one dismissed the concept of term limits.
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Ah
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lemmy.nsfw
Ah yeah 😏
