China pulls extradition bill, but too little too late, say Hong Kong protesters

By James Pomfret, Clare Jim

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Wednesday withdrew an extradition bill that triggered months of often violent protests so the Chinese-ruled city can move forward from a “highly vulnerable and dangerous” place and find solutions.

Her televised announcement came after Reuters reports on Friday and Monday revealing Beijing thwarted an earlier proposal from Lam to withdraw the bill and she had said privately that she would resign if she could.
“Lingering violence is damaging the very foundations of our society, especially the rule of law,” a somber Lam said as she sat wearing a navy blue jacket and pink shirt with her hands folded on a desk.
It was not clear when the recording was made. 

The withdrawal needs the approval of the Legislative Council, which is not expected to oppose Lam.
The bill would have allowed extraditions to mainland China where courts are controlled by the Communist Party. 

Its withdrawal is a key demand of protesters but just one of five. 

The move came after pitched battles across the former British colony of 7 million. 

More than 1,000 protesters were arrested.
Many are furious about vicious police brutality and the number of arrests and want an independent inquiry.
“The government will formally withdraw the bill in order to fully allay public concerns,” Lam said.
“I pledge that the government will seriously follow up the recommendations of the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Council) report. From this month, I and my principal officials will reach out to the community to start a direct dialogue ... we must find ways to address the discontent in society and look for solutions.”
The protests began in March but snowballed in June and have evolved into a push for greater democracy for the city which returned to China in 1997. 

It was not clear if killing the bill would help end the unrest. 

The immediate reaction appeared skeptical.

“FIVE DEMANDS, NOT ONE MISSING”

Lawmakers said the move should have come earlier.
“The damage has been done. The scars and wounds are still bleeding,” said pro-democracy legislator Claudia Mo. 

“She thinks she can use a garden hose to put out a hill fire. That’s not going to be acceptable.”
Many people on street corners after nightfall were shouting: “Five demands, not one missing.”
“We still have four other demands. We hope people won’t forget that,” said a woman speaking for the protest movement who declined to identify herself except by the surname Chan. 

“The mobilization power won’t decrease.”
Riot police fired beanbag guns and used pepper spray on Tuesday to clear demonstrators from outside the Mong Kok police station and in Prince Edward metro station, with one man taken out on a stretcher with an oxygen mask over his face, television footage showed.
The four other demands are: retraction of the word “riot” to describe rallies, release of all demonstrators, an independent inquiry into police brutality and the right for Hong Kong people to choose their own leaders.
“Too little, too late,” Joshua Wong, a leader of pro-democracy protests in 2014 that were the precursor to the current unrest, said on his Facebook page.
In the United States, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a persistent critic of Beijing’s attempts to undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy, called Lam’s move “welcome but insufficient.”
“The Chinese Communist Party should uphold its commitments to Hong Kong’s autonomy and stop aggravating the situation with threats of violence,” he said in a statement.
U.S. Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi called the move long overdue and demanded an end to the use of force against demonstrators. 

Pelosi said she looked forward to the swift advance of bipartisan legislation to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong.
Rubio has co-sponsored a Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act that would require annual certification of Hong Kong’s autonomy to justify special treatment the territory enjoys under U.S. law.
In an op-ed in the Washington Post on Tuesday, Rubio said the United States and the rest of the world needed to make clear to China that aggression toward Hong Kong risked “swift, severe and lasting consequences.”
He said the U.S. administration should make clear it could respond “flexibly and robustly,” including with sanctions against the police force and individuals responsible for abuses. 

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CHINESE WARNINGS
In a voice recording obtained by Reuters, Lam said at a meeting last week that her room to find a political solution to the crisis was “very limited”, as authorities in Beijing now viewed the situation as a matter of national security.
The protests are the biggest popular challenge to Chinese dictator Xi Jinping’s rule since he took power in 2012. 

Beijing denies meddling in Hong Kong’s affairs, yet it warned again on Tuesday that it would act if protests threatened Chinese security and sovereignty.
Pro-Beijing lawmaker Cheung Kwok-kwan said Lam’s announcement was not a compromise to appease those promoting violence but a bid to win over moderates in the protest camp.
“It was likely speaking to the so-called peaceful, rational, non-violent people who were dissatisfied with the government’s response before,” he said.
The chief executive’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bill’s withdrawal.
Hong Kong returned to China under a “one country, two systems” formula that allowed it to keep freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, like the freedom to protest and an independent legal system, hence the anger at the extradition bill and perceived creeping influence by Beijing.
Beijing has regularly warned about the impact on Hong Kong’s economy.
Cathay Pacific Airways has been one of the biggest corporate casualties.
China’s aviation regulator demanded Cathay suspend staff from flying over its airspace if they were involved in, or supported, the demonstrations and the airline has laid off at least 20 personnel, including pilots and cabin crew.
On Wednesday it announced the resignation of chairman John Slosar following the departure of CEO Rupert Hogg last month.

The battle goes on!

Hong Kong airport targeted in weekend protest after last week's mayhem

By Donny Kwok, Twinnie Siu


HONG KONG -- Hong Kong braced for an anti-government protest “stress test” of the airport this weekend, as weeks of sometimes violent demonstrations in the Chinese-ruled city showed no signs of let-up amid rising tension between China and some Western nations.
The airport, reached by a gleaming suspension bridge carrying both rail and road traffic, was forced to close last week when protesters, barricading passageways with luggage trolleys, metal barriers and other objects, clashed with police.
China’s Hong Kong affairs office condemned the mayhem as “near-terrorist acts”.
“Go to the airport by different means, including MTR, airport bus, taxi, bike and private car to increase pressure on airport transport,” protest organizers wrote online on Friday.
The Airport Authority published a half-page notice in newspapers urging young people to “love Hong Kong” and said it opposed acts that blocked the airport, adding that it would keep working to maintain smooth operations.
Hong Kong’s high court extended an order restricting protests at the airport. 

Some activists had apologized for last week’s airport turmoil.
The protests, originally over a now-suspended bill that would have allowed extraditions to China, have plunged the former British colony into its worst crisis since its return to China in 1997 and pose a major challenge for Communist Party rulers in Beijing.
The unrest has widened into calls for greater freedom, fueled by worries about the erosion of rights guaranteed under a “one country, two systems” formula, adopted after the handover, such as an independent judiciary and the right to protest.
Transport Secretary Frank Chan said airport passenger volume from Aug 1 to 21 was down 11% from the corresponding period last year, with cargo volume down 14%.
Commerce Secretary Edward Yau said visitor arrivals started to fall in mid-July. 

For Aug 15 to 20, arrivals were down 49.6% on the corresponding period of 2018.
“It was the fastest and steepest drop in recent years, and the situation is obviously very worrisome,” he told reporters.
The Canadian consulate said it had suspended travel to mainland China for local staff, just days after a Chinese employee of the city’s British consulate was confirmed to have been detained in China.
China has said that Simon Cheng, the consulate employee, was detained in the border city of Shenzhen neighboring Hong Kong. 

Beijing has accused Britain and other Western countries of meddling in its affairs in Hong Kong.
Canada’s latest travel advisory on Thursday warned that increased screening of travelers’ digital devices had been reported at border crossings between mainland China and Hong Kong.

BACK IN THE USSR
Protests on Friday included a march by accountants, a “Baltic Chain”, in which protesters will join hands across different districts in the evening, and a “rally of Christians”.
“A lot of bosses are apolitical. However, politics comes to you even when you try to avoid it,” a city legislator, Kenneth Leung, told the accountants’ rally.
“We used to be ranked as the freest economy in the world for almost 20 years. Can we keep the ranking? No, it’s over. Our core values are integrity and honesty. We need to stick to our international core values.”
He put the number taking part in the march at 5,000.
In 1989, an estimated two million people joined arms across three Baltic states in a protest against Soviet rule that became known as the “Baltic Way” or “Baltic Chain”.
Alphabet Inc’s Google has said its YouTube streaming video service disabled 210 channels engaging in a Chinese coordinated influence operation around the Hong Kong protests. 

Twitter and Facebook have also dismantled a similar campaign originating in mainland China.
The protests have caused corporate casualties, such as the Cathay Pacific airline, amid mounting Chinese scrutiny over the involvement of some of its staff in protests.
Cathay confirmed on Friday that Rebecca Sy, the head of Cathay Dragon’s Airlines Flight Attendants’ Association, was no longer with the company. 

Her departure follows the shock resignation of Cathay Chief Executive Rupert Hogg last week.
Sy said she was fired immediately after managers saw her Facebook account without being given a reason.
The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions called on Cathay to end to what it described as “white terror”, following Sy’s sacking. 

It said 14 people had been fired in connection with the protests.
White terror is a common expression to describe anonymous acts that create a climate of fear. 

Cathay pilots and cabin crew this week described political denunciations, sackings and phone searches by Chinese aviation officials.
Demonstrators have five demands: withdraw the extradition bill, set up an independent inquiry into the protests and perceived police brutality, stop describing the protests as “rioting”, waive charges against those arrested, and resume political reform.

Moral Superiority

CATHAY CEO RUPERT HOGG REFUSED TO NAME HONG KONG PROTESTERS TO CHINESE GOVERNMENT, NAMED HIMSELF INSTEAD AND RESIGNED
BY MATT KEELEY

Rupert Hogg, shown here at the RISE Conference 2018, resigned on August 16 rather than identify employees who took part in a strike earlier this month.

The CEO of the international airline Cathay Pacific resigned last Friday.

His decision was the result of refusing to name names to the Chinese government when he was asked to provide a list of employees who were involved in the Hong Kong protests.
China's Civil Aviation Administration ordered Cathay on August 9 to provide a list of employees who were involved in a recent protest. 

He was also ordered to suspend the employees. 

Hogg provided the list—but it only included one name: Hogg's.
Hogg resigned shortly thereafter, however many believe his resignation was due to pressure from China. 

His resignation was first announced by CCTV, China's state-run television station, 30 minutes before Cathay Pacific announced Hogg had stepped down.
His resignation was widely praised by supporters of the protests in Hong Kong. 

Taiwanese Democratic Progressive Party member Wang Ting-yu wrote on Facebook that he considered Hogg a hero.
"He took responsibility for the strike and resigned! He didn't sell out any Cathay Pacific employees! He took responsibility himself! Please remember the name of this gentleman. Mr. Rupert Hogg! I salute you!" Wang wrote, according to a translation provided by Taiwan News.
Wang also compared Hogg to Taiwanese hero Tang Te-chang. 

On February 28, 1947, Tang saved the lives of people on the Settlement Committee, a collection of leaders involved in Taiwan's rebellion against mainland China, by burning a list of the committee's members. 

Tang was executed shortly afterward. 

Wang wrote that, like Tang, Hogg had sacrificed himself to save others.
"True warriors show the noblest glory of human nature when facing great decisions," Wang said.
In the face of Hogg's support online, the Chinese government is claiming that it had Hogg fired, according to the International Business Times. 

China is the second largest shareholder of Cathay Pacific through the state-owned airline Air China Ltd.
On August 5, aviation workers went on strike, forcing airlines to cancel hundreds of flights. 

At a press conference that week, Cathay chairman John Solsar said the company's employees had the right to believe what they wanted.

"We certainly wouldn't dream of telling them what they have to think about something. They're all adults, they're all service professionals. We respect them greatly," Solsar said.

The protests are over an extradition bill proposed by Hong Kong's government. 

The bill would allow Hong Kong authorities to arrest, detain and extradite people wanted in territories Hong Kong doesn't have extradition agreements with—including mainland China and Taiwan. 

The bill will undermine Hong Kong's autonomy as well as infringe upon citizens' rights. 

The protests started on June 9, and have continued for the past 11 weeks.