Chinese Regime Issues Blanket Media, Internet Censorship on Hong Kong Protests

BY NICOLE HAO

In the evening of June 16, thousands of Hong Kongers get together at Admiralty to ask the city government leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam to withdraw the extradition bill and resign. 

After nearly two million Hongkongers took to the streets to call for a controversial extradition bill to be shelved, the Chinese regime took measures to censor all related information, while state-run media spun the protests as anti-U.S. demonstrations.
After heavy criticism from netizens, China Daily, an English-language state-run media directed at international audiences, was forced to delete its related Facebook posts.

Hong Kong vs. Mainland
More than 25 percent of the city’s population, dressed in black, flooded the streets on June 16—making it the largest protest in the city’s history.
Hongkongers demanded that the city government withdraw the extradition bill, which would allow mainland China to seek extradition of suspects. 

The bill has drawn broad opposition within Hong Kong society, with many fearing that given China’s disregard for the rule of law, the proposal could allow the Chinese regime to charge and extradite people with impunity.
It was the biggest news story in Hong Kong and around the world.
But on Chinese media websites, there were no videos, photos, or reports to be seen about the Hong Kong protests.
On Baidu, China’s most popular search engine, a search for the keywords “extradition bill” and “Hong Kong parade” produces no results about the one million protesters who turned out on June 9; protests on June 12, when police used tear gas, rubber bullets, and bean bags to disperse crowds; and the June 16 march.
U.S.-based Chinese media China Digital Times, which covers the Beijing regime’s censorship tactics, reported on June 16, based on insider sources, that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Publicity Department—a government agency in charge of propaganda dissemination—ordered all Chinese websites to ban extradition bill-related videos, as well as comments on Cantonese pop songs that could be read as anti-CCP.Hundreds of thousands of Hongkongers gathered on the streets protesting against the extradition bill on June 16, 2019. 

Fake News Reports
Some state-run media reported on the Hong Kong events, but by misrepresenting the facts.
A Xinhua report on June 17 described the protests as having a negative impact on Hong Kong’s social order. 

The report didn’t include details about the protests, but said they were “not rational” because local businesses couldn’t operate, causing financial losses.
“Many adults didn’t read the extradition bill, and just blindly went on the streets [to protest],” the report said.
In fact, many shops and businesses voluntarily joined a strike in protest of the bill.
In a June 18 report, Xinhua reported that the Hong Kong government suspended the extradition bill, with claims that many Hongkongers want the city to refocus on financial development.
Meanwhile, English-language state-run media China Daily falsely wrote in a June 17 report that Hong Kong parents had marched June 16 against “U.S. meddling” in the city’s affairs.
The report falsely claimed that people marched to the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macao, calling on the United States to “stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs.”
China Daily published an editorial on the same day, in which it said the protesters were fooled by “manufactured radicalism,” and the purpose was for “dividing Hong Kong society and damaging the city’s reputation for law and order.”
On China Daily’s official Facebook page, related posts were deleted after many comments by netizens calling out the falsehoods.Protesters gather on Hong Kong streets to demand the full withdrawal of the extradition bill on June 16, 2019. 

A mainland Chinese reporter surnamed Chen, who traveled to Hong Kong to witness the march on June 16, told the Hong Kong edition of The Epoch Times why he believed the Chinese regime was so nervous about the extradition bill fallout.

“Actually, the Chinese regime is having a big headache about the U.S.-China trade war. Now, this Hong Kong incident is like a second battlefield for the CCP, which made Beijing feel more pressured,” Chen said.
Chen added that Chinese authorities aren’t allowing any media reports on the Hong Kong protests and are deleting related content that netizens are circulating, because the regime is worried that Chinese will be encouraged to protest for their rights if they see what Hongkongers have been doing recently.
“The Beijing government is extremely scared,” Chen said.

Hong Kong sends China a powerful message and proves President Trump is right

By Rebecca Grant 

Hong Kong’s message to Beijing is loud and clear. 

That city won’t succumb to creeping Chinese control, and the rest of the world shouldn’t either.
The crowds filling the streets between Hong Kong’s thin skyscrapers want to protect their autonomy, free speech, and basic rights against an insidious tide of Chinese Communist party influence. 

What started as a rally at the legislature against an extradition bill is now an unforgettable moment for this city of 7 million.
“Before this week I’d never been on a protest,” one 28-year-old Hong Kong resident told Britain’s The Guardian.


“We are watching the people of Hong Kong speak about the things they value,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said to Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.
Hong Kong’s protests are a massive repudiation of Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power. 

Hong Kong is also showing the world that President Trump was right. 

It’s high time to confront China.
Beijing would love to make Hong Kong shut up. 

Hong Kong was a thriving British colony from 1842 until 1997. 

But Hong Kong depended on supply from the mainland, China was getting stronger, and it seemed like time to welcome China to the Western economic and financial system. 

Still, when Britain handed over control in 1997, Hong Kong made a good deal. 

China’s leader Deng Xiaoping promised Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy until 2047. 

Hong Kong kept its own court system, and most of the legal and institutional protections of a Western democracy under the doctrine of “one country, two systems.”
That included free speech and unrestricted internet access and street rallies – privileges rarely seen in mainland China. 

Hong Kong remains a prosperous financial hub and residents exercise their free speech rights with events like the so-called umbrella protests of 2014 and annual remembrances of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square incident. 

A cherished element of the agreement was that Hong Kong would not allow extraditions to mainland China. 

You can imagine why.

The lesson of Hong Kong? Hold firm when China won’t play by the rules. Trump saw that early on. Hence the tariffs and trade talks. Great Britain realized it too, deciding to remove Huawei devices from sensitive emergency response networks.

The new bill to permit Taiwan, mainland China, and other jurisdictions to extradite fugitives was sneaky. 

Just plugging a loophole and catching criminals, Hong Kong’s leadership claimed. 

Not so fast. 

China does not have an independent justice system. Hong Kong does. 

The extradition measure, if passed by Hong Kong’s legislature, would let Beijing pick up political dissidents, or really anyone, in Hong Kong.In this jewel of a city, people could just disappear.
Small protests began in March. 

Hong Kong Executive Carrie Lam said the bill would not apply to political crimes. 

Few believed her. 

Lam was appointed directly by Beijing, and she had put the extradition bill on a 20-day fast track.
Then in June, protests grew. 

This past weekend, organizers estimated 2 million out of Hong Kong’s population of over 7 million took to the streets. 

The protests brought Hong Kong to a standstill.
Consider that Martin Luther King’s March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs on August 28, 1963, tallied about 300,000, according to the National Park Service.
Whatever the exact headcount, the point is Hong Kong won’t succumb quietly.
Yes, there is a brutal murder case at the center of it all. 

Back in February 2018, 20-year old Chan Tong-Kai killed his pregnant girlfriend, stuffed her in a pink suitcase, and dumped the body on the outskirts of Taipei, Taiwan. 

Then he stole money from her bank account and fled back to Hong Kong. 

Chan confessed. 

Taiwan indicted him in late 2018, and that’s when the extradition problem arose. 

Sadly, the brutal murder case was basically exploited as a political smokescreen.
For its part, Taiwan has sided with Hong Kong’s protestors. 

Taiwan said back in May they no longer wanted fugitive, Chan. 

The political fate of Hong Kong is just too important.
For Xi, the scenes in the streets of Hong Kong are a nightmare. 

Xi hates unrest. 

Most of China’s 1.3 billion people won’t even see what’s happening in Hong Kong because China blocks news and internet access.
The lesson of Hong Kong? 

Hold firm when China won’t play by the rules. 

President Trump saw that early on. 

Hence the tariffs and trade talks. 

Great Britain realized it too, deciding to remove Huawei devices from sensitive emergency response networks.
Xi could do better as a world leader, for instance, by overt help with North Korean denuclearization and by cutting out the mischief in the South China Seas. 

Internally, China’s challenge is how to allow more freedoms alongside its prosperity.
Or there is the dark choice: more crackdowns, more control. 

Thanks to Hong Kong, the world will be watching.

China extradition bill debate postponed as protesters swarm Hong Kong streets

By Julia Hollingsworth

Hong Kong -- Hong Kong lawmakers have postponed a debate over a controversial bill that would allow fugitives to be extradited to China after protesters blocked roads and restricted access to government buildings.
The city's legislative council was due to hold the second reading of the bill on Wednesday morning local time. 

The bill has been met with widespread opposition, including from the city's traditionally conservative business community, and prompted more than 1 million of the city's 7.4 million population to take to the streets in protest on Sunday.
In a statement on its website, Legislative Council President Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen said Wednesday's meeting would be "changed to a later time to be determined by him."

The decision to postpone the debate came as tens of thousands of protesters once again took to the streets of central Hong Kong in scenes reminiscent of the 2014 democracy demonstrations known as the Umbrella Movement.
Protesters began arriving outside the Legislative Council buildings on Tuesday night, where they were greeted by a heavy police presence and bag searches. 

By Wednesday morning, tens of thousands of mainly young people had arrived in the area, blocking streets and bringing central Hong Kong to a standstill.

Protesters assemble near Hong Kong's Legislative Council on June 12, 2019. 

Up to 5,000 police in riot gear have been deployed to guard the building. 

On Wednesday morning, police fired a water canon on a protester and used pepper spray on others. Protesters were seen wearing helmets, goggles and heavy-duty workman's gloves, and pulling bricks from the sidewalks.
Hundreds of businesses, parents and teachers called for a boycott of works and school on Wednesday to show their opposition to the bill.

Police officers use a water canon on a lone protester near the government headquarters in Hong Kong on June 12, 2019.

Although Hong Kong is part of China, it has separate laws that follow the UK system and no capital punishment, unlike mainland China. 

The proposed extradition law means people could be taken from Hong Kong by Chinese authorities for political or inadvertent business offenses.

Hong Kong people are furious
Wednesday's protests come only three days after a mostly peaceful march in central Hong Kong. Organizers estimated 1.03 million people attended on Sunday, the figure would make it the city's largest protest since the former British colony was handed back to China in 1997.

Protesters rally against the proposed extradition bill on June 12, 2019. 

Despite the mass demonstrations, Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam has refused to withdraw the extradition bill, saying it is needed to plug loopholes to prevent the city from becoming a haven for mainland fugitives.
On Monday, she said safeguards had been added to the bill to protect human rights and had received no instruction from Beijing to push it forward. 

Hong Kong's lawmakers had planned to dedicate 66 hours across five days to debating the bill.
"Hong Kong people are furious," senior Democratic Party lawmaker James To said Tuesday. 

"Our chief executive just ignored the people's voice, despite the peaceful rally of a million Hong Kong people."

Protesters swarm the streets in another show of strength against the government on June 12, 2019. 

Sunny Chan, an 18-year-old protestor on the streets Wednesday, said she was "angry" that the government failed to pay attention to Sunday's protests. 

"We choose to come out today and stand in the front and protest and try to protect my freedom," she said.
Protestor Marco Leung, 23, said there would be no difference between Hong Kong and China if the law was passed. 

"We are not China," Leung said. 

"Police should protect the citizens, not the government."