Zatara
Player Valuation: £100m
I paraphrase;
1: "My last trip the police were holding back / I barely saw any police"
Right. So you have not been to HK in either 2019 or 2020 then.
The time youre referring to I was actually there. I was in HK for 10 days - 2 weeks every month from Feb 2018 - Nov 2019.
I was in the middle of the first peaceful marches and 2 streets away from where the bloodbath at the beginning of November occurred. Luckily i flew out the same day with a flight around midnight (from memory) and again luckily took the last MTR airport express at 330pm while the cops had roadblocks all over Central and Wan Chai that i saw first hand + my meetings were all cancelled in HK island from 930am and clients also couldnt even get out of New Territories to meet me.
From the very first protest i witnessed (which i sighted as i walked from Novotel Wan Chai to HSBC (right through the protest epicentre) and back on a sunday afternoon last July -- you know the massive peaceful protest) there was no trouble whatsoever with families and young kids all smiling and walking down the street.
I was walking the opposite direction and they all peacefully moved out of my way smiling. This went on all day as my friends and myself all pottered around on our day off. Nothing violent at all...
That night was a bit different though after a lot of protestors had been picked off by armed gangs in the MTR or when they were in small groups.
It was the talk of the town how the Beijing party had paid the triads to attack people on their way home after protests. The Beijing party made no secret of it...the police also stood and watched this happen.
Quite literally in front of them. Its not a secret.
Since that protest i really dont understand how you could have set foot in HK and not noticed a police presence. Even at the airport barricades and searches were being carried out after the sit in.
In central, wanchai and TST police were on most corners or patrolling...even in LKF which is very rare.
The peaceful protests carried on and were met with more triad attacks and then police began doing far far far worse.
The entire reason for violent protests was because of the police attacks and suicides / kidnapping / harassment and sexual assaults reported.
All common knowledge for anyone who had been in HK during the timeframe i stated.
2: "I want the UK to toughen up"
So you support the "suicides" then...also the democratic party senior members being attacked by both police and paid gangs.
Or just the brutal violence against defenceless women and children
All of which occured before any violent protests.
3: "I talk to family and friends locals and expats (paraphrasing) all support the Pro Beijng party and the CCP.
I have a close business relationship with one of the leading CCP party members in HK. Also other pro China nationalists who fly over to China freqently to meet senior CCP officials and state owned company CEOs.
I also have 20 years worth of expat contacts in HK. On top of that, locals who migrated to US, Canada and SE Asia who fly back to HK for business and family commitments.
Also i have plenty of mainland chinese contacts and friends who live in HK too...
Ironically i dont know any Pro Democracy members but i can tell you that most expats and locals i meet in HK have been VERY worried about China for 3 years. Thats the expat to the everyday HKer all the way up to the Pro China guys who had their own concerns on the process.
Also most HKers support democracy. Thats a fact and a massive support change over the past 3 years.
If youre trying to tell me that all your local and expat friends and family dont support the protests then thats just bizarre and unheard of.
The ONLY people i know (and that is plenty) who were in full support of the police were the chinese mainlanders...
3: "HK is the best place in the world"
If you exclude police brutality, corruptness, Chinese presence and infiltration along with my pet hate of the overflowing sewage from drains during rainfall then each to their own.
If you love HK then my guess would be that youve not been around Asia much as most people love HK for business and nightlife only. The place is filthy and cramped...nothing on say Singapore.
It sounds like you may also enjoy Shenzhen, Shanghai or Guangzhao to me...places where locals dont have rights and live in a corrupt environment.
The stuff ive seen in China would fry your brain.
Sadly HK as ive known it will become a figment of its past.
Each to their own, im glad you found a place you love.
4: "Violent protests affected the tourist industry with businesses and livelihoods ruined"
Spot on...
Now lets look at the root cause...
A: Draconian rules implemented by CCP over 5 years and forced by a China puppet. Leading to mass opposition of a law taking away peoples rights.
B: CCP hostile takeover plans brought forward with even harsher measures taking away not only HKers freedoms but taking away democracy after a landslide democratic victory (where votes were stolen by the beijing party which stopped an even greater majority).
C: Non violent democratic party senior members being beaten, abducted, slandered and arrested.
D: The one country two systems agreement being trampled upon.
What tourist with half a brain wants to set foot in HK under this system now?
What business wanting to open in a free market would open up in HK?
We can leave it there. Hope you continue having lovely trips to HK and your local and expat friends are all safe there...
If someone from HK who had never been to a game and never watched one on tv would you agree with their analysis of Everton football club?
Thats you commenting on HK and China.
Totally agree. In fact the international legal rulings against China and the South China Sea reclaimed land (man made islands) and incursions into foreign waters have all been ignored by China...
...with no punishment.
Spot on again. Sadly its not only the UK.
Thailand and Philippines have been infiltrated at the top government level.
Im hearing that Cambodia is heavily supported by China but the locals hate the chinese.
Where they come their mafia follows and crime in Philippines has skyrocketed in kidnappings, assaults, drug use and violent crime.
Its common here to hear or read about Chinese kidnapping women and holding them as sex slaves. Also underground brothels and various shabu labs popping up.
Manila is a very different place than it was say only 3 or 4 years ago.
