(Author Joe Hoft lived in Hong Kong for nearly a decade and provides this first hand perspective)
China took control of Hong Kong, the former British colony, in 1997. Ever since that time, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the small group that runs China, has attempted to control the tiny country. This has escalated over the past year.
The CCP agreed to a 50-year plan to take over the country of Hong Kong in 1997 after the takeover. However, this may never have been the CCP’s intent. Now after less than 25 years, the CCP is hammering Hong Kong into submission and some brave Honkers (Hong Kong residents) are fighting back.
Every year on the anniversary of the turnover, Honkers flooded Victoria Park and marched in the sun and in the rain towards the Central part of Hong Kong in remembrance of the day Britain handed over their sovereignty to the CCP.
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Millions would show up for these peaceful events, as the CCP slowly took over the tiny country.
Hong Kong was rated during the past decade as the financial center of the world, as the most free country in the world and as the country with the best tax regime.
Hong Kong had the easiest tax filing in the world for individuals and corporations and it has one of the lowest tax rates in the world at around 16%. Hong Kong has free medical for all its citizens, although many also have insurance to obtain faster and sometimes better care at private hospitals. With all this, Hong Kong every year ended with a budget surplus. This was supported by the country’s largest tax payer, the Hong Kong jockey club, a non-profit entity that provided services for its community with what wasn’t taxed. (The Hong Kong jockey club oversees horse racing and lotteries in Hong Kong). (For more information on these topics, see my book Falling Eagle – Rising Tigers written during the Obama Administration.)
Hong Kong was one of the safest places in the world and it flourished over the past few decades, but then the CCP began moving forward with its takeover. A few years ago China mandated that the Chief Executive Officer, the leader of the country elected by delegates, be approved by the CCP. In addition, the tiny country slowly lost its status as entities like Wikipedia began showing Hong Kong, not as a country, but as a special region designated by the CCP:
The CCP next proposed laws that the people resisted. Last year the CCP pushed for a law in Hong Kong that would allow the CCP to come into Hong Kong and remove individuals that they wanted to based on indictments made in China. This led to protests and for the first time in a decade, riots. The peaceful Umbrella protesters who stood up to the CCP in 2014 were replaced:
Last year things turned violent in China as protests became riots and roads and the super efficient Hong Kong subway system were shut down with graffiti written all over the city. This only ended with the advent of the coronavirus. The CCP was not happy. A couple of weeks ago the CCP instituted another law that took aim at protesters:
China on Tuesday approved a contentious national security law for Hong Kong that takes direct aim at some of the actions of anti-government protesters last year, in a move many see as Beijing’s boldest yet to erase the legal firewall between the semi-autonomous territory and the mainland’s authoritarian Communist Party system.
But this law isn’t the only way China is punishing Hong Kong. Since January Hong Kong has been in a virtual lock down due to the coronavirus despite having only four deaths recorded for months in the country of 8 million people. More people died from the flu in Hong Kong (113) than the coronavirus and China is no longer on a lock down and hasn’t been for months, but Hong Kong is kept in a lockdown. This punishment has destroyed the local economy and especially small businesses.
Now the CCP is proposing making the island province of Hainan the financial hub for China, and indirectly replacing Hong Kong as a result:
The plan says Hainan is to take the lead in implementing the policy of expanding the opening of the financial industry, by supporting the construction of international energy, shipping, property rights, equity, and other trading venues and speeding up the development of settlement centers.
In addition, Hainan will support qualified overseas securities fund and futures institutions to set up wholly-owned or joint venture financial institutions on the island.
It will also support financial institutions that innovate financial products and improve service quality and efficiency, based on the development needs of key provincial industries such as tourism, modern services, and high-tech industries.
Moreover, in an effort to boost foreign investment, China will implement a minimal approval process on investment by making special lists for relaxing barriers to market access for the Hainan free trade port and negative lists for foreign investment market access.
This move will also negatively impact the Hong Kong economy and will punish Hong Kong people for their efforts to maintain their freedom.
