Skip to comments.
Death by slow boiling (HONG KONG, CHINA ALERT)
The Economist ^
| September 27, 2002
| The Economist
Posted on 09/27/2002 5:31:55 AM PDT by MadIvan
click here to read article
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-22 next last
I was in Hong Kong last Christmas - I loved it, I thought it was a dynamic, wonderful place, dedicated to innovation and change. I was proud of the foresight of British administrators to let it become the bastion of the free market it once was. How pitiful that the Reds are pouring it all away.
Regards, Ivan
1
posted on
09/27/2002 5:31:55 AM PDT
by
MadIvan
To: BigWaveBetty; schmelvin; MJY1288; terilyn; Ryle; MozartLover; Teacup; rdb3; fivekid; jjm2111; ...
Bump!
2
posted on
09/27/2002 5:32:11 AM PDT
by
MadIvan
To: maui_hawaii; PhilDragoo; tallhappy; Hopalong; rightwing2; ChaseR; Sawdring; thinden; Wallaby; ...
hmm..wonder what the boiling temperature of "atonomy" is?
To: MadIvan
I was in Hong Kong in "67" on R&R.
What a great city!
Home of the most, MOST beautiful women in the world!
The Star ferry, the Peak, man I sure wish I could go back.
Never made it to a floating resturant though, I heard
that was an experience never forgotten.
Went to a Memorial to British Dead in WW II. there .
God Bless.
4
posted on
09/27/2002 6:10:04 AM PDT
by
tet68
To: tet68
I've been told the floating restaurant has since declined in quality, but otherwise I largely agree - what I enjoyed about it was its energy. You feel there, as if all the forces of bureaucracy and legislation aren't acting against you - that indeed, dreams are possible with sufficent application.
Hong Kong also is an elegant counterpoint to everything the leftists believe. It is too bad that it has fallen into the hands of the Communists. I would rather Britain had pointed a nuke at Beijing than give it up.
Regards, Ivan
5
posted on
09/27/2002 6:14:48 AM PDT
by
MadIvan
To: MadIvan
Since my first visit to the then Crown Colony in '69 courtesy of my all expenses paid 13-month holiday in SEA (Pip Wong where are you???) I've been back perhaps a dozen times. It just keeps getting better.
But as to the point of your post, it's not just Hong Kong in the slow-boiling pot. The entire Pacific rim (and indeed the West) should be wary of China's growing economic and military power.
6
posted on
09/27/2002 6:30:59 AM PDT
by
O6ret
To: O6ret; Enemy Of The State
I always hear some ignoramus Chinese say stuff like 'the US did not like China when it was communist, and now we are capitalists they STILL don't like us...'
Nothing could be a more stupid statement IMO.
Under 'communism' China tried to exert itself over Asia in its own brand of subversion. Now, even under the (self proclaimed, but not so true) "capitalism" China is STILL employing the same old communist tactics.
They want to force, and enforce, views on people. They want to impose themselves as ultimate rulers. The CCP wants it all, and THEY are the rulers, and THEY should have it, and THEY are entitled to it, because "china is the grandpapa of all of Asia" or so the saying goes.
Not very much has changed at all in the mode of operandi of the CCP. Its hard to describe in words, but its true.
Economics alone are only partially the issue. The stinking party line, and ideology, and people willing to kill over that ideology is the problem. They are expansionists just like China always has been expansionists.
To: MadIvan
The CCP does not like competition.
Rule #1 for the CCP: "we will ALWAYS rule China"
Rule #2: We will try to extend our power over all of Asia, and wherever we need to.
They have a set 'revolutionary' method of thinking and thats that. One could make a stellar argument against the CCP, but they will ignore it, and continue on like the rocks for brains they are.
They are trying to impose their feudal rule over whoever they can, and make sure that NO ONE challenges them or their positions.
To: MadIvan
Why did the UK give up Hong Kong island which was ceded in perpetuity? I thought they only had to return the new territories and kowloon (I believe) in '99.
9
posted on
09/27/2002 6:56:06 AM PDT
by
jjm2111
To: jjm2111
Why did the UK give up Hong Kong island which was ceded in perpetuity? I thought they only had to return the new territories and kowloon (I believe) in '99. Because the Island wouldn't have survived on its own - too many people lived in the New Territories for such a division to work. We should have, in effect, offered to buy the New Territories.
Regards, Ivan
10
posted on
09/27/2002 7:00:03 AM PDT
by
MadIvan
To: MadIvan
We should have, in effect, offered to buy the New Territories. Would have been nice to see the Union Jack still flying over HK, but my guess is Red China would have had none of that.
I've done some reading into Jardine Matheson and the hong kong traders. Fascinating stuff. I believe it was shipowner Tung who broke Jardine's dominance in the colony.
11
posted on
09/27/2002 7:05:46 AM PDT
by
jjm2111
To: MadIvan
What England did to Hong Kong is shameful -- especially after 6-4.
Hong Kong isn't slowly boiling, it's fried already. Done.
That Britain did not set it up to be equivalent to a Singapore (Hong Kong has twice the population) is Britain's shame and Hong Kong's loss.
To: tallhappy
"
Hong Kong isn't slowly boiling, it's fried already. Done. " I'm sure your right.
China's just stripping the carcass. Once the economy is gone, who's going to care about these liberties?
13
posted on
09/27/2002 7:38:12 AM PDT
by
tsomer
To: MadIvan
Once China pulls as much wealth out of Hong Kong as it has, then it will eye Taiwan even more strongly. If we allow it to take Taiwan, it will suck all the riches out of it as well, and then move on to another free market host.
It's economic system does not work, so it grabs a free market, sucks it for all it can then will move on to the next.
China is a viral infection, and it will continue to attack and destroy it's hosts until someone comes in and removes the parasitic organism.
We will have to do just that someday, it's just that today is not that day.
Hopefully we won't have to do it, maybe the people of China will wake up to the fact that it is their government and economic system that is holding them back.
The future is hard to see, but no doubts that the government of China must change or be destroyed, there are NO other options on that.
14
posted on
09/27/2002 8:12:31 AM PDT
by
Aric2000
To: Aric2000
I agree with your accessment. Communism is a cancer. It eats away at freedom and the free enterprise system. Unfortunately, the mainland Chinese people are already "boiled". The only chance for revolution would be for the peasants (80% of the Chinese population) to rise up and overthrow their depots. Funny, didn't Mao rise to power because he wanted to help the poor farmers...
And being a cancer, it will never stop until its dead or everything around it is consumed.
To: MadIvan
How many classes of citizenship does Great Britain have?
I understand that many citizens were prohibited from moving from HK to other parts of GB prior to being turned over to the commies. Is that true?
If so, how did one qualify to move to England or elsewhere within GB at the time?
Thanks,
16
posted on
09/27/2002 10:02:39 AM PDT
by
Triple
To: Triple
Right what happened, and this is not my country's finest hour, is that there were citizens of UK proper, and citizens of colonial territories. Citizens of colonial territories do not have an automatic right to settle in the UK (the exception is the Falklands). We should have. We should have let the Hong Kongers in, kept the Muslims out, and we would be kicking Germany's sorry arse up and down the street in terms of economic power.
Regards, Ivan
17
posted on
09/27/2002 10:49:41 AM PDT
by
MadIvan
To: jjm2111
Why did the UK give up Hong Kong island which was ceded in perpetuity? The American Indians can tell you that treaties are worthless as paper and are only as good as the military power behind them. We ceded South Dakota to the Indians until gold was discovered then we simply took it back. The Chinese did not want to cede hong kong to the British, but the british military was too strong. In the 20th century, the British military could not stop a takeover of Hong Kong, so they negotiated a give back. The original taking of Hong Kong was due to the Opium war. Here China barred the importation of opium. There were several wealthy british families who were making millions from the opium trade and britain went to war to force china to allow opium imports. China lost and ceded Hong Kong to britain in the process.
18
posted on
09/27/2002 11:32:31 AM PDT
by
staytrue
To: Enemy Of The State
Thanks for the ping! Unfortunately, I think Hong Kong is lost. The PRC is destroying it.
19
posted on
09/27/2002 11:42:32 AM PDT
by
batter
To: MadIvan
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-22 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson