August 31, 2019

Hong Kong people can tell right from wrong

By: Azhar Azam

The leaders of Group of Seven (G7) countries in Biarritz, France delivered a contentious statement about Hong Kong on August 26. “The G7 reaffirms the existence and importance of the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 on Hong Kong and calls for violence to be avoided,” the short reference said.

On Tuesday, China strongly hit back at the G7 summit declaration about Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and reiterated that the foreign countries must not interfere in Chinese internal matters – which have “seriously influenced Hong Kong’s social order, economic image, and its international image.”

Violence only added to HK’s economic pinch


Beijing’s resolute opposition to the testimonial by the alliance of advanced economies is candid and genuine. Since early June, the outbreak of the radical protests in Hong Kong has greatly slowed down the region’s social and economic growth apart from tarnishing its image as one of the most important global financial hubs.

Partnered with foreign interference, the violence and riots in HKSAR have critically smashed its goods trade as the region’s exports plummeted 5.7 percent to about 43.2 billion U.S. dollars in July as compared to last year while the imports also dived 8.7 percent to nearly 47.2 billion U.S. dollars for the month.

The exports and imports of HKSAR had plunged by 9 percent and 7.5 percent respectively in June too.

For the July to June period, the trade deficit of Chinese autonomous territory dashed to 276.8 billion Hong Kong dollars as the seven-month exports dropped by 3.9 percent year over year and imports also declined by 5.1 percent.

While HKSAR is heavily reliant on foreign investment, the suspension of events and investments, even the withdrawal of some of them, by overseas companies are likely to add to the region’s economic pinch in the third quarter of 2019.

As the cancellation of bookings and reservations in Hong Kong’s biggest hotels are expected to negatively impact the tourism sector, the real estate market is writhing as well. The latest HKSAR data shows that monthly residential building unit sales have dropped by more than 43 percent to a four-month low of just 4,627 in June and by another 24.6 percent in July on a year on year basis.

The enormous losses on account of the city’s economy would be mostly borne by the residents of Hong Kong, including the families of the radical demonstrators who have been disrupting the territory on the signals of their alien handlers.

Besides, the continuation of economic tiredness would constraint the HKSAR government’s ability to spend heavily on the social sector, which would mean a significant and upfront loss to the job survival and new employment opportunities for the local population.

The economic turmoil once deepens further, would be hard to control as the foreign investors would be pushed to divert their investments to other countries, creating more unemployment in the state.

It could be an ideal scenario for the detractors but, at least, not for the people of Hong Kong whose fortune is firmly knotted with overseas investments.

Decriers of China, which are seeing Hong Kong as a bedlam state to implant their veiled bellicose strategies, have no empathies for the ordinary Hong Kongers. Their definite goal is to weaken China economically and the violent protesters are providing them a gold-plated opening.

They must recall that the economy of Hong Kong is interdependent with China as a whole so if Beijing struggles, the economies of the people in Hong Kong will not sustain as well. So by trying to restore peace and stability in Hong Kong, China is battling out for the welfare, affluence, and future of the people.

Hong Kong people can tell right from wrong


There are growing signs of Hong Kong trying to return to normalcy, stability, and peace. Last week, people from across the disciplines flashed to the roads of Hong Kong and called to an end of the unlawful assemblies and backed Beijing for bringing peace and stability in the state.

When talking to China Global Television Network (CGTN), many local Hong Kong residents expressed their profound disagreement with the violence of some recent protests and voiced their support for the HKSAR government.

One of the pro-peace activists Peter Bently who lived most of his life in China said "I simply want to ask why these people who are violent protesters even those are peaceful protesters, why they are afraid of China. I love Hong Kong, I love China."

Hence, an outsized number of the Hong Kongers has fathomed the greater plan and are now denouncing the frenzied rallies. They have identified that these sorts of radical actions won’t serve their and Hong Kong’s interests. So they are now determined not to stick at homes and to take to the streets to protect themselves, their region, and their generations.

The detrimental efforts of the external forces show that they have botched to stir confrontation between the people of Hong Kong and the Chinese national government. Ordinary Hong Kong people have the wisdom to distinguish between China’s core interests and the U.S.’ dirty schemes. People caring about Hong Kong have the confidence that the city will eventually return to stability and Washington’s attempts will only end in vain.