Tag Archives: China

Symphony

Encore of Revival: America, September 30, 2019

The latest assault against Trump for a supposed conspiracy with Ukraine is pure demagoguery fluff. Combining a few scary words in a few scary sentences, attaching the label "whistle blower", then the usual "resistance is futile" Borg propaganda—it wreaks of playbook rehashing. Leftovers chef surprise reheated and re-served might fool dinner guests once or twice. But, triggering alarms that have been often false before won't sway Trump's base for one big reason among many: China.

America faces larger threats than what is being alleged with Ukraine. The accusations aren't alarming to ears that favor Trump. Even if they were serious, Democrats have cried wolf too many times to be taken seriously. If a real scandal actually did hit the presses with Trump, no one who mattered would care. That is the greater danger the Democrats are creating. Just how an award is only as valuable as those who receive it, false alarms make people ignore alarms we shouldn't. We haven't ignored real alarms yet, but Democrats are laying in the groundwork for it. Maybe that is the real alarm.

Republicans have nothing to lose in playing along because the truth will win in the end anyway. Of course, Democrats mistake Republican "play-along" for Republican "support"—a miscalculation likely to make a Republican 2020 even bigger.

With bigger issues looming, and with the lines blurring between "whistle blower" and "wolf bellower", the American public is more focused on supporting the president who is stopping China from taking over... well, taking over everything. Whoever can stand up to China these days deserves an acquittal, so the voters think, especially an acquittal for doing nothing wrong.

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Cadence of Conflict: Asia, September 23, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL-LUAjsa3w

China is dipping into its pork reserves while America is largely unaffected by the surge in oil prices. The pork crisis in China started with an outbreak of the African Swine Flu and has been exacerbated by the trade war. China doesn't have energy independence like America does. Soon, China will have a crisis of both food and energy. Wars have started over less.

Taiwan is ready and on high alert. Though there is a surrender movement in Taiwan as always, Taiwan stands ready with the advantage. Projecting power for an invasion is not as easy as defending an impossible island. With a coastline of either cliffs or marshes and jungle mountains everywhere else, Taiwan is no walk in the park. Taiwan's president is wise to the bullying of China and believes in taking a stand. This is why she supports Hong Kongers as she does.

The situation in Hong Kong is past dire. As foreseen, the protests turned violent because of a deaf government. "No" means "no", but China and its puppets can't bring themselves to accept that, and Hong Kongers won't let "no" mean anything else. Chinese Confucian Communism now faces the determination of the West. The great showdown between the Shame culture of the Far East and the self-determined culture of the West has begun. It's only going to escalate. And, all those people who preached "capitulation to the bully" and the "invincibility of Chinese Shame" are about to be proven drastically right or fatefully wrong.

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Cadence of Conflict: Asia, September 9, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpivwNEV6VA

The missile issues in North Korea have too much unknown about them to formulate a clear opinion. From reports, Kim has indeed kept his promise, though he has violated seemingly less significant UN sanctions. Japan is on alert. Trump doesn't seem to care. If we made a stack of American clothes made in China, then stacked what we don't know about the North Korean missile crisis, the stack of what we don't know about North Korean missiles would be higher. It's unsettling, but sometimes we just don't know.

Carrie Lam's response to the "five demands" from protestors will not bode well in Hong Kong. She withdrew the controversial bill. The best illustration from Hong Kongers is a bandaid on a scratch after it turned gangrene. "Too little, too late" is what most are saying. Expect riots and burning buildings in the weeks to come.

Some Hong Kongers will indeed be satisfied with her speech, dare we say thrilled, but others will be enraged that she waited until after three months and a leaked recording. That recording included Lam's claim that she couldn't resign and that she had two masters, one of them Beijing. This is contrary to the autonomy required by the contract allowing China to claim Hong Kong as its own. If true, that recording could return Hong Kong to Britain merely in court. The stakes are high. Beijing cannot allow the public to believe that the recording demonstrated any truth. And, apparently Lam can't either.

If that recording was inaccurate as she said, then she wouldn't be so angry. Not only did she admit that the recording was real, it made her angry. Her objection to it is the recording's greatest notoriety. But, Confucian Beijing-minded Chinese don't understand that evidence speaks louder than spin. They only bake the cake they'll have to lay in.

Withdrawing the bill will be seen by many as an attempt to counter evidence that Beijing interferes regularly, violating the Basic Law and the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984. But, the evidence remains, and there are greater grievances.

Lam's speech fails to address the protests' demand for her resignation, which is the very subject of the leaked recording, which came just before her sudden withdrawal of the bill. The protestors insist on her resignation and will continue to. When she said that she never considered resigning, she further incriminated herself by proving that Hong Kong does not have its required universal suffrage and that she is part of the reason why.

Some will stop protesting, but those who continue will do so with more veracity. Apart from withdrawing the bill, everything in Lam's video ignores and insults the protest demands, essentially telling the people what they ought to want.

Telling people what they should want is widely accepted in Confucian society. But, it mixes with the West like water with oil. Lam wants to investigate to find out why Hong Kong rejected what are essentially Confucian values. But, there is no disturbance or interference or social trend to investigate. The conflict arose because the Confucian minds controlling Hong Kong, namely Lam and Beijing, are incapable of recognizing that Hong Kong already was Westernized. The question now is whether William Wallace can defeat Mao Tse-Tung.

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Symphony

Encore of Revival: America, September 9, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgxx8mNjtvY

British Parliament is essentially attempting to filibuster the Brexit referendum. PM Boris Johnson has been ordered by Parliament to agree with whatever decision comes from the EU—in which Johnson gets a vote and a veto. Maybe British Parliament should have gone on to instruct France not to veto an extension. The problem with this law is how non-specific it is, which is typical of posturing. Perhaps that's the best way for Johnson to legally "interpret" it. Johnson's main goal is to get a Brexit deal, which he believes will only be best if real fear of real failure is allowable. But, that's up to the British, so the rest of the would should grab a popcorn, not tell others what to do, and see how the theatrics end.

Why is America arguing about weather? Sabotage. Someone at NOAA gave the president a ridiculous forecast, that a hurricane would plow through a wall of heat and high pressure, which doesn't happen. Of course Dorian would turn right. But, someone advised him otherwise.

The president, who is not a meteorologist, then Tweeted caution and concern for Alabama, because someone at NOAA so advised, when everyone else at NOAA knew better. This is the work of someone trying to undermine the president. He's fired people who were wrong in the past, he should also fire the advisor who made the prediction that was as wrong as it was ridiculous.

The economy is doing well, contrary to the best efforts of the bank. Don't blame Trump for the Chinese trade war prices; blame the companies. Over 80% of our clothing and over half of our shoes are made in China. Whatever happened to cause that, Trump is fixing it. If we don't like the road of all things made in China, then don't do it again, and don't blame the cleaning lady.

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Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, September 2, 2019

Reuters broke the story. According to unnamed sources, Beijing refused to let Hong Kong's government grant free elections, withdraw the extradition bill, and crackdown on police brutality. If this report can be proven in court, a case could be made that Hong Kong is no longer under China's governance, already. Of course, China would never recognize such a ruling and a military conflict between China and the West would quickly ensue.

The West has slowly been inching forward in support of Western freedoms everywhere the West resides, including Hong Kong, and China has been ill prepared. Had Beijing anticipated the status quo, preventative measures would have been taken long ago. But, China doesn't understand the West, just as Beijing can't understand Westernized Hong Kong. So, "suspicion" is the emotional response to expect.

Well past the 79-day record of continued protests from the Umbrella Movement in 2014, the extradition protests are in their 13th week.

Turn of events included protestors setting large fires on police-related barricades and the police using blue die in water cannons, presumably to mark protestors for later action. This is a serious escalation on both sides. Far more importantly, but less likely to be noticed, protestors marched outside the Chinese military garrison, near Central on Hong Kong Island. This is a direct affront to Chinese control and, for that reason alone, the situation has never been more explosive, so to speak.

Hong Kong's miracle was that it was Western, but it was located in the Far East. This made it an overlap and a gem in the world. It was the convergence of extremes that made Hong Kong special. But, Confucian-Communist Chinese can't imagine that being Western would make a thing desirable. So, Beijing chalks-up Hong Kong's "greatness" to the idea that "it is Chinese".

In attempt to explain the protests, and without evidence, China has repeatedly accused the West of interfering in Hong Kong, which got its very value from already being Western. The greatest Western influence in Hong Kong came from Hong Kong itself. Reports of supposed Western financial backing for Hong Kong protests seem laughable to the West since they have been presented without a shred of anything remotely resembling a "paper trail"; it's mere surmise.

Far more importantly, since when did Beijing object to Western influence? Communism is Western. But, seeing that requires objective thought, something Confucian culture can't do.

Beijing supposes their must be someone behind the protests. In Confucian Chinese thinking, no one would oppose their great benevolence unless someone else told them to, and "objective thinking" is a mere myth. But, the West can't imagine anyone supporting the government of the Tienanmen Square massacre without brainwashing.

As Westerners, Hong Koners don't want to be brainwashed to support such a murderous government, neither does the rest of the West. So, with this past week, we can't expect the West not to interpret action against Hong Kong's protestors as a preemptive attack on the rest of Western civilization. World War veterans remember what happens when the West feels threatened. Still, no matter how much Hong Kong wants to, Beijing refuses to allow the only way to stop making Western culture feel like someone wants it to stop being Western.

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Cadence of Conflict: Asia, August 26, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDdu3sTLit0

The Hong Kong police have lost public trust. They've cried, "Victim!" after their injuries were proven to be from self defense when they were the assailants. They illegally shot tear gas canisters as harmful projectiles in violation of international law and from windows high enough to kill someone if a canister landed on someone's head. One girl lost an eye because the police shot rubber bullets at the crowd at point blank range and one bullet passed through her protective face mask. Yet, the police claim that rubber bullets don't cause harm.

Now, peace turns to instant violence just because these police arrive. Or, perhaps it's because they arrive, then start pounding their batons against their shields as if they were Roman soldiers about to charge.

At the Yuen Long MTR Station in a somewhat remote part of Hong Kong's New Territories, protestors were loud, but not violent, until the police showed up. From well-earned fear, protestors tore up the place to block the police from blinding someone else. Trash cans and other furnishings were turned on side, fire extinguishers made a smokescreen, and the students pulled down a gate to block the way between themselves and the violent police of Hong Kong.

The greatest mistrust of Hong Kong police isn't their violence, but their inaction. The great criminals control the government. Perhaps protestors believe the police should enforce the Basic Law by forcefully unseating CEO Carrie Lam for violating the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984. But, they don't because they have become a tool of Beijing's interference, proven most by the usual Human Rights violations of Beijing.

But, Hong Kongers' fears are still greater, sharing an overlap with US President Trump. China wants to Sinicize the world, as the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony showed—as Hong Kong and Taiwan show—as America's economy shows.

As if Hong Kong's problems haven't shown enough about the greater threats looming over the world from the Far East, South Korea's vindictive administration keeps making trouble. This week, South Korea ended an intel sharing agreement with Japan, then stepped up military drills near an island disputed by Japan.

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Encore of Revival, America, August 26, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp6585eIw70

The news media can't understand Trump. One of the reasons he uses so few words and repeats himself so often is to "sound-bite-proof" his statements. It's difficult to twist his words when he only spoke two of them in a 30 second period. The news media doesn't like not being able to cut and paste together a president's words to make him out to say whatever they want him to have said.

Since sound-bite clipping didn't work the last four years, this past week the media tried a new strategy: Pretend that they don't know what sarcasm is.

CNBC tried to paint Trump's sarcastic "I'm the chosen one" comment as self-aggrandizement. His sarcastic tone clearly communicates that the self-aggrandizement came from the presidents before him who thought themselves incapable of not funding China's Sinicization of the world. Anyone could and should have stopped China. Trump knows that. His tone said that. And, no less than 2 million Hong Kongers have risked their lives to prove just that.

Then we have "regrets". Does the president "regret" his trade dispute with China? Why shouldn't he? Everyone regrets everything, at least for some amount of time, given enough time. The news media keeps asking silly questions that deserve silly answers. Think about the question itself.

Is there a concrete reason to believe that President Trump has regrets about how trade is going with China? Did he say something attempting to reverse the dispute? Did he send a letter apologizing for something he did? Did he suddenly offer China massive concessions out of nowhere? What basis is there for thinking that Trump has "regrets" with China, other than the hope of succeeding with passive-aggression to paint Trump to be someone he is not?

Trump's "order" that American companies explore alternatives to China is not a power-grab, but a shot across the bow. As if fattening China in the first place didn't indicate enough lack of brains, most companies with half a hand at the helm should have long steered clear of China for all the chop. For those stragglers who still can't put two and two together, Trump's warning is a lighthouse. Danger lies ahead; adjust your course. This is gonna' be a big one.

But, all the media can do is complain about the lighthouse. We'll see.

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Symphony

Encore of Revival, America, August 26, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp6585eIw70

The news media can't understand Trump. One of the reasons he uses so few words and repeats himself so often is to "sound-bite-proof" his statements. It's difficult to twist his words when he only spoke two of them in a 30 second period. The news media doesn't like not being able to cut and paste together a president's words to make him out to say whatever they want him to have said.

Since sound-bite clipping didn't work the last four years, this past week the media tried a new strategy: Pretend that they don't know what sarcasm is.

CNBC tried to paint Trump's sarcastic "I'm the chosen one" comment as self-aggrandizement. His sarcastic tone clearly communicates that the self-aggrandizement came from the presidents before him who thought themselves incapable of not funding China's Sinicization of the world. Anyone could and should have stopped China. Trump knows that. His tone said that. And, no less than 2 million Hong Kongers have risked their lives to prove just that.

Then we have "regrets". Does the president "regret" his trade dispute with China? Why shouldn't he? Everyone regrets everything, at least for some amount of time, given enough time. The news media keeps asking silly questions that deserve silly answers. Think about the question itself.

Is there a concrete reason to believe that President Trump has regrets about how trade is going with China? Did he say something attempting to reverse the dispute? Did he send a letter apologizing for something he did? Did he suddenly offer China massive concessions out of nowhere? What basis is there for thinking that Trump has "regrets" with China, other than the hope of succeeding with passive-aggression to paint Trump to be someone he is not?

Trump's "order" that American companies explore alternatives to China is not a power-grab, but a shot across the bow. As if fattening China in the first place didn't indicate enough lack of brains, most companies with half a hand at the helm should have long steered clear of China for all the chop. For those stragglers who still can't put two and two together, Trump's warning is a lighthouse. Danger lies ahead; adjust your course. This is gonna' be a big one.

But, all the media can do is complain about the lighthouse. We'll see.

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Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, August 19, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMJHFMQYPP8

Conflicts with China are helping Taiwan. The trade war is driving manufacturing away from China toward Taiwan, Vietnam, and Burma, among others. China's travel ban on Taiwan for openly supporting the Hong Kong protests is pushing the Taiwanese to implement better visa privileges with other Asian nationals visiting Taiwan. Not only did last week's occupation of the Hong Kong International Airport break Western confidence in the Chinese "Special Administrative Region", the Hong Kong protests are even affecting business in Macau.

Why the protests? Where did it all start? Follow the money. Of the many factors, one of the best kept secrets around the world is the housing cost for local Hong Kongers. It's called "gentrification". Ordinary Hong Kong citizens can't afford even the least expensive homes without government subsidy in addition to living with family. A Hong Kong jail cell is larger that many homes.

That happened because Hong Kong's government, clearly under the thumb of Beijing, allows Mainland Chinese citizens to move into Hong Kong at such a high rate that new housing can't be built fast enough to keep residential costs affordable. Wealthy Chinese need a place to live, some place where they can enjoy life. They won't find anything nice enough within China proper, so they have to go somewhere with an economy created by the West—somewhere like Hong Kong. That way they can enjoy all the money of China without the lousy lifestyle. In their view, it would be cruel for Hong Kong not to let as many Chinese Mainlanders displace native Hong Kongers as fast as possible.

Protests are entering their eleventh week. One more week will begin a new record of 79 days from the Umbrella Movement in 2014.

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Cadence of Conflict: Asia, August 12, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smIfvAmACgg

China instructs Hong Kong not to confuse restraint for weakness, notwithstanding that China is making that very mistake with the West in not sponsoring the demands of Hong Kongers that Hong Kong's government keep the Sino-British promise of 1984. China claims that the West has meddled in Hong Kong. The biggest problem with this argument isn't lack of evidence, though evidence is lacking. The bigger problem is need—the West wouldn't need to meddle in order to create the chaos we see in Hong Kong because China has already done more than enough. Balancing Hong Kong's unrest with China's interference, the math adds up.

As China poetically said of Hong Kong, a "blow from the sword of law is waiting for them in the future." China should heed its own words. But, we already knew China was incapable heeding any wisdom, including its own, which is probably why the West doesn't bother commenting anymore. After all that has happened, China recently had the lack of self-awareness to call its growing power a "peaceful rise" in defense of growing Australian concerns.

Taiwan is gearing up and arming up. Their new "Cloud Peak" missile can reach Beijing. It's mobile and in mass-production. It still pales in comparison to Beijing's aggression toward everyone, everywhere. But, Taiwan figures, at least an attack from Beijing would hurt in Beijing. But, Beijing's probably not capable of understanding that. So, the Taiwanese can't count on their Cloud Peak missiles as any kind of deterrent, only a disruptor to cripple and confuse and weaken sequential attacks from an attacker who struck first.

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Cadence of Conflict: Asia, July 29, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aGCQW45lNU

China says that Hong Kong CEO Carrie Lam may not resign because she must remain in power to clean up the mess China started and blames on her. Albeit, staying in power to clean up her scape-goat mess is impossible because cleaning up that mess requires her to resign as the people demanded. The "mess" includes her being there in the first place—because her election was not from self-governance as Hong Kongers were promised in 1984. The mess also includes China saying who may and may not resign—because China doesn't get a say about one grain of sand in Hong Kong until 2047.

The whole problem goes back to China's inability to not meddle. A Beijing-managed group based in Shenzhen has been carefully researching and observing the developments in Hong Kong so that Beijing can know how to properly respond—whatever that's supposed to mean. Make no mistake, they aren't trying to understand how to govern a free people or understand the reasonable requests of a free and self-motivated economy. They aren't trying to learn whatever wisdom might have made the West so rich and powerful in the first place. No, Beijing is on a mission to Sinicize Hong Kong out of being Hong Kong.

The current task is to figure out how to "disappear" 2 million Hong Kongers without the world noticing. Hong Kong's police under-reported the 2 million turnout; they'll probably under-report the number of "disappeared" people as well, and they need research to make it sound convincing. If the protests had happened in Xinjiang, Beijing wouldn't need to do such research because the world wouldn't be watching because making 2 million people disappear in Xinjiang was never a problem in the past. And, that's what Hong Kongers rightly fear.

Beijing's research narrative presumes that Hong Kongers only fear being "Xinjianged" because some phantom, invisible Western influence influenced them. They have no proof of this, but that's Beijing's presumption. If there's a problem, it must be America's fault. So, Beijing's approach is to sneak around and spy from the shadows until this phantom "influence monster" from the evil West shows its face. That's Beijing's plan to solve the Hong Kong problem.

Now, there's constitutional discussion about where and how Hong Kong's "Basic Law" allows military intervention from China, namely if Hong Kong's government asks. But, the whole discussion misses the whole point—that Hong Kong's Basic Law is based on the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 of non-interference from Beijing. Beijing already interfered by not allowing self-governance in Hong Kong as promised. Not letting Carry Lam resign is yet another violation of that promise and premise. So, technically, the law beneath the Basic Law has already been dissolved. And, Beijing only incriminates itself further by claiming that promises made in the past don't need to be kept because they are in the past.

Pay attention because, while Taiwan is a linchpin that will bring America into war with China, Hong Kong is the linchpin that will bring the UK and Europe along with it.

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Cadence of Conflict: Asia, July 22, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubK8VyxMk6A

In the singing, fake-smiling scenes of Uyghurs in reeducation camps in China, the Chinese expect the world to be swayed to believe they are happy. That's how Chinese view it with each other—they fake-smile at each other and buy the lie because they hope other people buy into their own fake smiles. The Chinese have no idea that Westerners know when they are truly happy and truly not, being able to tell a fake smile when we see one—or two or ten thousand.

If Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang and China's Global Times tabloid editor Hu Xijin are right—that the White House shouldn't get "the credit" for China's sinking economy—then China would be thankful, but they aren't. It's just more Chinese chicken-chest thumping. So focused on forcing the world to love them back, the Chinese Communist Party and their media puppets are unaware of how they come across to the rest of the world that actually does not need to bend to their demands.

Xi Jinping is the modern Hitler. He calmly talks of peace, claims to not want war, then rouses his sleeping anger to growl that he will use force if necessary. The concentration-brainwashing camps are set up and well-marketed. Everyday shows more unapologetic expansionism upon territories who want nothing to do with China. Symphony's Asian Mad Scientist Theorem is proving too accurate for comfort and Hong Kong doesn't want any part.

China might as well get used to this happening in Taiwan, though they won't accept that the Taiwanese won't accept Chinese rule any more than Hong Kongers. The difference is that Taiwan has missiles and a military. And, multiple times throughout half a millennium of adversity, Taiwan is only conquered by the enormous mainland when the enormous mainland is already conquered by something else. Mayor Han of Kaohsiung, the KMT-Nationalist contender in the upcoming presidential election in Taiwan, has already been defeated for the populist he is. The election isn't over, but then again it kind of already is.

Hong Kong has drawn so much attention that Taiwan is looking into asylum avenues, the EU is voicing support for Hong Kong protesters' demands, and Britain is looking to support not just Hong Kong, but also Taiwan. China, not having learned from the opium wars, has once again been cruel to the little kid in the Far East, oblivious to the anger awakened in his older brother in the West.

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Cadence of Conflict: Asia, July 15, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRBhjE86LKo

China's recent obsession with arresting Canadians is easier to understand and predict if it is seen as an attempt to alienate US allies from the US. Based on this, we can expect mistreatment of other US citizen allies in the future. They did something similar with an Australian back in January. By lashing out at citizens of US allies, China—more than likely—hopes to make those countries regret being friends with the US...

...because that works in Chinese culture's inside baseball.

Something about Chinese-Confucian culture is obsessed with "the group" and "uniform conformity". When someone steps "out of line"—whatever the groupthink happens to have decided "the line" is this afternoon—others within that culture instinctively begin to attack that person like hyenas attack an isolated impala in the wild. It's almost as if they are governed by a hypnotic auto-think. Small charges, snaps, and bites slowly creep in from any and every side until the group kills and devours whoever tried to be different.

This is exactly what China has done to Taiwan's allies. Most of them caved. Senator Rubio lashed out at El Salvador for abandoning Taiwan last August when the trend became annoyingly obvious. Since it worked with them, maybe China thinks it will work with the English-speaking world.

But, the Chinese only learn "Chinglish" at best, whether with language or with culture. There attempt will only backfire and that will explain the members of the coming alliance that defeats China in the fast-approaching scuffle. And, it will explain the coming alliance that nations just east of China will soon deepen with the English-speaking world, as well as the growing alienation between English-America and Latin-America. But, that won't be seen for another decade.

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Cadence of Conflict, Asia, July 8, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnbkog5BUzA

China has been had. It has been had by Western freedom. It has been had by its own culture's psychopathology. It has been had by the concept of a promise—something the Chinese can't understand, let alone keep. It has been had by Marxist propaganda. And, it is still being had by its obsession with power.

British officials are turning their eyes toward Hong Kong. This is a move of revival in the English-speaking world. The English have a conscience. It is more than political smoke-blowing. Britain fully intends to protect the people of Hong Kong. And, they can do it because China has already reneged on a treaty registered with the United Nations.

China has difficulty understanding the concept of a promise. Living fully and wholly by the psychopathology of Gorgias—that all statements are lies and only rhetoric matters—the Chinese truly believe that their promise to not interfere with Hong Kong until 2047 is irrelevant trivia. They truly believe that if the world distrusts China for breaking treaty, it would be the world just looking for ways to be mean to poor, suffering, victimized China. They truly believe that any "distrust" from the West, citing broken promises, would be pure propaganda from any and all, everywhere on Earth.

The British dealt with China for centuries. They must have at least suspected that China would break treaty. In fair honesty, by allowing a fifty year window, they showed high hopes that China would at least be capable of pretending to have a conscience for half a century. If China could lie to the world for fifty years and conceal its spite for any race lacking Han blood—if China could at least pretend to be nice for fifty years—then perhaps Hong Kong would be safe long after 2047. Britain gave China the benefit of the doubt.

But, China didn't make it fifty years, not even half that.

Call it temptation. Call it the "Tienanmen fix". China can't not oppress and boss and dominate. From Beijing, Hong Kong calls, begging, "Oppress me! Oppress me!"

From Xi Jinping's perspective is one of power. He believes that the Russian Communist downfall of 1989 happened because the Communists didn't oppress enough. It never occurs to him that people do not overthrow governments that they trust—but to a psychopath, all statements are lies and all protests are propaganda. People would only hate an oppressive government, so they think, because someone told them to.

Hong Kong knows differently. Though they do not have complete self-rule, they do have free speech, free markets, free press, and free religion. To them, China stinks, and not only from the pollution of mismanagement.

Still, China wants to force its embrace upon the free people of Hong Kong. The legal justice system has a term for criminals who force their love on unwilling victims. In that scenario, everyone knows who everyone is.

Like an alcoholic claiming that alcohol is the medicine, China sees voluntary support as a threat—as a lack of power—and that power is the cure for power resisted. China has been had by everyone, its own vices above all else.

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