Geopolitics around China. Hong Kong
I draw your attention to this statement, since in the Ukrainian media and social networks they are actively disseminating information that China ... supports the Kiev putschists, and not Russia's policy. If you want to know the opinion of China, which is called “first-hand”, you can do it very simply: go to the official sites of the two most important Chinese state-run media.
Here are links to resources in Russian:
And now Hong Kong stuff ...
“July 1 The 1997 of the year has become truly national British mourning. On this day, Hong Kong - the last English colony in Asia - returned to the bosom of China, opening the way to unity, power and prosperity. Today, this small autonomous region can be called "the economic pulse of Asia," and the old woman Britain is in no hurry to remove her hand from it. Formally leaving the stage, she continues to rule the ball there.
“Every New Year, my friends and I go to the bathhouse,” said the hero of his beloved Soviet film. These words instantly come to mind as soon as it comes to Hong Kong. After all, here every anniversary of the events of July 1, that is, British national mourning, the Hong Kong opposition takes to the streets. Each time she is dissatisfied with something new, and at the same time, poorly forgotten by the old. So, the main trump card of the Chinese democrats of all stripes is, of course, the notorious Tiananmen and endless calls to "condemn the killers", now and then heard in the crowd of demonstrators. And Hong Kong is no exception. The events of 1989, which will never go to the well-deserved historical rest, serve as direct evidence that the Chinese opposition has better memory than imagination. Although, in Hong Kong, of course, there are some “special” problems. The main one is the terribly unfair electoral system, requiring immediate democratization.
After 1997, the population of the former colony gained confidence in the future and solid ground, and Hong Kong itself grew into that fierce and fattened “Asian tiger” that we know today. However, Democrats continue to yearn for the blessed time of British rule. On the first day of 2013, they defiantly tore up the red flag of the People's Republic of China, and raised the flags of Hong Kong and Britain, demanding the resignation of the “fascist Communist Party”. Do you still think how to celebrate the New Year in an original way? Contact the international organization Civil Human Rights Front, which acted as the organizer of this holiday, as she solemnly declared. Apparently, as advertising.
It was one of those rare occasions when Hong Kongers didn’t wait until July 1, violating a long tradition. They demanded, as before, the resignation of the head of the local administration. It is difficult to find fault with the current election system in Hong Kong - a council of several hundred representatives of local elites elects a worthy candidate by a general vote. However, the Democrats do not believe them. “Loyal to Beijing!” - sounds inexorable sentence, and the candidate, of course, is reputed to be a “pro-Beijing figure.” Arguments do not have to wait - because the voice of the crowd is true and true by definition. How true was every decision of the Queen of Britain, who single-handedly chose the governor of her colony, without regard to any Beijing.
In 2005, the ice broke. Propecian’s head of administration, Dun Cuyuanhua, resigned two years before the end of his term. He was replaced by Sir Donald Tsang, a Catholic, a knight of the Order of the British Empire and a graduate of Harvard. He started moving up the career ladder in the colonial period, and even became the first ethnic Chinese to take on the post of Minister of Finance in 1995. However, the Chinese in it gave only a characteristic cut of the eyes, otherwise it was a purebred Englishman.
Once he gave an interview to Rossiyskaya Gazeta. As an economic expert, Tsang did not avoid talking about the Hong Kong dollar. Recall that the one with 1983 of the year is pegged to the US dollar by a rigid ratio. Although the Bank of China has the right to issue since 1997. The question, as you might guess, was the following: will the prerequisites ripen in the future to tie the Hong Kong dollar to the Chinese yuan? In light of the promises of the Chinese government to make the yuan a global reserve currency by 2015, he assumed only one answer. It was a kind of courtesy of a journalist to a Chinese official. But the Honorable Sir Tsang smiled with his eyes alone and turned on the Englishman. “This is unrealistic and inexpedient,” he snapped. The outlook for 2015 seemed to exist for him. The yuan is not a fully convertible currency, said Tsang, and, apparently, did not believe in a bright future. "Hong Kong and China are at very different stages of economic development, and this situation is unlikely to change." And it is worth noting that this is true. If China without Hong Kong is shaken, but it will stand, then Hong Kong without China will burst like a soap bubble. But, according to Mr. Tsang, everything is quite the opposite. Guess who is “developed” and who is “developing”?
But the system of binding to the US dollar Tsang is quite satisfied - it is both justified and suitable. The United States may not be worried until the PRC begins to tighten the nuts in the economy. And this will certainly happen as soon as the center gets its due strength, and the yuan will become the world reserve currency. It must be assumed that it was at that moment that the separatists became active in both Xinjiang and Tibet, and the Hong Kong opposition would break out with absolutely righteous anger.
If in the 1997 year, Britain lost, losing to Hong Kong, then it was done at the most opportune moment. Formally, the hundred-year lease of the territory came to an end, but when did this bother the English? Did a financial gambit take place against China? To do this, it is worth saying a few words about the economy of Hong Kong and its transformations. In the 80s, the neoliberal wind blew out here, which nullified all industry acquired after the war. Today, Hong Kong's 90 percent of GDP consists of the services sector and the banking sector, and it is nothing without a "central producing" - the PRC.
No sooner had the British yacht to sail off the coast of China, throwing overboard the last piece of colonial Asia, as at the end of 1997, the economic crisis hit Hong Kong. Accidentally, but he became one of his first epicenters. The last load dropped from a balloon a minute before the crash. The economy of Hong Kong by that time was already soaked through with the poison of neoliberalism and consisted, as stated above, of the financial sector and the service sector. What are these two messengers of the economic apocalypse proved the crises of past and future years. Sir Tsang, of course, forgot, by whose grace the “developed”, unlike Beijing, Hong Kong then remained afloat. The newly acquired father China came to the rescue of him - the only country that was not affected by the crisis. It is terrible to imagine what would have happened to Hong Kong, if he had remained under British rule by that time, but today there would be less for one “Asian tiger”. The primacy of the state sector, the socialist way of life and the weak dependence on the world market gave Beijing a unique opportunity to play by its own rules, and, therefore, to be truly independent.
Let us leave behind the scenes that at that moment a generous British "gift" was a grenade with a torn check. It used to be the inhabitants considered crises to be a bolt from the blue, and today every second knows that they can be predicted, and every tenth one even can plan. And only a few regularly embody it in life, creating man-made thunder - at the right time and in the right place. But China not only did not fall into the wide open abyss, but also pulled Hong Kong by the ears.
And six months before the explosion on the English yacht, the last British governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, was sobbing. Leaving behind the last colony, he was probably aware of how it was done in time. And he cried either from grief or from joy. When the crisis got over, this gentleman became the EU foreign minister. At the end of 90-x - the beginning of 2000-x his paranoia was Chechnya.
The European Union then without soap, climbed into the Chechen conflict. Let the situation be settled! We know how! This is yours, louder, everything is wrong, and the rights of the militants are not respected. The decision lay on the surface - letting Chechnya go on a peaceful voyage and stop bullying civilians. And the leaders of the separatists distribute the Nobel Peace Prize. Weakly because the Soviet Union broke up - and things need to be brought to the end. So that from Russia, except for the Moscow region, nothing is left. With such thoughts and a proposal to “settle” Chris Patten arrived in Moscow in 1999. But he did not have time to open his mouth, as he was driven out by a lousy broom.
Democratic journalists blushed with shame for intractable Russia, and stronger than all - Anna Politkovskaya. In 2003, this US citizen and a close friend of Boris Berezovsky (according to one of the versions, killed by his “order”) wrote a note for Novaya Gazeta about her meeting with Patten in Brussels. In this article, a journalist in the corporate style of "own conversation" washes the bones of his country - not at all, however, completely native. A native of New York, became famous for accusing the Russian authorities of all the mortal sins of mankind. In those days, when Chechen gangsters cut our soldiers from ear to ear, like pigs, she appealed to brilliant Europe, where "everything is just like that of people."
"In Europe, everything is simple, without conceit ...". Patten, here, gave a personal audience. Incidentally, he is also “not the fact that our officials are majestic under the fence”, but friendly, wearing professor's glasses and “smiling fatherly”. He was very interested in the situation in Chechnya - after all, neither Putin nor Ivanov had been in a hurry to devote him to the state secret. Complained! And only Politkovskaya could shed light on the fact that "impenetrable, as with the" scoop. " "A gray-haired and cheerful fellow" Patten did not trust the "occupied by the special services of the Kremlin." And Europe was so exhausted in the hunger for information that Brussels was already “feverish over Russia”. It is also necessary to have such arrogance - to solve their own problems! The delegation of the European Parliament was once again prevented from entering Chechnya. Chris was perplexed and surprised, and Politkovskaya poured light: there are no human rights in Chechnya, even if you burst. Peace plan? Of course have! To give Chechnya to the mercy of gangsters, and not to go to the elections of Kadyrov. So, Politkovskaya, according to her, saved the prestige of Russia.
A note dated February 3 2003 of the year she ended with the following words: “We are very tired of Europe. Too tired. Its irresponsibility. We are only tolerated, given our vast spaces, the devil knows what is stuffed, and the demonstrative love of Putin absolutely means nothing. Suffer as possible evil. But do not respect - as a source of good. And this feeling more and more looks like how long they endured Saddam. In today's example, it is perfectly clear that every patience is the end. Maybe not worth the risk? ”Ten years have passed. And, as it turned out, today, Russia is not only still tolerated, but sometimes it is even afraid - no matter how much it gets bored by chance and doesn’t run into strong teeth. But Anna Politkovskaya, unfortunately, even tired of her former "friends." Too tired.
In recent years, China has also erupted noble fangs. “Chinese Chechnya”, however, is not called Hong Kong, but Xinjiang - where separatism is based on the religious factor. Religion and national identity are at the head of the Tibetan problem, historical discord with Kuomintang Taiwan is on political grounds. In Hong Kong, the opposition is growing out of the most absurd chimera. Here it’s not even the economic model, the kind of “securely protected island of capitalism” in the ocean of socialism. Just Hong Kong in this sense - as one of the hundred unloved wives of the Sultan living in the lower harem. The British seemed to have given up on her hand, but continue to jealously guard against the encroachments of other men. After all, once with the Sultan - forever with the Sultan! But this is only an external effect. Hong Kong is still a tasty loot for Britain, which has always considered it its property and continues to consider it to this day.
This enclave was once artificially created by the British and assigned during the Opium Wars. Given to China on the eve of the crisis, it could well be the financial gambit of capitalism, but not only because its cultural influence is also huge. Passion for pop culture, extreme hairstyles, a rich uncle from Hong Kong in every Chinese film - only minor touches that transformed beyond recognition the picture of the life of the whole of China. Although in recent years more and more Hong Kongers have recognized themselves as Chinese. How could it be otherwise? Easy - the rhetoric of separatism knows no bounds of the absurd. A few years ago, the issue of nationality in Hong Kong differed downright irrelevant diversity. Among the respondents were "Chinese Hong Kong", "Hong Kong Chinese", "pure Chinese", "pure Hong Kong", as well as purebred English with a narrow cut of the eyes. “British Londoner” or “London Briton” - who is cleaner? It is worth thinking about.
With the light hand of Hong Kong, the whole Celestial Empire was flooded with punks and green-haired mods in torn jeans, with Pepsi and Cola banks in their hands, and began to worship a new idol - MTV. Trivia trifles, but one very strong state once did not withstand the power of gum and scarce jeans. Beijing does not slumber and creates in society a serious counterbalance, cultivating traditional Confucian values - honor to the elders, serving the state, patriotism. The opposition sees this audacity as a personal insult - a familiar situation, isn't it? The storm of indignation turned into the most probably absurd reason to protest in 2012, against the lessons of patriotism in Chinese schools. With complete seriousness, people of Chinese nationality took to the streets of China and were outraged that their children were forced to respect themselves and their country. Apple of contention was the book "Chinese model", mandatory for study in schools. Dissatisfied considered it the propaganda of the Communist Party, which whitewashed such events as - well, of course, the same! - "Tiananmen killings." Here again curious parallels arise. Throw mud at the past to deprive the future - the infamous and very effective technique. But the most outrageous in this book, of course, was the criticism of the US political system. According to disgruntled, it created social tensions. The question - where is China, and where is the USA, and where exactly the tension arose, was never voiced. As well as the statement that Americans have the most tender and fiery passion for Beijing. Such that they are ready to strangle in their arms.
Beijing has many such "admirers" - both external and internal. And the latter will be worse than any British and Americans. Precisely because "their". Although it would be more accurate to call them "their own among strangers" - after all, they have never had a homeland, nationality, or state. A special caste, powerful and untouchable, traces its history from ancient times and spread networks around the world. Secret societies, criminal transnational corporations, “Chinese octopus” - the triads have many names and worship only one god named “business”.
Their high point was the Opium Wars - the greatest catastrophe in the history of Chinese civilization. Drug trafficking literally triad who acted as intermediaries in transporting opium to the United States, Europe, Australia and Southeast Asia. At the same addresses, they massively supplied slaves - Chinese coolies who came to Hong Kong to work. In the 20th century, heroin joined opium, and the giant drug trafficking network began to grow by leaps and bounds. Since then, Hong Kong, which became a stronghold of the triads, has become the main transshipment point of super-profit smuggling. And the Chinese mafia have established strong ties with their Western partners. Thanks to this friendship, China is still one of the main exporters of heroin. More precisely, a small autonomous region of Hong Kong. No wonder even Deng Xiaoping called him "the hen that lays the golden eggs." After all, only here are the triads, paying tribute to a longstanding tradition, can safely do what they love: drug trafficking and weapons, pimping, racketeering, piracy, gambling and kidnapping people for ransom. And God forbid Beijing to intervene!
Triads always had great power and could easily organize any insurrection. Against whom - it did not matter if he got in their way. Mafia took the position in relation to the government, which was profitable. The authorities interfered - they opposed the authorities, the opponents of the ruling regime interfered - they rebelled against them. Of course, there was no talk of any patriotism or ideological views. At the forefront was always the business, which, as we know, has no nationality. As early as the 19th century, they could strike any layers of the people on strike — from coolies to port loaders. True, then their competitors were the French.
With the communists, the triads have a long-standing feud. No less fierce than the Kuomintang. Her legendary leader Chiang Kai-shek, oddly enough, was also in a secret society and, having come to power in the 20-s, in fact, legalized mafia groups. The Kuomintang and the triads became one. The military, traders, high-ranking members of the party did not hide their belonging to the "Chinese octopus". You can imagine how lush the triad business bloomed at that time. The drug trafficking chain controlled by them included the Golden Triangle, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The latter became the main link, and one of the final points is the USA. And now let us remember the reverent attitude of the American financial elites to the drug issue. Money from the sale of Mexican and Colombian cocaine, as well as Asian heroin, flows into the banks of Wall Street. This fully explains the warm feelings of the West towards the Kuomintang party. By the way, the already mentioned Sir Donald Tsang, who headed the administration of Hong Kong, is precisely in her.
In any business, the main resource is people. And the triads work closely with the people. Rickshaws, taxi drivers, prostitutes, merchants - can smile friendly and talk heart to heart with a random passerby. And then in detail to transfer the entire conversation to the customer gangster. Network of informers everywhere, in the best traditions of the special services. But there are also permanent members, whose staff is constantly replenished. And these guys do not envy. Workers are recruited on the streets, in universities, and even in schools. The one who caters to the paws, the fate of the fly in the web awaits - to twist, not twist, but you cannot escape. Only get stronger. Every newcomer undergoes an unsophisticated rite of passage - order killing. After that, he is said to be blood bound: you do not want to rumble to the police, keep up the good work.
The strictest regulations and sacred rituals, secret language and distinctive signs, oaths and mysterious symbolism — everything in the life of the triads has merged, which makes sick opponents of conspiracy. Who they are - "criminal secret society" or "gangsters with a centuries-old tradition" - is difficult to determine. In the triads phenomenally united the features of both of them. And although it is very difficult, after mentioning the word “Freemasonry,” to avoid accusations in the moveton, we simply state a fact: there is every reason to believe that the triads are the Chinese version of freemasonry. They call each other "brothers", and the leader - "Big Brother"; "Lodges" and "Brotherhood" flash in the names of the largest gangs. Countless similarities in symbolism and rituals - swords in the ritual of dedication, and the triangle as the main symbol. True, in Freemasonry, a curious eye still peeps out of it.
The power of the triads in Hong Kong has not only not changed over time, but has increased many times over. As well as 150 years ago, they make millions on the dirtiest crimes, and at the same time regularly rob small traders. At the end of each month, even the most insignificant shops - you trade at least one-time cups or cheap fast food - welcome the guest from the triad. He studies the documents of profit, while the owner trembles in a dark corner. The triad is due 15 percent monthly. If you conceal a cent, the shop will be flaring up on the same night, and you will find yourself in the nearest ditch. They are not deceived. Respect. “What is it,” say merchants, “I earn less, pay less, everything is fair.” But they help to solve problems. For example, they deal with boys who throw stones at shop windows. It is necessary only to specify.
Why do you want to do small things with super-profits? It is clear that “taxes on plastic cups” is nothing compared to billions of drug dollars. It's not about greed. All these visits with strict checks and tremors only to demonstrate power and maintain discipline. And the drug traffic is still flourishing. PDA, hands off the interior of Hong Kong!
As we remember, triads can organize any anti-government insurrection. This is someone who is truly dissatisfied with the power of the Communist Party - they have long had a grudge against each other. The first thing Mao Zedong did when he came to power was to shoot the leaders of the triads. All, of course, “you will not shoot”, and at Snake Gorynycha two heads grow on the place felled, but membership in the triads is still punishable by death. In the face of Hong Kong, they found a safe haven. Immediately after the communists came to power in China, gangsters began to emigrate en masse to the colony, where they could do what they loved.
1997 was a year of mourning for the triads. On the eve of the return of Hong Kong to China, mafia leaders began to frantically ship operations abroad - to the United States, Europe, Australia, and Canada. There have long been established strong business ties.
This is the main reason why Hong Kong is foaming at the mouth for its “independence” and inviolability in internal affairs. As soon as Beijing begins to tighten the screws, merchants who pay 15 percent of the profits will come to the streets (after all, you can get into the ditch not only for non-payment), students who are recruited by triads will come out and you will receive a solid wave of popular outrage. What happens on July 1 is just annual prevention.
And “tighten the screws” can be, for example, like this: in 2009, on the eve of the Summer Asian Games, the Communist Party organized a global sweep of the criminal world of Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong. Dozens of brothels and casinos were closed, the police scooped the coolest leaders and thousands of ordinary gangsters. The blow to the "holy of holies" - drug traffic - can collapse at any moment.
How can you not worry the common people? After all, under the wing of Britain, it was both more democratic and civilized, and the bandits were not imprisoned. Freedom - she is. And in Hong Kong such a tradition - every New Year ...
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