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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
China says its courts trump Hong Kong's on face mask ruling
China's top legislature has insisted Hong Kong courts had no power to rule on the constitutionality of legislation under the city's Basic Law, as it condemned a decision by the high court to overturn a ban on face masks worn by pro-democracy protesters.
The statement on Tuesday came a day after the high court ruled that the face mask ban - introduced through colonial-era emergency laws - was unconstitutional.
[...] "Whether the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region comply with the Basic Law of Hong Kong can only be judged and decided by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress," Yan Tanwei, a spokesman for the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said in a statement.
"No other authority has the right to make judgments and decisions," he added.
[...] Protests started in June with rallies that brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets in a largely peaceful call for the withdrawal of a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed suspected criminals to be extradited to mainland China for trial.
They have since evolved into a series of demands for greater democracy and freedoms as well as an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality. Protesters worry China is encroaching on the freedoms given to Hong Kong when the United Kingdom returned the territory to China under what was known as "one country, two systems" in 1997.
[...] China has repeatedly warned that it would not allow the city to spiral into total chaos, heightening concerns that Beijing might deploy troops or other security forces to quell the unrest.
"The Hong Kong government is trying very hard to put the situation under control," China's ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, said on Monday.
"But if the situation becomes uncontrollable, the central government would certainly not sit on our hands and watch. We have enough resolution and power to end the unrest."
[...] Protesters had been using masks to hide their identities in public. The proposal was widely criticised by supporters of the anti-government movement, who saw it as a risk to demonstrators.
Hong Kong's High Court ruled on Monday that colonial-era emergency laws, which were revived to justify the mask ban, were "incompatible with the Basic Law", the mini-constitution under which Hong Kong was returned to China.
Will China run out of patience with Hong Kong protests?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by qzm on Thursday November 21 2019, @10:48PM (13 children)
Sorry, but the US is not #1, in either value (2T$ for china, 1.8T$ for us) or %age of world goods (20% for china, 18% for the us..) (yes, dont those numbers line up well?)
However there is a MUCH deeper difference.
China ALSO manufactures a huge proportion of the base components that then are 'manufactured' in the rest of the world into final products.
If China stopped shipping those, a huge amount of the rest of the world production plants would also stop.
The exception to this is silicon chips, where China is a bit behind for cutting edge items, but catching up reasonably quickly.
I think you really need to actually visit China, the huge majority of the Chinese there are very patriotic, at least as much an Americans, and there is not a general hatred for their leadership (I am talking mainland here), although there is the usual grumbling about the day to day things, much like all other countries.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @11:16PM
Companies recognize China as a single point of failure. [eastasiaforum.org] Many companies. [cnbc.com]
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday November 22 2019, @01:47AM (2 children)
In addition, China is bigger than the US in foreign trade. This simply means that any rational word businessman would chose to support China in case of a war.
The only sector that makes the US bigger is dollar terms is local services. In ppp even that is smaller.
The US is still trying to maintain military dominance, which is obviously futile and will only bring the US down Soviet style.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Friday November 22 2019, @07:15PM (1 child)
Not really. If you chose to manufacture in China you typically only have one or two product cycles before they take over manufacture of your product and sell it for cheaper and put you out of business. You make less money in the short run going to non-Chinese mainland countries, but you make more in the long run due to IP protections.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday November 22 2019, @10:27PM
I was not talking about manufacturing in China but about buying from China and selling to China. Both are more important to an average businessman now than buying and selling to the US. Therefore, given a one or another choice, the businessmen would rationally chose to side with China.
A real world example. Currently the US is the biggest aircraft customer so the US dictates flying regulations to the world simply by refusing entry to anybody who does not comply. Soon China will mandate air traffic rules whatever they might be, such as no Google allowed. Similar to the US before, China will mandate the rule to all the airlines, anywhere in the world, because it will otherwise ban violators which they would not be able to afford; exactly the same as the US doing now.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Arik on Friday November 22 2019, @03:35AM
That surprises you, in a surveillance state where even a hint of the wrong opinion could destroy your life?
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday November 22 2019, @11:11AM (6 children)
I lived in Beijing and Harbin, in Manchuria and speak Mandarin. China is a country with feet of clay.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 22 2019, @05:03PM
Agree. Did you pick up a dongbei accent?
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday November 22 2019, @10:32PM (2 children)
What exactly do you imply by "feet of clay"? Do you believe that China will fold as Soviet Russia did?
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday November 23 2019, @11:14AM (1 child)
Meaning that the society is fragile. It's an old Chinese communist slogan.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by legont on Saturday November 23 2019, @06:22PM
Yeah, I'd agree with this. That's why they are so touchy about foreign, how should I put it, meddling I guess.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by qzm on Saturday November 23 2019, @08:10AM (1 child)
What does that have to do with the patriotism of the average Chinese citizen? Do you refute that fact?
Have you never seen a restaurant in China that will not serve Japanese (insert list of other nationalities) or dogs?
And would you like to point to the country without feet of clay?
Having significant faults does not make China less of a manufacturing powerhouse, which is what was being discussed.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday November 23 2019, @11:19AM
Their patriotism is a double-edged sword. As soon as Beijing compromises in a way that the people feel harms that, it's lights out. It does not mean they are slavish to the CCP.
It used to be that they pushed communism as an enveloping ideology, but those days are gone. Now it's all about the Benjamins, and the cadres are siphoning all those unto themselves.
So their strength is quite brittle (has feet of clay). They don't have the civil society and NGOs to buffer economic and political dislocations the way, say, the other advanced economies, the democracies, do. The CCP does not suffer them to exist, and freak out whenever something does arise outside their control. See how they've reacted to Falun Gong.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday November 23 2019, @11:38AM
Well that must mean the US doesn't know how to make anything, then. Its engineers and tradespeople will have forgotten entirely how to make things. Thank you for proving that a country with those kinds of numbers is totally inept and incapable.
Washington DC delenda est.