covid19

31/7

The Hong Kong government has postponed September's parliamentary elections by a year, saying it is necessary amid a rise in coronavirus infections.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53563090

20//

WHY DID BEIJING IMPOSE THE NATIONAL SECURITY LAW NOW? Beijing likely judged that the spread of COVID-19 would limit the risk of large-scale protests in Hong Kong in response to the new legislation.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/07/17/why-now-understanding-beijings-new-assertiveness-in-hong-kong/

Ryan Hass

The Michael H. Armacost Chair

Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for East Asia Policy Studies, John L. Thornton China Center

Interim Chen-Fu and Cecilia Yen Koo Chair in Taiwan Studie

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3/6

While there was a lull in activities in the first few months of the year owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, from late February onward it became clear that Beijing was doubling down on its approach. There were fresh charges filed against people like Apple Daily’s Jimmy Lai. Opposition politician Cheng Lai-king was arrested on sedition charges for a Facebook post. Thereafter, in mid-April, there were more arrests of pro-democracy politicians, while the central government’s point person in Hong Kong, China Liaison Office Director Luo Huining, emphasized the need for a new national security law. In May, the first of the trials against a protester accused of rioting last year, ended with a four-year sentence. That was followed by additional mass arrests at a Mother’s Day protest, and the publication of a controversial report exonerating the Hong Kong police in terms of its handling of the protests last year and complaints of brutality. Finally, then over the last week, we’ve witnessed clashes in the Legislative Council, with pro-democracy lawmakers being blocked from voting in the election for a key committee chairperson. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2020/06/03/commentary/world-commentary/xi-jinpings-strategic-folly-hong-kong/#.Xtj8STrD_IV

15/6

the coronavirus pandemic seems to have created an ideal backdrop for Beijing to push forward its iron-fisted policy toward Hong Kong. The West has been devastated by the pandemic, more so than China, and has been slower to recover economically Simon Chen https://thediplomat.com/2020/06/hong-kong-and-the-national-security-law-why-now/

11/7

It would seem that Beijing has taken advantage of the world’s distraction by the Covid-19 pandemic to use the national security law to impose control over Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, which it feared to do at the height of the protests in 2019 when all the world was watching closely. There have been some protests against the national security law, but nothing like those of 2019. And Beijing has also evidently managed to bring in, by the back door, the specific issue which sparked violent protests in 2019 – the proposed amendments to the Hong Kong law to allow for the extradition of Hong Kong citizens and others – to mainland China.

12/6
Police dispersed anti-government protesters and detained dozens of them on Friday as hundreds defied a health ban against large gatherings in locations across Hong Kong to mark the June 12 anniversary of the first major clashes that launched last year’s
social unrest.Ignoring social-distancing rules for Covid-19, demonstrators hit the streets at night in districts, including Causeway Bay, Sha Tin, Mong Kok, Tai Po, Yuen Long and Kwun Tong, despite police warning they risked arrest for unauthorised assembly and could face five years in jail. LINK

29/4/2020
A economia de Hong Kong pode encolher entre 4% e 7% neste ano fiscal devido ao impacto prolongado da pandemia da covid-19, alertou hoje o Governo da região. O secretário para as Finanças, Paul Chan Mo-po, reviu as previsões de Fevereiro, altura em que tinha afirmado que o Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) podia cair, este ano, 1,5% ou crescer 0,5% no máximo, de acordo com o diário de Hong Kong South China Morning Post. “A magnitude da recessão económica de Hong Kong no primeiro trimestre pode ser pior do que no tsunami económico global de 2008, ou no impacto da crise financeira asiática [1997-1998]”, declarou o responsável no debate do orçamento para este ano, no Conselho Legislativo. Chan salientou que o impacto da pandemia na economia da cidade foi “mais grave e prolongado” do que o previsto. “O desempenho económico de Hong Kong vai inevitavelmente ser pior do que o esperado”, disse o secretário. https://hojemacau.com.mo/2020/04/29/governo-de-hong-kong-preve-pior-crise-financeira-em-mais-de-20-anos/

1/6

A Polícia de Hong Kong proibiu hoje a vigília em memória do massacre de Tiananmen agendada para quarta-feira, considerando que esta violaria as medidas de prevenção da covid-19. Numa carta de objeção enviada ao organizador do evento e ao vice-presidente da Aliança de Hong Kong para Apoio aos Movimentos Democráticos Patrióticos da China, Richard Tsoi, as autoridades alegam a impossibilidade de a vigília de cumprir as medidas de distanciamento social. https://www.dnoticias.pt/mundo/hong-kong-proibe-vigilia-para-lembrar-tiananmen-justificando-com-medidas-de-prevencao-de-covid-19-DD6360533

hough the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has significantly dropped recently, it is not certain whether the outbreak in Hong Kong will end when the 2020 LegCo election is held, the document said, adding that safety measures have been planned in the polling stations and counting stations to ensure electors' safety and prevent the spread of COVID-19. It also noted that under the existing statutory provisions, the polling may be postponed or adjourned if it appears to the relevant authority that the election, the poll or the count is likely to be obstructed, disrupted, undermined or seriously affected by climatic condition of a serious nature, riot, open violence or any danger to public health or safety, or an occurrence which appears to be a material irregularity relating to the election, the poll or the count. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-05/12/c_139051188.htm

17/5
71 people who went to the polls on April 7 got COVID-19; tie to election uncertain https://www.reddit.com/r/madisonwi/comments/gke4ds/71_people_who_went_to_the_polls_on_april_7_got

maio20

The YEC worked well during the May 1 “Golden Week” holiday, when mainland Chinese shoppers traditionally flock to the city. While mainland shoppers were scarce due to COVID-19, the business at “yellow shops” were booming — long queues formed outside eateries following activists’ calls for support in this difficult time. In the past, such an economy would consist of classic “cooperatives” earning money primarily from neighborhood customers. But, as seen during COVID-19, yellow eateries readily reached like-minded customers outside the neighborhood using delivery apps, and “yellow” delivery platforms and services have since formed. As online ordering becomes more common in everyday living, consumption of other goods can happen through this network. Once a critical mass emerges, these yellow businesses could revitalize the local economy and become the cornerstones of a robust community-led economy thriving at the intersection of the real and virtual worlds.

Dr. Simon Shen is the Founding Chairman of GLOs (Glocal Learning Offices), an international relations start-up company. He also serves as an adjunct associate professor in the University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and associate director of the Master of Global Political Economy Programme of the CUHK. https://thediplomat.com/2020/05/how-the-yellow-economic-circle-can-revolutionize-hong-kong/

The pandemic put the protests on hold as the city battened down to wait out the virus. The territory, gleaning lessons from the SARS outbreak more than a decade ago, contained the spread enviably as deaths mounted elsewhere across the globe. But unlike other leaders, who saw their political fortunes rise on their deft handlings of the outbreak, Hong Kong’s success did little to help its chief executive, Carrie Lam. Residents continued to seethe as pro-Beijing lawmakers and mainland officials blatantly disregarded norms and expedited China’s chokehold on the city while the world largely turned its attention to the public-health crisis. The flurry of activity came to a stunning culmination this May, when Beijing announced that it would circumvent the territory’s legislature to force a national-security law on Hong Kong. 

(...) This lack of political acumen and leadership has been laid bare over the past year as she disappeared from public view for days on end, struggled to explain the extradition bill to foreign governments and businesses, and bounced from one poorly devised strategy to the next, before digging in and standing unwaveringly behind the police as they attempted to arrest away a problem that is at its core political. When the coronavirus outbreak hit the city, she was shaking hands at the World Economic Forum in Davos on a charm offensive, while conspiratorially accusing foreign countries represented there of interfering to stoke anti-government hatred back in Hong Kong.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/06/carrie-lam-hong-kong-china-protest/612955/

9/5
/»(Pode dizer algumas palavras sobre como a crise do coronavírus afetou o movimento de massas pela democracia em Hong Kong?)
Em Hong Kong, como em outros lugares, o vírus foi racializado, o que fortalece as correntes de poder local e nativistas dentro do movimento. Talvez o desenvolvimento mais significativo seja o crescente conflito EUA-China. O governo Trump explorou a pandemia para aumentar a retórica nacionalista e racista contra a China, enquanto a China tentou retaliar contra os EUA. Isto só pode representar um mundo mais perigoso após a pandemia. https://www.esquerda.net/artigo/esta-crise-pode-ser-pior-desde-transicao-da-china-para-o-capitalismo/67753