
I felt the fear of abduction by China in Hong Kong - ishikawa
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/28/china-abuction-hong-kong-beijing-g20-ma-jian
======
NeedMoreTea
I have to agree, though history doesn't bode well. A quarter of the population
demonstrating is astonishing, but it's someone else's population.

Decades of inviting China's leaders for some trade talks, and pointedly
avoiding making mention of Xinjiang, Tibet or Hong Kong. Maybe make some
mention after the Chinese have gone home. Never officially call Taiwan a
country - don't upset them. Forget all that inconvenient history of how modern
post-WW2 Taiwan, and Hong Kong came about.

South Africa got decades of international sanctions, trade and sport
embargoes. China got a few years of minor sanctions for Tiananmen, then ever
more trade, more factories, more Western manufacturing. The US barely kept
sanctions up for two years. The other Western nations weren't much different.
Back to business as usual.

Edit: At this moment, the story above this one on the front page is "Apple
Moves Mac Pro Production to China".

~~~
dsfyu404ed
China has something the west wants. South Africa mostly does not. That's
unfortunately how these things work. If Russia were China they could have
annexed Crimea without the West doing anything more than complaining.

~~~
AWildC182
The tone here is dismissive when it really shouldn't be, but it bears
mentioning that they didn't annex a random peninsula, they annexed an entire
ocean for their own use.

~~~
dsfyu404ed
What do you want me to do? I am merely explaining why the west is not up in
arms over china. The answer is basically money. China has cheap manufacturing
that enables western lifestyles at their current price point so a blind eye is
turned. South Africa, Russia, etc, etc, do not so they get criticized. Sorry
for not being sufficiently Outraged(TM). Yes. This sucks. Shitty things happen
in the world all the time. Chinese authoritarianism is one of them. As someone
literally on the other side of the world it is not high up the list of
priorities for me. There are fires closer to home that need fighting first.

------
FabHK
A well-written article mixing personal narrative with exalted principles, and
concluding with this stirring appeal:

> At the G20 summit, world leaders should ignore the protestations of Beijing
> and insist on discussing not just the Hong Kong protests, but also the
> horrifying internment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang re-education camps. To
> simply raise these issues is not too much to ask of world leaders. All they
> need is a fraction of the courage, wisdom and compassion that the people of
> Hong Kong have shown.

I hope world leaders will rise to the occasion.

------
Circuits
"To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon
us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of
human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power
they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die,
liberty will never perish"

~~~
wilkystyle
[https://youtube.com/watch?v=OboaMnzYCMc](https://youtube.com/watch?v=OboaMnzYCMc)

------
umvi
Despite Trump's many faults, I like that he acknowledges Taiwan. I think
whoever the next president is should do the same to resist the PRC's
relentless propaganda/narrative... hopefully it will give places like Hong
Kong hope that other powerful nations stand with them.

~~~
uranusjr
I hope some of your downvoters could elaborate what exactly you said wasn’t
appropriate. You have my +1.

