Skip to main content

UPDATES: Is Beijing Using Thugs to Intimidate Occupy Central Demonstrators?

Clashes have erupted between Occupy Central demonstrators and pro-Beijing groups. A woman speaking Mandarin was seen giving orders to men who attacked protesters. Are pro-Communist forces in Hong Kong using thugs to scare Occupy Central supporters?


This is difficult to say and impossible to prove (that's where the cleverness of this strategy lies). However, it can be proved that Beijing has been using this kind of tactics in Taiwan, where the so-called 'White Wolf', a former leader of a criminal syndicate, meddled in this year's Sunflower Movement protests to intimidate opponents of China-Taiwan reunification.

The use of thugs is a mafia-like strategy that allows the CCP not to be directly and openly involved in actions against its opponents. While sending the army would compromise the image of the party and the state, thugs act 'on their own', and nobody can prove that someone is behind them. However, since no one can prove it, I can only say that the connection between Beijing and today's clashes is a 'hypothesis', and nothing more.  

Meanwhile, pro-Beijing and anti-Occupy protests have been launched. It appears that also some frustrated shop owners and citizens annoyed by the disruption of traffic and business are growing increasingly frustrated with the Occupy movement. A pro-Beijing protester today told a foreigner: "Go back to your country". The typical phrase intolerant people use when they have no arguments.  

In Singapore, the police questioned several Hong Kongers who took part in a solidarity rally for Occupy Central. Singapore's authoritarian government is widely known for its suppression of freedom of speech and its practice of censorship.  

 A group of mainland students has set up a Facebook page to show their support for Occupy Central. 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Window Trick of Las Vegas Hotels

When I lived in Hong Kong I often passed by a residential apartment complex commonly known as the " monster building ".  " Interior of the Yick Cheong Building November 2016 " by  Nick-D  is licensed under  CC BY-SA 4.0 . _____
15 comments
Read more

Living in Taiwan: Seven Reasons Why It's Good to Be Here

Chinese New Year can be a pretty boring time for a foreigner. All of my friends were celebrating with their families, and since I have no family here, nor have I a girlfriend whose family I could join, I had nothing special to do. Shops and cafes were closed - apart from big chains like McDonald's or Starbucks, which were overcrowded anyway. So I had a lot of time to think. On Saturday evening I went out to buy my dinner. While I was walking around, I heard the voices of the people inside their homes, the sounds of their New Year celebrations. Then I suddenly asked myself: "What on earth are you doing here? Why are you still in Taiwan?"  Before I came to Taiwan, some Taiwanese friends of mine had recommended me their country, highly prasing it and going so far as to say that Taiwan is a "paradise for foreigners" (bear in mind that when I say foreigners I mean 'Westerners').  "It's easy for foreigners to find a job," t
30 comments
Read more

Is China's MINISO Copying Japan's MUJI, UNIQLO and Daiso?

Over the past few years Japanese retailers such as UNIQLO and MUJI have conquered foreign markets, opening shops in cities such as Paris, Berlin or New York and becoming household names in several countries. But the success of their business model seems to have inspired people with dubious intentions. As the website Daliulian recently showed, a new chain called MINISO, which claims to be a Japanese company selling ‘100% Japanese products’, seems to be nothing more than a knock-off of UNIQLO, MUJI and Daiso, copying their logos, names and even the layout of their stores. The company’s webpage proudly announces – in terrible English – that “ MINISO is a fast fashion designer brand of Japan. Headquartered in Tokyo Japan, Japanese young designer Miyake Jyunya is founder as well as the chief designer of MINISO, a pioneer in global 'Fashion & Casual Superior Products' field. ” According to the company’s homepage, MINISO advocates the philosophy of a simple,
Post a Comment
Read more

Macau: Gambling, Corruption, Prostitution, and Fake Worlds

As I mentioned in my previous post , Macau has different faces and identities: there is the old Macau, full of colonial buildings and in which the pace of life seems to resemble a relaxed Mediterranean town rather than a bustling, hectic Chinese city, such as Hong Kong or Shanghai. On the other hand, there is the Macau of gambling, of gigantic hotel and casino resorts, and of prostitution. These two Macaus seem to be spatially separated from each other, with an intact colonial city centre and nice outskirts with small alleys on the one side, and bombastic, modern buildings on the other.  The Galaxy - one of the huge casino and hotel resorts The Importance of Gambling for Macau's Economy Dubbed the 'Monte Carlo of the East', Macau has often been portrayed as the gambling capital of China. Media reporting on Macau tend present pictures of the city's glistening, apparently luxurious skyline. But a visit in Macau suffices to realize that it is fa
3 comments
Read more

Trip to Tainan

Tainan Train Station Last weekend I made a one day trip to the Southern Taiwanese city of Tainan (Chinese: č‡ŗ南, pinyin: TĆ”inĆ”n), the former capital and one of the most important centres of culture, history and architecture of the island. This blog post is also intended as a special thank to Grace, a Taiwanese friend who was so kind to show me around, and very patient, too. Since Tainan doesn't have an extensive public transport net, Grace picked me up at the train station with her motorcycle, a vehicle that, along with cars, is regarded by locals as indispensable for living comfortably in Tainan. To my great embarrassment, though, I had to admit that I cannot ride a motorcycle. That's why we had to take busses to move around. It was the first time she ever took a bus in Tainan. And now I know why: busses come more or less every half an hour, and service stops early in the evening. No wonder Tainanese snob public transport. Grace had no idea about the routes and about whe
4 comments
Read more