The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) opened today in Beijing. The seven Politburo Standing Committee members plus Wang Qishan, and the vice-chairs of the CPPCC all were not wearing masks, while everyone else was.
| | |
The National People’s Congress (NPC) opens Friday. At a press conference today the NPC spokesman Zhang Yesui confirmed that the NPC will propose a national security law for Hong Kong. This move affirms that Hong Kong as we knew it is gone and rule of law is now rule by law, with the CCP determining what the laws are and how they will be enforced. The legal complexities of how they justify imposing this law from Beijing will not get in the way of the brutal political reality.
The reaction in Hong Kong could be intense, and violent. The two central government leaders Xi installed a few months ago to manage Hong Kong affairs are hardened CCP cadres, and there are already few restraints to the behavior of the Hong Kong security services.
The international reaction will be long on rhetoric, but will there be any real action? The US may revoke some of the special treatment it gives Hong Kong, but Xi and the Party Center may believe they can act with near impunity, especially now when most countries who would oppose this move are distracted and weakened by the pandemic. They are probably right. And it will certainly be popular inside the PRC ex Hong Kong.
This move puts Taiwan’s status in even more stark relief, and may accelerate already significant momentum in DC towards reevaluating some of the limits Washington has placed on its interactions with Taiwan.
Meanwhile, President Trump sent three tweets last night criticizing China and Xi, though without mentioning his name. Have the President’s briefers told him all the ways the propaganda organs and certain officials have recently mocked him and the US?
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
China is on a massive disinformation campaign because they are desperate to have Sleepy Joe Biden win the presidential race so they can continue to rip-off the United States, as they have done for decades, until I came along!
May 21st 2020
49,464 Retweets199,460 Likes
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
Spokesman speaks stupidly on behalf of China, trying desperately to deflect the pain and carnage that their country spread throughout the world. Its disinformation and propaganda attack on the United States and Europe is a disgrace....
May 21st 2020
26,362 Retweets107,559 Likes
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
....It all comes from the top. They could have easily stopped the plague, but they didn’t!
May 21st 2020
17,120 Retweets77,915 Likes
Hu Xijin of The Global Times continued the mocking today:
Hu Xijin 胡锡进 @HuXijin_GT
On the contrary, Chinese netizens wish for your reelection because you can make America eccentric and thus hateful for the world. You help promote unity in China and you also make intl news as fun as comedy. Chinese netizens call you “Jianguo,” meaning “help to construct China”.
May 21st 2020
1,381 Retweets5,603 Likes
This is not constructive.
Over the last year I have become increasingly pessimistic about the trajectory of the US-China relationship in large part because of what I hear from PRC contacts inside the system, who are very worried about where things are headed. In the last few weeks we have seen several Chinese academics such as Shi Yinhong, Zheng Yongnian, Yan Xuetong and Zhu Feng express their concerns. The fact that they feel a need to speak out at all is I think a quite worrisome indicator of the forces on the PRC side that are contributing to the accelerating downward trajectory. 一个巴掌拍不响 aka it takes two to Tango.