BY yesterday it was no longer the protests in Hong Kong that were dominating the news, but the Chinese response and some of our media outlets’ strangely neutral reporting of it. Could they be condoning it? From the BBC we had ‘Hong Kong protests: China says protesters trample the rule of law‘. Doubtless the Chinese Ambassador will be pleased with that one. Further support was forthcoming from the fair-minded Guardian. Its headline ran ‘Hong Kong protest: China says violent demonstrations “totally intolerable”,’ with the strapline ‘Beijing’s liaison office says storming of parliament is “an extreme challenge” to the rule of law’. Another cause for cheer at the ambassador’s residence in West Hampstead and China’s Portland Place embassy in London.
Is our Left-wing media becoming more forgiving of Chinese communism and more forgetful about the Chinese Communist Party’s endemic abuse of power? I have begun to wonder.
For a reminder of the ‘deal’ struck with China over taking back Hong Kong (which has already been well and truly betrayed), the full historic background and of China’s progressively controlling approach toward the territory since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, you could do worse than turn to the New York Times. It provides a very good overview. You can read it here.
Meanwhile as the police crack down on the protesters in Hong Kong, we can but hope that the British Government’s threat of ‘serious consequences’ if it breaches a historic pact protecting freedoms there is not an empty one.
