Brexit Fallout Continues

Strange times in Britain these days with Brexit a hard reality to get used to

Friends and colleagues are still processing their shock and disappointment over Brexit that left us all floored on Friday morning Hong Kong time.

One colleague who is British, and has lived in Hong Kong for over 20 years, and her son was born here, is devastated that her son's job opportunities have virtually evaporated.

"Before he had 28 countries [in the European Union] to be able to work in, and now it's only one!" she exclaimed. She is angry that her older relatives voted Brexit, who wanted to keep Britain the way they remembered it from before than realize the world has since globalized at such a fast rate that no country can survive by isolating itself.

However not all of the Brexit voters were old -- even her younger friend who is an expat in Hong Kong preferred to leave the EU so that Britain could retain its "Britishness", whatever that means.

Jeremy Corbyn put himself in an awkward position politically

Another colleague is very curious about the geo-political fall out, with Prime Minister David Cameron betting his job on the line to remain, and has no choice but to resign.

It seems the referendum was an emotional issue and the remain side didn't do enough to reassure people that there wouldn't be immigrants flooding in, that even though Britain sends 350 million pounds a week to the EU, it got back much more in terms of subsidies and other benefits. It also didn't try to tell the skeptics that the Brexit campaign was wrong in saying that big chunk of money would go to health care.

Then there's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn who was in a bizarre position. Labour is all for remaining in the EU, yet he himself is a Euro-skeptic, and so he was very low-key about campaigning to remain. He sacked one person who questioned his leadership, which led to many of his shadow cabinet members resigning.

And then there's Boris Johnson. He didn't really want Brexit... did he? He jumped on a cause to get on the political stage again, and he did it, but now he's quiet. No one wants to take on the challenge of putting Brexit in to motion now.

Will Boris Johnson continue his path to become PM?

Oh and Scotland is hinting it wants out of the UK...

Meanwhile the EU is outraged this is what the Brits really think of the union, and would rather kick Britain out sooner rather than later. The remain side is naive to think the EU will still continue to do business with them like before, though things might be cheaper now that the pound has fallen.

However the reality is that all those countries need Britain, and Britain needs the access to such a huge market to keep its economy going. Or maybe it doesn't need Britain?

The news hit Hong Kong hard of course, as the city was formerly a British colony, and many have business interests, children studying there, and so on.

Amusingly Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying stated that Hong Kong was prepared to deal with the outcome, but Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah and Hong Kong Monetary Authority Norman Chan Tak-lam both admitted they were caught off guard.

It's a real mess and it's going to take a long time for it to be sorted out. But it's a new reality everyone has to get used to. Everyone.

Strange Relations with China

Hopefully PM-designate Justin Trudeau has more skill in dealing with China

After a sojourn to North America, it's time to focus back on Asia, though we are thrilled to see Canadians vote for change in installing Justin Trudeau as the next Prime Minister.

The result of 184 seats to lead a majority government was not expected out of Trudeau early in the campaign, who was thought to be the political lightweight.

But he proved his adversaries wrong, and also public sentiment built up to the point of saying, "enough is enough! Time for change!"

While it will take some time for the 43-year-old charismatic Liberal leader to undo the damage Harper has done in the past almost decade, we hope Trudeau has the wisdom to be pragmatic and nuanced in his dealings with China.

Harper on his first visit to China in 2009 with Wen Jiabao

Harper learned the hard way and paid dearly for it. It was so embarrassing to watch then Premier Wen Jiabao tear a strip off of Harper in 2009 before allowing Canada to have the Approved Destination Status so that more mainlanders could come visit the country as individual tourists.

So while Harper did the grovelling, we hope Trudeau doesn't have to do that and can return Sino-Canadian relations back to a decent, amicable level where the Chinese still rave about Norman Bethune.

At the moment, the UK is bending over backwards in inviting Chinese President Xi Jinping on his first state visit there. Even the Queen has opened the gates at Buckingham Palace to welcome him and wife Peng Liyuan to stay with Her Majesty.

Xi Jinping meeting the Queen and staying in her digs

Have the corgis been locked up to avoid being Xi's supper???

Jokes aside, it's quite astounding how much Prime Minister David Cameron is going all out to ensure Xi and Peng have the royal treatment -- which is ironic considering the Chinese got rid of the imperialist dynasties in 1911.

Does Cameron think that by giving his guests the ultimate kowtow that China is going to open its doors wide open to the UK and let it plunder it again, this time economically?

Does Queen Victoria have to leave the park?

What's also ironic is that at the same time Xi is being hosted by the monarchy, the Chinese are deploring that Hong Kong has too many vestiges of British colonialism and now want them covered up or taken down.

Hong Kong Post is frantically going to cover up the last mail boxes that have the royal insignias on them, but does that also mean getting rid of the statue of Queen Victoria in Victoria Park, and renaming the area, the People's Park, like every other mainland city has?

Does that also mean changing the names of all the British-named streets we have too? Talk about confusion!

For the Chinese trying to get rid of Hong Kong's last bits of colonialism is like whitewashing the city's history. This is a part of who we are -- this is where Hong Kong gets its values, like freedom of speech, freedom of the press, rule of law.

Again, I'm repeating a broken record refrain, but this indicates yet again that the Chinese do not understand Hong Kong and its identity, and how its unique history can be its advantage.

Instead it seems, the Chinese would rather force Hong Kong to bend to its will, while enjoying the scones and afternoon tea with the Queen...

Reversal of Fortune

Cameron tries to use the charm offensive in Beijing... but is it enough?

Back in the 1800s, the British plundered China with opium, draining the country of its silver and taking along with it precious antiques, paintings and jewellery.

And now over 200 years later China is like a dog, smelling fear and terrorizing British Prime Minister David Cameron into submission.

He is currently in China with the largest ever British trade mission to the country, with deals worth $5.6 billion signed so far.

However Cameron has had to suffer some humiliation to get the business the UK desperately needs at the moment.

For example, the nationalist paper the Global Times had a commentary with the headline "China won't fall for Cameron's 'sincerity'", and it said Britain should realize that it is not a major power but "just an old European country apt for travel and study".

But that wasn't the worst of it.

Just days before his China trip Cameron set up his Sina Weibo account and already had more than 230,000 followers by Wednesday. He invited netizens to ask questions, saying he would try to rely during his visit.

One of the most popular questions? It was asked by Chinese think tank the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, which is headed by former vice-premier Zeng Peiyan, and members include top government officials and leading economists.

"When will Britain return the illegally plundered artefacts?" the organization asked, referring to the 23,000 items in the British Museum that it claims were stolen by the British Army that put down the Boxer Rebellion at the end of the 19th century.

For the Chinese, the ransacking of the Summer Palace in Beijing by foreigners has always been taught in schools as the ultimate humiliation of the country and the Communist Party constantly refers to this event to prove in recent years how the Party has immensely improved the country's economic and political power in the world.

How Cameron will worm his way out of that one will definitely reveal his political skills. His answer will indicate how much Cameron kowtows to Beijing...