More Propaganda, National Security in HK

China's control over Hong Kong expands with two departments

 

It was bound to happen eventually. Beijing is now setting up two departments in Hong Kong, one to handle national security, the other propaganda.

The new department for national security affairs will be headed by former liaison office legal affairs director Wang Zhenmin, while Yang Guang will lead the department that will manage media outlets and public opinion in the city.

Yang Guang warned HK protesters in 2019

Some may remember Yang is one of the spokesmen for the Hong Kong Macau Affairs Office, and during 2019 he was the one hosting press conferences on the anti-government protests.

At these press conferences -- the first the HKMAO made since the handover in 1997 -- Yang gave strongly-worded warnings to the protesters against street violence.

The propaganda department will take up part of the work from the office's liaison department and cater to the increasing needs to disseminate official information, host more press conferences, approve and coordinate Hong Kong and Macau journalists on the mainland, and "manage the media scene" in the two administrative regions.

Meanwhile Wang served as legal affairs director at Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong from 2015 to 2018. 

Currently the director of the centre for Hong Kong and Macau Research under Tsinghua University, Wang published a 232-page book in January he co-authored with two mainland academics detailing the rationale and legislative process of the sweeping national security law.

Wang Zhenmin is a national security legal expert

In an article in Sing Tao Daily in February 2020, Wang wrote an article explaining the urgent need to reform the central government's governance regime regarding Hong Kong and Macau.

Veteran China watcher Johnny Lau Yiu-siu says these latest developments are a systemic approach by Beijing to enhance ideological security.

"Beijing firmly regarded Hong Kong's political turmoil as a result of foreign collusion with an aim to overturn the government, so that Beijing planned a series of organizational measures to step up ideological control," he said.

Meanwhile pro-China academic Lau Siu-kai of the semi-official think tank the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies says the departments will step up the fight against anti-China forces. 

"There is a lot to be done to weed out incorrect viewpoints about the central people's government," he said. "The new departments [in the HKMAO] will focus on monitoring public opinion and raising the awareness of Hongkongers' obligation to abide by the law at the societal level," Lau said.

Can China overturn HK people's opinions?

But will the propaganda department make any headway with so many Hongkongers skeptical of anything from across the border? It could make them even more paranoid than before, if reaction to the origins of the pandemic is any indication. 

And with information still relatively free in Hong Kong, including disinformation and misinformation, will the propaganda department be able to cut through all the noise to present its own side of the story in a convincing manner?

It will be interesting to watch its presentation and messaging, though another reminder the motherland is breathing down Hong Kong's back is a sign integration continues whether residents like it or not...

Carrie Lam's Report Card

Lam and Xi are colour coordinated, but do they agree on how to end protests?

Today must have been a nerve-wracking one for Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor today, meeting her two bosses, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing.

In pictures and footage she tries to look eager to please, but Xi seems uninterested in having to attend this meeting. Li's face looks grim too...

While both senior leaders praised Lam for her courage in dealing with the protests in Hong Kong that are stretching into its seventh month, they reminded her to finish her task of ending the violence.

Li looks grim-faced shaking Lam's hand today in Beijing

That puts Lam between a rock and a hard place. How can you end the violence if you give no leeway for political reform or even entertain an independent inquiry?

It seems like the senior Chinese leadership still don't understand the issues in Hong Kong (or aren't being briefed properly), or they are still in denial about the reality of the situation.

Political commentator Johnny Lau Yui-siu said the two state leaders' remarks showed the central government was not fully satisfied with Lam's performance in stopping the violence, but still chose to continue to support her.

"Xi Jinping's appreciation of Lam sticking to the bottom line of the 'one country, two systems' indicates that Beijing puts the chief executive's political loyalty as a top priority," Lau said.

"Beijing has not changed its tough stance on Hong Kong, despite the pro-establishment camp's humiliating defeat in last month's district council elections."


He said Beijing was still holding on to its long-standing view that the deep-rooted problems in Hong Kong stemmed from failure to boost the city's economic development and address the wealth gap.

Johnny Lau says Beijing hasn't changed its stance on HK

"Beijing still skirts Hong Kong people's calls for political reform as reflected in the anti-government protests since June," Lau said.

Meanwhile Lau Siu-kai, vice-chairman of the semi-official think tank The Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said it is unlikely Beijing will meet the protesters other demands.

"Beijing holds the view that Hong Kong's ongoing crisis is the result of foreign influence, so they reiterated their support for Lam and the police, believing that a hardline approach is best to end the street protests," he said.

But giving the police license to crackdown further on the protesters is not going to solve the situation," says opposition lawmaker and Civic Party leader Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu.

"It feels like the central government is not entirely connected to what's happening on the ground," he said.

Alvin Yeung says the police may crack down harder on protests

So today's meeting is just a continuation of before, and so the protests will continue.

The central government needs to understand that for the violence and the protests to end, concessions need to be made. 

While this might seem like a big loss of face to the government, surely the ongoing protests and violence and economic recession is an even greater loss of face?

Meanwhile we hear from some China sources that the real reason the Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah was diverted from London to Beijing for a few weeks was to "get a bollocking" from senior Chinese officials about how the government was handling the six month-long protests in Hong Kong.

It definitely wasn't for medical treatment for her arm. Or maybe she did get medical treatment after her bollocking?