I've read Peter Kammerer for many years. He's a decent journalist, honest and not afraid to admit mistakes, in print, as he's done several times.
I'm afraid he's right in the article here.
Forty years ago, when I worked in the Australian Office of National Assessments, we wrote an assessment of Hong Kong subsequent to Maggie Thatcher's deal on HK with Deng Xiaoping. We thought that Chinese officials might well screw up Hong Kong, but more by miscalculation than intent.
That seems to be what's going on. They may genuinely believe that the National Security Law is good for Hong Kong. It is, in suppressing violence; but there's too much collateral damage. Arresting pan-Dems for example.
I've always said that what would do it for me is outright censorship of things like this blog, Facebook (even though I don't use it), Twitter (even though I don't use it, the panoply of media to keep in touch with the world, I'd that's gone then so am I.
Kammerer ends up ends up with the same concern.
> "The death knell will be sounded if any attempt is made to shut out or censor internet giants like Google, Facebook and YouTube"
On a slightly more positive note, to counter Kammerer's point about companies leaving Hong Kong, there's the fact that many foreign companies are in China itself. And there's a natural floor to real estate prices in Hong Kong: that is prices in China mainland, which in main cities are. Ow similar to Hong Kong.
Still… looking on with concern…
https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3117112/mass-arrests-point-hong-kongs-quickening-transition-second-tier
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