RMIT University Professor Joe Siracusa says “there’s no doubt about it, Hong Kong is finished”. A proposal by the Chinese Communist Party to impose national security laws on Hong Kong is the most significant attempt yet to enforce the mainland's will on the international city. “These national security laws finish off the political freedoms the people in Hong Kong have,” he told Sky News. “Hong Kong in terms of political freedom is dead man walking, they’re finished and they know they’re finished.”
Three days ago the Wall Street Journal reported on China's new "Wolf Warrior" aggressive new foreign policy stance. Excerpts below:
As China asserts itself globally, its diplomats around the world are taking on foes big and small.
The brash new attitude, playing out on social media, in newsprint and across negotiating tables, marks a turn for China’s once low-key diplomats. It’s part of a deliberate shift within the Foreign Ministry, spurred on by Chinese leaders seeking to claim what they see as their nation’s rightful place in the world, in the face of an increasingly inward-looking U.S..
China’s state media describe it as a “Wolf Warrior” ethos—named for a nationalistic Chinese film franchise about a Rambo-like soldier-turned-security contractor who battles American-led mercenary groups.
The feuding has escalated as the Foreign Ministry seeks to enforce China’s narratives on the coronavirus pandemic, bickering with Western powers and even some friendly countries. . . [more . . .]