{"id":12768,"date":"2019-09-05T11:02:47","date_gmt":"2019-09-05T18:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=12768"},"modified":"2019-09-05T11:05:40","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T18:05:40","slug":"in-hong-kong-protests-china-angrily-connects-dots-back-to-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2019\/09\/05\/in-hong-kong-protests-china-angrily-connects-dots-back-to-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"In Hong Kong Protests, China Angrily Connects Dots Back to U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2019\/09\/02\/world\/00hk-china-1\/merlin_159342714_f72f295e-6292-4f45-9699-6e9a8fa75476-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" alt=\"A protester in Hong Kong last month. China sees American support for democratic rights in Hong Kong as part of a plot to undermine the Communist Party.\"\/><figcaption>A protester in Hong Kong last month. China sees American support for democratic rights in Hong Kong as part of a plot to undermine the Communist Party.CreditCreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/steven-lee-myers\">Steven Lee Myers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Sept. 5, 2019 (NYTimes.com)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>HONG KONG \u2014 Jenny Lee, 26, marched with a friend through the sweltering streets of Hong Kong the other day, hoisting an American flag over her shoulder. \u201cWe hold this to tell the world that we want democracy and freedom,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The authorities in China, however, are holding up those kinds of gestures as evidence of what Chinese officials portray as an American campaign to orchestrate the protests that have roiled Hong Kong for almost three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>[<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/05\/world\/asia\/carrie-lam-hong-kong-protests.html?module=inline\"><em>As protesters planned more demonstrations, Hong Kong\u2019s leader gave no sign that any more concessions would be forthcoming<\/em><\/a><em>.]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>China\u2019s increasingly caustic accusations against the United States \u2014 in state media and official statements \u2014 reflect a deepening conviction that support for democratic rights in Hong Kong is part of a broader effort to undermine the Communist Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s their b\u00eate noire: democracy and democratic values,\u201d said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a professor at Hong Kong Baptist University and the author of \u201cChina Tomorrow: Democracy or Dictatorship?\u201d \u201cThe goal is to erase them from Hong Kong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There has been no concrete evidence that the protests are anything but what demonstrators say they are: a largely leaderless upwelling of frustration and resistance to the mainland\u2019s encroaching control of Hong Kong\u2019s affairs. But Chinese officials now point to a pattern of American actions that they say amounts to foreign interference, even collusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2019\/09\/02\/world\/00hk-china-2\/merlin_160101198_71cb12f4-7236-4382-bb8a-b2e6c5280f81-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" alt=\"A rally Monday at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. There is no concrete evidence that the protests are anything but the largely leaderless movement they seem to be.\"\/><figcaption>A rally Monday at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. There is no concrete evidence that the protests are anything but the largely leaderless movement they seem to be.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the accusations amount to little more than&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/08\/13\/world\/asia\/hong-kong-protests-china.html?module=inline\">crude disinformation<\/a>, but others are grounded in just enough fact to spin a conspiracy theory of covert American nefariousness, intended to loosen the Chinese leader Xi Jinping\u2019s authoritarian grip on power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They include statements of support for the protests from congressional leaders and Democratic presidential candidates, and meetings between Hong Kong opposition figures and administration officials.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/08\/08\/world\/asia\/hong-kong-black-hand.html?module=inline\">One such meeting with a diplomat<\/a>&nbsp;in the United States Consulate in Hong Kong has been seized on by China, as was another in Washington with Vice President Mike Pence and President Trump\u2019s national security adviser, John Bolton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>China\u2019s liaison office in Hong Kong on Monday, for example, vehemently denounced a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.house.gov\/2019\/8\/engel-mccaul-joint-statement-on-hong-kong\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">relatively mild, bipartisan statement<\/a>&nbsp;by the chairman and a ranking member of the House Foreign Relations Committee, Eliot Engel of New York and Michael McCaul of Texas, that expressed support for the protests and called on both sides \u201cto refrain from violence and seek a peaceful accommodation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A spokesman for the Chinese office replied in a statement that the two men, Democrat and Republican respectively, \u201chave ignored the facts, turned black into white, harbored evil intentions and nakedly interfered in Hong Kong affairs and China\u2019s internal affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>China has a long history of blaming \u201cforeign forces\u201d for challenges it has faced internally, including the Tiananmen Square protests 30 years ago. But the depth and ferocity of China\u2019s accusations over Hong Kong suggest they are not merely propaganda intended for domestic or international audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, analysts said, they reflect the thinking of an increasingly anxious leadership that sees any manifestation of popular sentiment in the streets as a potential \u201ccolor revolution\u201d like those that swept Georgia, Ukraine and later the Arab world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A 42-page report released recently by China\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs singled out the National Endowment for Democracy, the congressionally funded organization founded in 1983 to support the spread of democracy and human rights around the world, accusing it of underwriting a similar revolution in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"New York Times Video - Embed Player\" width=\"480\" height=\"321\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" marginheight=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" id=\"nyt_video_player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/video\/players\/offsite\/index.html?videoId=100000006660097\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Foreign Agents and Terrorists: How China Is Framing Hong Kong\u2019s Protests\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more than two months, antigovernment protests have gripped Hong Kong, with anger rising over China\u2019s growing influence. Here are tactics the Chinese government is using to frame the narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe U.S. is not satisfied in overt oral support for Hong Kong but resorts to financial backing,\u201d the state English-language television network, CGTN, wrote with inexact grammar&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.cgtn.com\/news\/2019-08-10\/Who-has-stirred-Hong-Kong-chaos%E2%80%94J2cVBSCzZu\/index.html\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">in an article<\/a>&nbsp;posted on its website and included in the ministry\u2019s report. The article went on to argue that the endowment acted in concert with the Central Intelligence Agency \u201cin covert actions against governments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Chinese have not only denounced the American activity publicly, but also privately in meetings with their American counterparts, according to officials in both countries. China is also angrily pushing back against international criticism. A spokesman for China\u2019s Foreign Ministry, Geng Shuang, denounced a statement by the Group of 7 leaders last week calling on both sides to avoid violence in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He accused the seven nations \u2014 Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States \u2014 of \u201charboring ulterior motives.\u201d He also declared moot the 1984 declaration between Britain, then Hong Kong\u2019s colonial ruler, and China that established the framework for Hong Kong as a special autonomous region, with rights not extended to Chinese citizens on the mainland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That declaration serves as a congressionally mandated benchmark for American relations with Hong Kong and China under the Hong Kong Policy Act, enacted as law in 1992. The State Department is required by law each year to evaluate the extent of Hong Kong\u2019s autonomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe tempo of mainland central government intervention in Hong Kong affairs \u2014 and actions by the Hong Kong government consistent with mainland direction \u2014 increased, accelerating negative trends seen in previous periods,\u201d the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/2019-hong-kong-policy-act-report\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">latest report<\/a>, issued in March, warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Trump administration, for its part, has reacted inconsistently to the protests. President Trump, focused principally on the trade tensions with China, once dismissed the protests, calling them an internal matter. Others in the administration have spoken out more forcefully, however, and the protests have galvanized support across the political spectrum in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that has given the Chinese fodder for their arguments. After initially ignoring the protests, officials have begun to respond to American statements more directly, while turning up the propaganda against the United States in state media, which has been strikingly effective&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/07\/01\/business\/hong-kong-china-protests.html?module=inline\">at shaping public opinion<\/a>&nbsp;on the mainland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2019\/09\/02\/world\/00hk-china-3sub\/merlin_157022871_0743e9e0-97b1-4dea-85dd-8f2bdf2934a7-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" alt=\"Demonstrators outside the United States Consulate in Hong Kong in June. Chinese state media have accused a diplomat there of orchestrating the protests.\"\/><figcaption>Demonstrators outside the United States Consulate in Hong Kong in June. Chinese state media have accused a diplomat there of orchestrating the protests.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The report on CGTN cited \u201cmore American faces\u201d appearing at rallies. One of those that have&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/m.news.cctv.com\/2019\/08\/21\/ARTIIKm87opYjiGsR2zxNi0U190821.shtml\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">drawn attention<\/a>&nbsp;belongs to Mark Simon, a top aide to Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/08\/23\/world\/asia\/jimmy-lai-hong-kong-protests.html?module=inline\">media tycoon<\/a>whom China loves to hate. Mr. Simon, a veteran of the United States Navy, helped set up the meeting between Mr. Lai and Vice President Pence in July that prompted an official diplomatic protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr. Simon said in an interview that he had long helped Mr. Lai to make donations to civic organizations in Hong Kong, but he emphasized that he had no ties to American intelligence and played no role in the protests, despite&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/m.news.cctv.com\/2019\/08\/21\/ARTIIKm87opYjiGsR2zxNi0U190821.shtml\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">insinuations to that effect<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just ridiculous that a big, fat white guy is running the show in Hong Kong as a C.I.A. handler,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the streets, Hong Kong\u2019s protesters have also mocked China\u2019s accusations, saying they were intended to belittle their grievances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phoebe Chan, who accompanied her American flag-carrying friend, Jenny Lee, ridiculed Chinese media reports that protesters were being paid to participate. \u201cWe are coming out on our own,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If anything, protesters like her would like to see the United States get more involved. She cited the special trade status that Hong Kong receives under American law, which officials in Washington have warned could be revoked if China were to crack down with force. \u201cThis is our hope,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>China\u2019s accusations of foreign influence echo those that other authoritarian governments have made in the face of popular opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2019\/09\/02\/world\/00hk-china-5\/merlin_159691344_bfb40f1a-1c4e-4e48-95e9-c45250568379-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" alt=\"Tear gas at a protest in the Tsuen Wan district last week.\"\/><figcaption>Tear gas at a protest in the Tsuen Wan district last week.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2017, China has prohibited any political activity by foreign organizations, under a law modeled on one that Russia adopted after the \u201ccolor revolutions\u201d swept former Soviet republics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hong Kong, by contrast, still allows nongovernmental organizations a great deal of freedom, and the work that many of them do is effectively an affront to the values of the Communist government in Beijing. The National Endowment for Democracy, for example, regularly distributes grants to organizations working to preserve democratic rights \u2014 a goal very much in line with the protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Its grants in 2018 included $155,000 for the Solidarity Center, the American labor advocacy group allied with the AFL-CIO, and $90,000 to the Hong Kong Justice Center, an organization in Hong Kong that monitors the territory\u2019s compliance with rights defined by the United Nations Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe process we\u2019re engaging with is an official United Nations process, which China is a part of,\u201d said Annie Li, a senior researcher with the Hong Kong Justice Center, referring to the annual assessments of human rights known as the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/hrbodies\/upr\/pages\/uprmain.aspx\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Universal Periodic Review<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019re obviously aware of our work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another organization that has worked in Hong Kong, the National Democratic Institute \u2014 a Democratic Party-affiliated partner of the National Endowment for Democracy \u2014 received $200,000 from the endowment in 2018. The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndi.org\/publications\/former-ambassador-derek-mitchell-chosen-new-president-ndi\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">institute\u2019s president<\/a>, Derek Mitchell, who previously served as ambassador to Myanmar, called the accusations that Americans have fomented or funded the protests \u201cutterly ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The institute\u2019s work has been to promote civil society by organizing training seminars for scholars, lawyers and civil servants, according to the National Endowment for Democracy\u2019s grant. That the Chinese government views such advocacy as a threat, Mr. Mitchell said, \u201cshows their insecurity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a fairly consistent theme from China and other authoritarian governments,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can either accept responsibility for their own behavior, or they can blame others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Steven Lee Myers is a veteran diplomatic and national security correspondent, now based in the Beijing bureau. He joined The New York Times in 1989, and has previously worked as a correspondent in Moscow, Baghdad and Washington. He is the author of \u201cThe New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin,\u201d published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alexandra Stevenson contributed reporting from Beijing. Elsie Chen in Hong Kong and Claire Fu in Beijing contributed research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Follow Steven Lee Myers on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stevenleemyers\">@stevenleemyers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By&nbsp;Steven Lee Myers Sept. 5, 2019 (NYTimes.com) HONG KONG \u2014 Jenny Lee, 26, marched with a friend through the sweltering streets of Hong Kong the other day, hoisting an American flag over her shoulder. \u201cWe hold this to tell the world that we want democracy and freedom,\u201d she explained. The&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2019\/09\/05\/in-hong-kong-protests-china-angrily-connects-dots-back-to-u-s\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12768"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12768"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12771,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12768\/revisions\/12771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}