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| Photo from The New York Times |
Blogger's Notes:
Commentary of an Academic
(Copyright @ 2019 by Chester B Cabalza. All Rights Reserved).
“Why
the hell Pepe the frog encroaches in all of Hong Kong’s graffiti?” he asks a Hong Kongese from a chat.
“It’s
a hate symbol for tyrant Chinese administrators!” she suspiciously
laments.
“Aren’t
you Chinese, right?”
“Of
course not!” she freaks out. “Hong
Kong is part of China but I’m a proud Hong Konger!” she refutes and
continues, “unlike the Chinese mainlanders,
people of HK have guaranteed freedoms – the right to protest, the right to a
press freedom, and freedom of speech!” she pens with confidence, assuredly, provided by the Hong Kong Basic Law.
End of chat.
Based from the 2016 demographic data of
Hong Kong, permanent residents in this fat Cantonese megacity hold a Hong Kong
Permanent Identity card as well as the right of abode. Populated by ethnic
Chinese from mainland China, mostly from newly-industrialized Guandong province;
Taiwan; and Macao; while largest non-Chinese residents being Filipinos and Indonesians
(just watch Hello, Love, Goodbye, for that matter).
It’s a fact that Hong Kong belongs to
China, but it has its own currency, political system, cultural identity; and, considered
as an international smart city. Fortified by a policy dubbed as “one country,
two systems” since its handover at midnight on 1 July 1997 to the People’s
Republic of China.
The now-shelved, controversial extradition
bill opened a lot of Pandora’s Box to China’s 22 years old rule in Hong Kong, unifying
permanent and non-permanent residents to demand for full democracy and police
accountability against Beijing’s Tiananmen option on the use of military force
to quell and suppress the escalating ahimsa protest. Certainly, what started as
a movement against a controversial law has expanded into something much bigger security concerns.
Undeniably, Beijing is losing its face
again in the international community for its lack of strategic foresight in taming the shrew. Hong Kong, a former British colony and an economic gem that inspired Deng Xiaoping, including his successors, to dream bigger for China by setting up a number of colossal and coastal economic hub. Currently, overpopulated and prosperous to rival western
business and financial acumen by expanding their economic global clout.
The unstoppable movement in Hong Kong
turns out to be a black swan. Black swans are rare. It has high-impact events
that have large magnitude and consequence in history. Black swan can be used as
a tool to see the future that can be volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous
in nature; occurring in frequency that may cause harm in the anarchic
international system.
The belief that swans are always white. It becomes apparent and unique when the white swan turns out to be a black swan that carries a metaphor of fragility in any system of thought. China has seen several black swans from their own Chinese Lake from the Opium War to the Tiananmen massacre. However, a post-modern black swan spotted in Hong Kong can become a litmus test for China's bid for political and economic superpower. Nonetheless, the occurrences of black swan events are increasing and accelerating at a fast-paced in this changing and uncertain times ruled by strongmen and populist leaders. Although, black swans randomly appear by chance, hence, it sometimes impossible to predict.
If China fails to catch with approving grace the black swan, it will keep on spreading a swine flu to Hong Kong dissents from today and even tomorrow. These black swans are contagious that it may even swim to as far as Taiwan, the Philippines, and other neighboring countries to challenge Beijing's concocted harmonious society!
The belief that swans are always white. It becomes apparent and unique when the white swan turns out to be a black swan that carries a metaphor of fragility in any system of thought. China has seen several black swans from their own Chinese Lake from the Opium War to the Tiananmen massacre. However, a post-modern black swan spotted in Hong Kong can become a litmus test for China's bid for political and economic superpower. Nonetheless, the occurrences of black swan events are increasing and accelerating at a fast-paced in this changing and uncertain times ruled by strongmen and populist leaders. Although, black swans randomly appear by chance, hence, it sometimes impossible to predict.
If China fails to catch with approving grace the black swan, it will keep on spreading a swine flu to Hong Kong dissents from today and even tomorrow. These black swans are contagious that it may even swim to as far as Taiwan, the Philippines, and other neighboring countries to challenge Beijing's concocted harmonious society!
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