[Visas are only a lifeboat for Hong Kong. You must stand up to China] Joshua Wong tells Ben Machell that Beijing needs to learn that its power has limits.https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/visas-are-only-a-lifeboat-for-hong-kong-you-must-stand-up-to-china-8tw3hjmw9 …
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7/ “The focus should be ‘how can we stop the implementation of this evil law?’,” Wong says. “That’s why we call on the UK to impose the necessary sanctions in order to push for the withdrawal of the bill, and for China to honour its promise of autonomy.”
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8/ He also politely suggests that we expel Huawei from our 5G infrastructure plans. “This kind of state-directed telecom company will just export authoritarian ideology. It will erode the liberal values we all believe in.”
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9/ He's sympathetic to the fact that we have our own problems, which make throwing our diplomatic weight around a little harder. “After Brexit, maybe Britain has to kowtow more to China, because after leaving EU, they have to maintain business relations.
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10/ But ofcourse UK could do more. What would have to happen for the UK to openly declare Beijing to be in violation of the Joint Declaration and file a complaint with the United Nations Security Council? That’s the thing the UK has always hesitated to do in the past.”
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11/ Wong was born in 1996, which means he should be eligible for one of Mr Johnson’s proposed visas, though he seems unsure about this. “I don’t hold a BNO passport and I am not sure whether I fit the qualification or not.”
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12/ And while he is too young to remember British rule and of God Save The Queen being broadcast on the radio, he and his friends grew up reading Harry Potter, something that would have been impossible just a few miles away on the Chinese mainland.
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13/ “The most important issue now is how we keep momentum building on a local level, but also keep the spotlight on HK globally. “We need the world to stand with us. We need vocal allies,” he says, frustration creeping into his voice for the first time.
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14/ “Even though China is the second-largest superpower in the world, they need to see that they can’t just do whatever they want.”pic.twitter.com/N9EZFDA08S
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End of conversation
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