A huge protest in Hong Kong.
A million people on the streets.
They’re protesting a proposed extradition law.
But Hong Kong’s leader won’t back down.
Welcome back to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
This was Hong Kong on Sunday.
Not a good day for commuters.
Especially because the subways looked like this.
Which makes my daily commute to Manhattan
seem like walking on sunshine.
Never thought I’d miss the A train.
Organizers in Hong Kong said more than
one million people hit the streets on Sunday.
They’re protesting Hong Kong’s controversial extradition bill.
If the bill gets passed,
it would allow Chinese authorities to order Hong Kong authorities
to arrest and deport suspected criminals to mainland China.
This is a big deal because a lot of so-called “crimes” in mainland China
are not crimes in Hong Kong or other free countries-slash-regions.
Crimes like, wanting more democracy and rule of law.
Or being a Catholic bishop.
The version of the bill on the Hong Kong Legislature’s website
says the extradition bill applies only to crimes
that are “punishable in Hong Kong with imprisonment
for more than 3 years.”
But because of pressure, at the end of May,
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security said they would change
the threshold to crimes punishable only by 7 or more years.
And then everyone was like,
ok that sounds reasonable,
problem solved everyone,
nothing to worry about.
Just kidding.
People are still unhappy,
because that doesn’t change the fundamental problem with the bill.
The fundamental problem is that Hongkongers don’t trust Beijing.
And by extension,
they no longer trust the Hong Kong government.
A lot of Hong Kongers believe the bill itself
is simply the first step the Chinese Communist Party’s larger plan
to water down Hong Kong’s freedoms and rule of law—
so Hong Kong eventually operates like the rest of China.
With arbitrary arrest.
And torture.
Who could forget torture?
Hong Kong’s really been missing out on the torture
that mainland Chinese dissidents enjoy everyday.
Of course, when the Chinese Communist Party
forced the UK to turn over Hong Kong to China in 1997,
they signed the “Sino-British Joint Declaration.”
It promised “50 years, no change”—meaning,
they would not infringe on Hong Kong’s laws for at least 50 years.
But this extradition bill is a clear violation of that promise.
Not that we didn’t see it coming.
Two years ago Chinese authorities officially stated their intention
to completely disregard that Declaration.
But what is a surprise is just how many people
came out to protest the extradition bill.
A million people is a lot,
especially in a city of only 7 million people.
It was by far the biggest protest in Hong Kong
since it was handed over to China in 1997.
So obviously,
the most important question Chinese authorities are asking is:
Who’s behind this massive disruption to social harmony?!
Fortunately, state-run media has the answer!
According to China Daily,
it’s hostile foreign forces!
They’re “seizing the opportunity to advance
their own strategy to hurt China
by trying to create havoc in Hong Kong.”
Now state-run media doesn’t specifically name
who those “foreign forces” are.
But I’m going to assume they’re referring to me.
Well, me and the CIA.
That’s right,
United Front groups and pro-Chinese Communist Party media
have accused random foreigners in Hong Kong
of being part of the CIA.
Take it from me,
those guys are not in the CIA.
And what’s even better is that I’ve heard from
a very reliable source in Hong Kong
that none of the guys circled in those photos
are even American.
So the CIA isn’t part of the foreign forces,
but I’m going to assume that I still am.
Although I can’t take *all* of the credit.
Because it was more than just a few
China Uncensored fans in Hong Kong
who joined Sunday’s ginormous march.
And it was more than just students and activists,
who were the bulk of the 2014 Umbrella Protests.
This protest also included many ordinary Hongkongers.
According to this poll,
a third of the marchers had never protested before.
The extradition bill has even riled up many of Hong Kong’s elite:
businesspeople who feel that Hong Kong’s rule of law
is critical to the future of their corporate interests.
Even lawyers participated—
following a smaller lawyers’ protest last week.
So basically, a huge cross section of Hong Kong—
including a lot of influential people—
feel the extradition bill could affect them.
And that’s what makes this different
from many of the other protests Hong Kong has seen
over the last 20 years.
It means everyone’s angry now.
And it’s a big challenge to Hong Kong’s leadership—
especially Chief Executive Carrie Lam,
who’s the equivalent of Hong Kong’s governor.
On Monday, she defended the Extradition Bill.
“I have not received any instruction
or mandate from Beijing to do this bill.”
Wait... she *didn’t* receive any instructions from Beijing?
She just decided—on her own—
that it would be a good idea to let the Communist Party
run roughshod over Hong Kong’s rule of law?
So you’re telling me,
this meme is *not* accurate?
I mean, if I were in Carrie Lam’s shoes,
I would have totally been like
“Yeah, Beijing totally made me do it.”
I really don’t understand why she’d throw *herself* under the bus.
But I guess this is why she’s so unpopular.
And why protesters are specifically calling on her
to resign over the bill.
This protest sign says “Carrie Lam, step down”—
sponsored by Coca-Cola!
And other Hong Kongers decided to really get political,
with “Carrie Lam...You’re Fired!”
The protests lasted all day,
and eventually ended in the early hours of Monday morning,
when some protesters got a little more aggressive.
And police came out with riot gear to clear people out,
using pepper spray,
and threatening to shoot tear gas.
Which is a nice preview of things to come
once Hong Kong’s legal system
looks more like mainland China’s.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong legislature responded to
the protesters’ calls to slow the bill down
by...speeding it up.
And Hongkongers responded to that
by calling for more protests on Wednesday, June 12—
when the bill is due to be read again in the legislature.
That’s not all, though.
Some people are shutting down their businesses on Wednesday
because...they love the extradition bill so much.
And that’s a big deal because everyone says that
Hongkongers never stop working.
One woman even created a facebook event
saying she’s going on a picnic Wednesday.
At a park right outside the Hong Kong legislature.
And invited people to join her.
And 12 thousand people said they would.
I mean, who doesn’t love a picnic?
What’s that, Shelley?
Apparently the Hong Kong government doesn’t love picnics.
They’ve closed off the public park for “maintenance”
And they’ve also closed off the legal protest area
right outside the legislature.
Somehow I don’t think that’s going to stop people from protesting.
So what do you think about the Hong Kong protests?
Leave your comments below.
And before I go,
it’s time to answer a question from a member
of my China Uncensored 50-Cent Army—
the fans who support the show
through the crowdfunding website Patreon.
Natalia Thunderbrook—
who asked that we don’t use her real name—asks:
“Chris, how did you come to care so much about China?
Why are you a prophet sounding the alarm from the walls,
risking the ire of YouTube and the CCP’s nefarious agents?
Good question.
But really the question is,
why shouldn’t everyone care about China?
The Chinese Communist Party and its nefarious agents
are infiltrating so many countries around the world,
including the United States.
And if that sounds far-fetched,
consider this:
Name one Hollywood film made in the last 10 years
where communist China is portrayed as the enemy.
Name one TV network news show that consistently reports on
how Chinese state hospitals are killing dissidents for their organs.
Name one major tech company that has publicly stated
it doesn’t want any involvement in China.
You probably can’t.
And that’s because many of the elite in the United States
have bought into the promise of the China market,
and are willing to ignore all the terrible things happening there.
Now I’m not claiming claiming I’m some kind of prophet.
I just thought it would be fun to stand up to
the world’s largest and best-funded authoritarian regime,
using only the power of sarcasm and small contributions
from Patreon supporters like you.
Thanks for your question.
And thank you for watching.
If you’d like to support China Uncensored,
visit Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored,
and pledge a dollar or more per episode.
Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.
Thanks for watching China Uncensored.
See you next time.