Re: Speaking of Hong Kong Freedom under China

["Alan G. Isaac" <aisaac@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 21 Apr 2001, Henry C.K. Liu wrote:
> You wrote: I can understand how dismayed you must be by China's
> imperialistic handling of Hong Kong, Henry.  The entry of the
> People's Liberation Army (lovely euphemism!) in 1997 must have been
> quite a shock to anyone in the least concerned with human liberty .
> One can reasonably conclude that you prefer British
> imperialism/colonialism to Chinese sovereignty for Hong Kong, even
> when China permits HK to remain capitalistic and retain its legal
> infrastructure.

You conclude that I prefer British to Chinese imperialism when it
comes to Hong Kong.  At the turn of *this* millennium, I probably do,
if I had to choose between the two.  But of course, as you well know,
what I prefer is democratic self-determination of the citizens of Hong
Kong, and I have no intention of apologizing for British crimes and
midemeanors.

You, on the other hand, are consistently indifferent to the desires of
the people of Hong Kong or Taiwan.  I await the day when you will
say that the desires of the people of Taiwan should have any bearing
on the ultimate fate of Taiwan.  Of course I won't hold my breath.

> As for Hong Kong's loss of academic freedom, until 1997, for 150 year, text
> books in Hong Kong schools referred to the Opium War as a trade dispute
> between China and Britain over the destruction of British property (when
> China confiscated opium smuggled from India by British interests.)

Henry, *You* supplied that article that discussed the recent decline of
academic freedom in Hong Kong.  I condemn limits on academic freedom
under any system.  You only condemn them when the limits are not
imposed by China. Not very pretty.

Alan