Noose Tightens on Hong Kong as China Blocks Shipments to City
A recently discovered order from the communist Chinese government hints that the mainland is beginning to tighten the noose around the city of Hong Kong, and the implications aren’t good.
According to the South China Morning Post, Chinese customs officials have put a ban on certain goods being shipped into Hong Kong from China.
The list of restricted goods appears to be a response to the protests rocking the city, with a July notice from the courier company PHXBUY noting that China has banned shipping companies from delivering “yellow helmets, yellow umbrellas, flags, flagpoles, poster banners, gloves, masks, black T-shirts, me tal rods, fluorescent tubes, bludgeon clubs.”
An additional list posted last month prevents more goods from entering Hong Kong, including drones, binoculars and certain foodstuffs.
Banning even a small amount of food from entering Hong Kong trough China may not seem like a big deal, but the city imports 90 percent of the food it consumes, much of it from the mainland.
Even small restrictions on incoming food could have profound effects on the city’s psyche, serving as a grim reminder that the communist government wields a great deal of power over Hong Kong.
The city is so closely tied with Chinese food production that an especially cold winter in the mainland helped contribute to a roughly 30 percent rise in the cost of vegetables in Hong Kong.
While these bans may be intended to tighten the screws on the city in the hopes it will embrace communist rule, they could also be part of an attempt to destabilize Hong Kong.
According to Reuters, China has in recent months doubled troop levels in and around the city.
The soldiers are from the People’s Armed Police, an elite paramilitary force.
If targeting civilians seems too brutal of a move even for communist China, don’t be fooled.
The country put a similarly stubborn city through hell less than 75 years ago.
During the bloody civil war that gripped China, communist troops surrounded the nationalist stronghold of Changchun.
The Red Army allegedly prevented civilians from leaving the city so that the fort’s defenders would run out of supplies.
Between 150,000 and 300,000 people are believed to have died as a result before the red banner was raised over the defeated stronghold, according to The Epoch Times.
While Hong Kong’s international status may prevent a similar fate for citizens there, the Chinese government has repeatedly made it clear that they will not accept the port city’s independence.
As with Taiwan and territory in the South China Sea, the communist regime insists that it is the rightful ruler of Hong Kong.
The Chinese military has even begun turning the waters surrounding the nation into a defensive web, seemingly with the singular purpose of warding off an attack on the country from the United States.
Once complete, there’s not much that even the might of the U.S. Navy could directly do to retaliate against Chinese expansion.
While the resolve of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong continues to be a thorn in China’s side, it appears the patience of the communist regime is wearing thin.
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