Hong Kong: Consequences Of A Broken Agreement

The National Security Law has some important implications you may not realize.

After the British “returned” ownership of the city-state to China, Hong Kong enjoyed a couple decades of relatively autonomous rule.

It was technically considered to be a part of China but it was given its own system of rule. A large part of this independence came from the creation of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.

This is the origin of the famous term “One Country, Two Systems”.

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NOTE: If you want to just read the summary of the video, you should know that the transcript of the entire video is 30% too long to fit in the description box. I've had to remove some important details to upload this video.
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I list out some of the crazy examples in the video like how it’s now illegal to carry around blank pieces of paper. Seriously. Apparently carrying blank pieces of paper is considered a "threat to national security".

If anyone within Hong Kong’s borders (important note: This applies to non-citizens and non-permanent residents as well) is suspected of being a dissenter, he’ll be whisked away to Beijing for a private trial held behind closed doors.

What’s more, The National Security Law is written in a way that gives Beijing, not Hong Kong the power of interpretation. Meaning even if the alleged dissenter is lucky enough to have his trial take place in Hong Kong, the Communist Party can still override the trial’s ruling with one of their own.

Beijing gave themselves the authorization to create whatever laws they want, interpret those laws to suit their own needs, and then use their own government agents to enforce their interpretations of those laws.

In other words, everybody in Hong Kong must now kowtow to the communist party or risk life in prison. Jimmy Lai, a well known journalist was recently arrested as a result of this law so nobody is safe.

And on top of this, the law was passed by the Communist Party in the dead of night without the knowledge of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council.

So in one fell swoop, Beijing turned the compromise of “one country, two systems” into essentially “one country, one system”. Beijing will be calling the shots. All in the name of "maintaining national security".

Hong Kong is the 3rd largest financial sector in the world. Only coming in behind New York which is home to the New York Stock Exchange- the exchange which trades the largest companies in the world. And London, which is the financial hub for nearly all of Europe.

China has benefited immensely from its proximity to Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Many of the giant Chinese corporations that have blown up in the recent decades are listed in Hong Kong such as Huawei, The Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings.

A cause of Hong Kong’s massive economic prosperity is due to its proximity to mainland China.

The Chinese companies (including state owned companies like) benefit by opening up investing opportunities to investors around the world. A portion of that investment stays in Hong Kong as a fee for being the middleman between the Chinese companies and the international investors.
It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement for everyone involved.

However….

The attitude towards Chinese companies has taken a dip lately. Frequent scandals involving varying degrees of fraud are causing investors to eye Chinese companies in a more critical light.

Investors don’t like this kind of volatility. We prefer to keep our monies in safe, predictable investments that aren’t involved in a culture which allows ¾ of a company’s valuation to evaporate at the of the finger (btw this is the part in the video where I do an impressive snap using four fingers on my left hand. You should scroll back up if you’re just hanging out down here to read the transcript).

The National Security Law will add a whole new level of political and economic instability to the region.

Lots of famous Hong Kongers have already moved out of the city-state. The exact number is unknown since the data isn't tracked but popular destinations appear to be the U.K., Canada, and Taiwan. The U.K. has offered sanctuary, Canada has historically been a popular place for Hong Kongers. And Taiwan (which is right off the coast of China- just 400 miles away from Hong Kong) shares many cultural similarities including a distrust towards Mainland China and the governing Communist Party.

There are also three different groups of individuals who are choosing to stay in Hong Kong! Watch the video to learn why they're staying despite the implementation of the National Security Law. The transcript part of this was more than 1,000 characters long which was too long to fit into the description.

Chapters:
0:29 One Country, Two Systems
0:50 One Country, One System
2:48 Mass Exodus (Money)
4:33 Mass Exodus (People)

Also I apologize for if there are any mid-roll ads in this video. I told YouTube I didn't want any but I don't think they're listening to me?

[komodochiya]

I think a mixture of both world stuff like this and fun quirky facts at the same time would be the best system :)

Love your content 💜

[channels]

What do you all think of me doing more videos on current world events like this? Or should I stick to my usual content on fun, quirky facts? A mixture of both? You decide!

Also I'm, 99% certain that this video doesn't have any midroll ads. It isn't long enough to qualify for midrolls and I told YouTube I don't want any midroll ads, but they still defaulted that box in my monetization settings to being checked off. And I can't seem to uncheck it? Let me know if you experience any midroll ads here.

[christopherohlerich]

this is some pretty critical information to really understanding whats going on over there, and the technicalities of their situation. you're doing good work man, thank you

[CoffeePoints]

This video is a little bit longer than the normal content, but it's all important information which makes sense :)