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“[The govt is] left with so little legitimacy and social capital that citizens simply no longer believe it will act in their interests.”
HK’s handing of the #coronavirus crisis would be bad for any city; for a modern, global metropolis that weathered SARS, it’s an embarrassment. twitter.com/mbrookerhk/sta…
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Genting Cruise Lines’ vessel World Dream has docked at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Cruise Terminal after being turned away from Kaohsiung due to coronavirus concerns. Taiwanese authorities prohibited her from making her expected port of call yesterday having sailed from Guangzhou 24 Jan.
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As 1000s queue overnight for masks, this exchange:
“Thanks to Carrie Lam for giving me this opportunity.”
“Why?”
“I never thought I’d sleep out on the street to buy face masks.”
They may have lost hope and faith in their gov’t, but HKers haven’t lost their dark sense of humour.
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In the atrium of the upscale Landmark shopping mall in Central, a rally begins to support striking Hospital Authority staff and reiterate their demand that Hong Kong close its border with the mainland to stem the spread of #2019nC0V, which killed its first local victim today.
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Placing 60 million people on lockdown didn’t create panic, the US withdrawing some consular staff did. twitter.com/zlj517/status/…
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Hong Kong’s first #2019nCoV fatality has just occurred.
The 39-year-old victim, a Whampoa resident, suffered from heart failure this morning. He was diagnosed 31 January, the city’s 13th case.
【武漢肺炎．最新】首宗死亡個案 39歲住黃埔男病人心臟停頓 hk01.com/article/429654
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Macau has passed a law requiring all passengers aboard public transportation to wear face-masks from today to prevent the spread of #2019nC0V, joining Guangzhou.
Hong Kong’s government is still fighting a court appeal to impose a law banning face-masks.
hk01.com/%E7%A4%BE%E6%9…
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This is the scene outside Hong Kong’s Queen Mary Hospital, where medical workers are striking to demand the government close the city’s border with mainland China to contain the #WuhanCoronavirusOutbreak and provide adequate support for both hospital employees and regular HKs.
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1) That is unbelievably offensive.
2) Shanghai’s borders (not China’s) were open to Jews because it was a foreign-run open port that didn’t require visas or passports (what China condemns as “semi-colonialism") and the Japanese never bowed to Nazi requests to exterminate them. twitter.com/Jerusalem_Post…
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This is worse than it looks.
Even a normal baton strike (i.e. to the thighs/forearms) would be against regulation, as it is reserved for meeting “active aggression.”
But leaked police training manuals show that a strike to the head is in fact “deadly force”—same as firearm use. twitter.com/leungjasminee/…
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Researchers at a Shenzhen hospital have just found #2019nCoV survives in the excrement of the infected. This strongly suggests fecal as well as respiratory transmission is possible, making a scenario like the infamous Amoy Gardens SARS outbreak possible.
weibo.com/2831150640/Ise…
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Members of the recently formed Hospital Authority employees’ union have voted to go on strike Monday over the government’s lack of action to curb the spread of #CoronaVirus. The motion passed by 3,123 versus 10.
The vote was broadcast live at street stations throughout the city.
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Hardly a soul in sight on Tsim Sha Tsui’s usually bustling, luxury shop-lined Canton Road on Saturday afternoon.
This is deader than I remember it ever getting over Hong Kong’s half a year of anti-government protests.
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The Hong Kong-mainland border crossings (marked 封) that will be closed from tomorrow to contain #nCoV2019 versus the far busier ones that will stay open. The entry points that will be closed account for only about 8% of arrivals from the mainland. Low-hanging fruit, to be sure.
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Notably, however, she made it clear that she hadn’t tightened restrictions herself—she had succeeded in requesting that Beijing temporarily cease using the permits. HKers are pointing to this as further proof they no longer control their own borders as promised in the Basic Law.
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This wouldn’t be a bad idea if the border were closed, so anyone already in HK who exhibits #nCoV2019 symptoms is not deterred from seeking treatment due to the potential cost and continues to infect others.
But as long as that’s not the case, it provides a perverse incentive. twitter.com/rthk_enews/sta…
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Guangdong province is requiring everyone wear a face mask in public or face fines, while the city of Shantou has closed its borders. HK officials are still refusing to wear masks or countenance a border closure as advocated by public health professionals.
hk01.com/article/426695
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HKU Prof Yuen Kwok-yung, who led the discovery of the SARS #coronavirus in 2003, says the coming days are our “last window of opportunity” to contain the #WuhanOutbreak, which has hit an attack rate of 83%, and calls on everyone in HK to wear face masks.
today.line.me/HK/article/L99…
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Watching today’s protests from Taiwan I’m shocked with how much I had, unconsciously, become desensitised over the months and accepted all this as normal. Sometimes it takes going to a functioning society with a legitimate government to remember that none of this is normal or OK. twitter.com/Reuters/status…
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Behold the racing outfits on display at today’s #HKstreetathon, one of the first road running competitions since the outbreak of the city’s pro-democracy protest movement not to have been cancelled.
Photos courtesy of Stands News and AM730.
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In her victory speech, incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen says the historic #TaiwanElection turnout shows “how much we treasure democracy and our country: the Republic of China Taiwan.” The name she used—「中華民國台灣」—is a subtle but significant shift in nomenclature.
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Over 8 million votes cast for President Tsai Ing-wen.
This is the biggest election landslide since Taiwan’s first presidential election in 1996.
#TaiwanElection
#Taiwan2020
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After all the ink spilled in the West about the unstoppable “march of authoritarianism” worldwide maybe we ought to be writing more about how the people of HK and Taiwan stood their ground and pushed right back this year.
And maybe the rest of the world ought to be behind them.
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How to solve months-long crisis of legitimacy that draws millions of angry citizens, HK-style:
1. Glue down/cement over paving stones so protesters can’t throw them
2. Remove rubbish bins so they can’t be used for roadblocks
3. Cage in every pedestrian walkway over a major road
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At one point last night I had to climb on top of a nearby building and film the reflections of detainees off Hysan Place because police blocked off Lee Garden Road. They could say they created the additional space for officers’ comfort and supporters would get behind it. Why lie? twitter.com/XinqiSu/status…
Managing Editor @cnmediaproject 中國傳媒研究計劃主編