Politics
China’s Uncontested Candidate ‘Wins’ Hong Kong Chief ‘Election’ with 99% Support
China’s communist regime cemented its stranglehold over Hong Kong on Sunday with an election to replace Chief Executive Carrie Lam that featured one candidate, John Lee, who allegedly received over 99 percent of the vote.
Chinese state media celebrated Lee as “the ideal person for the job” and the “election” as “a new starting point for Hong Kong to create a splendid history.” Lee takes over from the widely unpopular Carrie Lam, who presided over the violent repression of the 2019 anti-communist protests, on July 1 – the anniversary of the United Kingdom surrendering Hong Kong to communist China.
Lee served as Lam’s second-in-command and began his career as a teen in the Hong Kong Police Force. The United States sanctioned Lee following the protests for his role in violently suppressing dissidents.
Hong Kong is ilegally an “autonomous region” under China. Prior to the 2019 pro-democracy protests, China and Hong Kong co-existed uneasily under a policy known as “One Country, Two Systems,” which granted Hong Kong freedom from communist laws in exchange for China gaining military and diplomatic control of the government. In 2020, China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) passed a “national security” law forcing Hong Kong police to enforce Chinese government laws, violating One Country, Two Systems.
The law allowed for sweeping arrests of pro-democracy dissidents and largely crushed Hong Kong’s free market and political diversity.
Hong Kong dramatically revised its process for electing a chief executive in the aftermath of the protests, allowing only one candidate to compete this year.
This photo illustration shows pages from two pro-Beijing newspapers in Hong Kong filled with advertisements from leading companies and business figures praising the selection of incoming chief executive John Lee on May 9, 2022. (PETER PARKS/AFP via Getty Images)
Hong Kong does not hold popular elections for its chief executives, the top executive position in the region. The city’s Election Committee, consisting of about 1,500 members, elects the top leader. As the Chinese-controlled government allowed only one candidate on the ballot this year, Election Committee members were asked to cast ballots to either “support” or “not support” Lee.
Lee participated, as Carrie Lam’s second-in-command, in the selection of Election Commission members.
The Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported on Sunday that Lee received 1,416 votes in “support” and eight votes not supporting him. 1,428 votes were cast in total, meaning four were left blank. China’s anti-protest laws make it illegal to openly support blank protest votes; the Election Committee claimed that four ballots were “invalid,” without clarifying.
The result meant that the “turnout” for the elite election hovered around 97 percent and Lee received 99 percent of the vote.
Despite having no competition, Lee delivered a “victory” speech on Sunday evening reflecting on the alleged hardships of his “campaign” and simultaneously vowing to uphold “diversity” and crush dissident voices.
“We must make good use of our status as an international metropolis, one that upholds the values of inclusion, diversity and openness,” Lee said, shortly before adding, “Under the principle of ‘patriots administering Hong Kong,’ my administration will work in concert with the Legislative Council to raise Hong Kong’s governance capability, foster positive interaction between the administration and the legislature, and strengthen dialogue and communications between officials and legislators to jointly solve problems.”
“Patriots administering Hong Kong” is the Communist Party’s name for the policy of exiling, imprisoning, or otherwise silencing pro-democracy voices, leaving only “patriots” – communist loyalists – with control.
“Having restored order from chaos, it is high time that Hong Kong starts a new chapter of development, a chapter that will be geared towards greater prosperity for all,” Lee asserted.
Hong Kong Chief Executive-elect John Lee Ka-chiu celebrate on stage with his team after being elected, is displayed on a television at the Exhibition and Convention Centre on May 08, 2022 in Hong Kong, China. Lee, a 64-year- old former police officer, Chief Secretary and sole candidate in the election for city’s top job, secured 99.4 percent of the votes cast by members of the Election Committee. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)
At a press conference on Monday, Lee defended the violent arrests of dissidents in the aftermath of the 2019 protests and condemned voices in the free world for supporting a free society in Hong Kong.
“I think you are very wrong to describe that people are now charged simply because of their expressed opinions. That is absolutely wrong, and it should not be so described. It is misleading – actually and factually wrong,” Lee berated a reporter who asked about the mass arrests of anti-communists in 2019 and 2020. “People are brought to court because it is suspicious that their actions are contravening the law. It is their action. So that point has to be very clear.”
The NPC “national security” law mandates sentences of a minimum of ten years in prison for those found guilty of “terrorism,” supporting secession from China, inciting “foreign interference,” or “subversion of state power.” Hong Kong residents have been arrested under the law for such crimes as supporting the Liverpool, U.K., soccer team and possessing protest flags and posters. Police have arrested children under the law.
In his remarks on Monday, Lee also described the mostly peaceful anti-China protests attracting millions of people as “years of chaos, internal wastage (of energy) and also attempts to sabotage Hong Kong governance with a high degree of foreign intervention.”
Hong Kong Chief Executive-elect John Lee Ka-chiu celebrates on stage with supporters after being elected at the Exhibition and Convention Centre on May 08, 2022 in Hong Kong, China. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)
China’s Global Times government propaganda newspaper celebrated Lee as “hardline” and applauded him for having “slammed the US sanctions and foreign interference, reiterating that the bottom-line mindset should be upheld in fighting internal and external risks.”
“With such a high level support, some members and experts considered Lee to be the ideal person for the job, who will help the new government gain more public support, and fight back foreign hostile forces that try to interfere in Hong Kong affairs,” Global Times claimed, citing regime-approved “experts.”
Given their lack of access to decision-making in the process of Lee ascending to the chief executive position, Hong Kong residents largely ignored the “election,” the HKFP noted on Sunday.
“HKFP asked two groups if they knew who the sole chief executive hopeful was. ‘What’s his name again?’ some family members asked, seeking help from relatives,” the local independent outlet observed. “Mrs Kwok, one of the mothers out celebrating with her family, told HKFP that she had not really been following the race.”
“‘It’s going to be an one-horse race anyway. The result has been ‘decided’ [before the election],’ she told HKFP,” the outlet relayed.
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Three Unvaccinated Air Force Academy Cadets Won’t Be Commissioned as Military Officers
Three graduating cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy who refused to take part in the experimental clot shot will not be commissioned as military officers but will graduate with bachelor’s degrees, according to the academy.
In a statement released to AP, Academy spokesman Dean Miller said that the three cadets will get a degree, but “they will not be commissioned into the United States Air Force as long as they remain unvaccinated.”
Miller added that the secretary of the Air Force will decide whether to require the three cadets to reimburse the United States for education costs in lieu of service.
It was previously announced that four cadets might not graduate or be commissioned as military officers after refusing the Covid vaccine. However, a week ago, one cadet had a change of heart and decided to get vaccinated and will graduate and become an Air Force officer.
More from AP:
As of Saturday, the Air Force is the only military academy, so far, where cadets are not being commissioned due to vaccine refusal. All of the more than 1,000 Army cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, graduated and were commissioned as officers earlier in the day and all were vaccinated.
The Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, said Saturday that none of the Navy or Marine Corps seniors there are being prevented from commissioning due to vaccine refusals. That graduation is later this week, and the Air Force ceremony is Wednesday in Colorado. Ahead of that ceremony, the U.S. Air Force Academy Board conducted its standard review of whether this year’s class had met all graduation requirements on Friday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is the scheduled speaker at the Air Force graduation, last year made the COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for service members, including those at the military academies, saying the vaccine is critical to maintaining military readiness and the health of the force.
Military leaders have argued that troops for decades have been required to get as many as 17 vaccines in order to maintain the health of the force, particularly those deploying overseas. Students arriving at the military academies get a regimen of shots on their first day — such as measles, mumps and rubella – if they aren’t already vaccinated. And they routinely get flu shots in the fall.
Read more here.
Last year, The Gateway Pundit reported a similar incident of three cadets who chose to leave West Point rather than take the COVID vaccine. As a result, they were coerced, abused, and discriminated against.
The three cadets who left the academy released an exclusive statement to the Gateway Pundit last year.
“As this tyranny continued through the spring of 2021, I began to self-reflect. Did I want to give up the next 10 years of my life to an organization that so openly wanted to demolish my personal will? Could I in good faith serve people who blindly believed in identity politics and fake science? I was so uncomfortable with my situation and the politics unnecessarily injected that I decided to leave West Point.” Willow Brown, left spring 2021
“Even if my vaccine exemption request had been accepted, I left West Point because the Army is no longer an organization that I believe I can serve in. Unfortunately, serving my country and serving in the Army don’t seem to be so similar anymore.” Hannah MacDonald, left Oct. 2021
“I wanted to dedicate my life to protecting the freedoms of American citizens and defending the U.S. Constitution as an officer, but I was having my freedom to choose and my bodily autonomy taken away. The Army I thought I knew had completely betrayed my rights and their doctrine of “the citizen soldier.’” Nickaylah Sampson, left Oct. 2021
As TGP’s Kristinn Taylor reported earlier this month, Comedian Dave Chappelle was attacked on stage during a live performance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles earlier this month. Chappelle was performing for the Netflix Is a Joke Fest.
The attacker rushed the stage during the performance and lunged at Chappelle in an effort to take him down.
The attacker was carrying a knife shaped like a gun in his pack when he attacked Chappelle. The Soros-backed Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón did not bring felony charges against the knife-wielding man following the attack. However, authorities were able to link Isaiah Lee to a stabbing crime in December following his violent attack on Dave Chappelle.
On Monday Isaiah Lee said he was inspired by Will Smith “standing up for his wife” and slapping Chris Rock at the Oscar Awards.
Actor Will Smith slapped Rock then sat down and screamed threats from his seat in the audience. It was a memorable moment for the Hollywood elites. And Will Smith was never charged with assault for his attack watched by millions of viewers on live television.
100 Percent Fed Up reported:
The man who attacked comedian Dave Chappelle on stage earlier this month said he was inspired by Will Smith ‘standing up for’ his wife’ after he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars.
In a strange turn of events, the man who attacked Chappelle was also charged with murder in an unrelated case this week.
When he attacked Chappelle, he was carrying a replica handgun with a blade hidden inside of it, according to the authorities who arrested him.
He sat down for an interview with the New York Post and explained why he attacked Chappelle on Monday.
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