Caring
- 2016-03-02
If we had the Chinese system in our nations, most of our populations would be where the HK booksellers are today. The HK people have been "missing" for reasons, so do not be "confused". It seems you're "missing" the point. Can you imagine advertising the arrests of those Hong Kong people who criticized Beijing in Hong Kong?
Paul Fox
- 2016-03-01
I'm confused.....if 4 of the 5 SAID they were arrested for illegal trading, how are they still 'missing'? Surely if they can tell people they have been arrested, they can also say where they are.....can't they? .....or am I missing something?
There's two sides to this one. Firstly they appear to have been accused of writing a book about the love-life of Xi Jing Ping and the authorities don't want it published (at least that what we have been told)
Secondly, China doesn't allow the same 'freedom-of-speech' that the west does
That said, the west has 'privacy laws' that make it virtually impossible to get any information about a person, even yourself sometimes - but China does not have such strict laws on privacy
So I guess the question regarding this book - Is it freedom-of-speech or invasion-of-privacy?
Bill Clinton lost his job because of a different kind of 'job' and Princess Diana was allegedly killed because she had a muslim boyfriend. What would happen to the Queen of England if someone published a book called 'I back-scuttled Betty in the bathroom when we were at school'?
Is it anyone's business? Does it affect the way they do their job? Do we really NEED to know about everyone's proverbial skeleton-in-the-closet?
I'm not saying that it's right that these guys have gone missing, but they WERE 'playing with fire' and sometimes you get burnt
Apparently, four out of five missing Hong Kong booksellers say they have been arrested for "illegal trading". The delayed and unclear information about the missing people suggests a worrying trend in the nation where one has to be careful about what s/he says. A billionaire may lose a quick 40 million for criticizing his government; an employee may be dismissed for providing his/her view on the company/school regardless where s/he comes from. This seems a tough nation to deal with and it ought to be well noted that speaking out may be one of the worst things to do here. Opening up to the Chinese market may have been one of the biggest mistakes of the modern era.