Five years ago, Western politicians applauded the "street protests" in Hong Kong. Today, the United Kingdom is experiencing similar unrest, with the most serious riots in 13 years spreading across the country. Elon Musk said that " civil War is inevitable". Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to suppress the violence with an iron fist, as the chaos escalates. After this battle, the British government may finally understand how ugly this "beautiful sight to behold" truly is.
Sir Keir Starmer warned today that anyone whipping up violence online will face “the full force of the law”, as instigators primarily use communication applications and social media. The lack of a "palpable" organization makes it difficult for the police to track them down.
Experts have already analyzed the pattern of this riot and found no single driving force, no specific organization, and no official leader either. Instead, through Telegram, other communication apps, and social media like X, instigators quickly mobilized the masses to "strike", coordinating actions in a "blitzkrieg" manner, catching the police off guard.
Experts noted that the British police initially used "old thinking," mistakenly assuming each operation required several days to stage and involved known far-right organizations. However, these operations have evolved, and now instigators can organize a riot in a few hours without a leader.
Political colleagues may recall that during the Hong Kong "black riots," most demonstrators received messages via Telegram and other communication apps, executing "flash mob" sabotage actions with a "hit-and-run" tactic against the police. Such mobility made it difficult for the police to trace the command source and network.
The second similarity is that the instigators spread numerous false information on social media to amplify public anger. An expert in information strategy tracked 27 million posts about immigrants and refugees after the child stabbing incident. Most posts consist of distorted truth. Some of them went as far as fabricating the name of the suspected killer, calling him an undocumented refugee who had been smuggled ashore while bellowing "When the intruder killed your daughter, you did nothing," which was highly emotive.
A friend in the politics circle recalled that during the "black riots" in Hong Kong, there too was a proliferation of fabricated false news that appeared true. For instance, there were claims that numerous demonstrators were massacred at Prince Edward Station and their bodies destroyed. Another example was the floating bodies found in the sea, which claimed to have been killed by the police, inciting hatred and stimulating more participation in riots. This method mirrors what the British far-right does today, driving many blind followers to vandalism.
After the outbreak, riots quickly spread to many other cities in the UK. The driving force behind this is complex, with a government adviser stating bluntly, "…hostile states are seizing on every incident to create misinformation and to fan the flames of British extreme actors." The presence of "troll factories" behind the riots is the third similarity with the "black riots" in Hong Kong. When external forces intervened in the "black riots," they were armed to teeth with propaganda, financial support, material supply, communication technology assistance, and even operational planning—all with the help of foreign hands.
The fourth similarity is that in the early days of the riots in the UK, the police lacked a special force to deal with the rioters, making it difficult to curb violent actions effectively, leading to widespread beatings. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the establishment of a "Standing Army" composed of special police officers to address the rising riots. In the early days of the "black violence" in Hong Kong, rioters ran amok, and the regular police force was insufficient. Ultimately, 'Raptors Squad,' composed of specially trained officers, was deployed, striking fear into the rioters. The British police's "Standing Army" may have been inspired by this.
The British government and politicians may never have imagined that the riots in Hong Kong and the UK would share so many details in common. Now that they have suffered from it, they finally understand that this " beautiful sight to behold" is not that beautiful after all.
Lai Ting Yiu
What Say You?
** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **
During the black riot, Guo Wengui, the "fraudulent businessman" who was discovered to be the financier, was eventually apprehended. A federal judge in Manhattan, New York, just found him guilty of conspiracy to defraud, money laundering, and nine other crimes, indicating that he defrauded thousands of followers out of a total of USD1 billion, and he is expected to serve decades in jail.
Friends in the political circle analysed several of Guo Wengui's "secret stories," demonstrating that the argument of an external source behind the anti-extradition law turmoil in 2019 is based on facts. He not only supported the Hong Kong independence movement, but he also collaborated with two political and business sharks in the United States, seeking to profit from the upheaval in Hong Kong. If this gamble had worked, the repercussions would have been disastrous.
Guo Wengui was convicted of scamming a billion US dollars. He and US political magnate Bannon colluded to put up the hoax, supporting the black riot behind the scenes while simultaneously injecting money into hedge fund billionaire Bass's fund, betting on Hong Kong's financial collapse.
Guo Wengui, who fled to the United States from mainland China, covertly established a "water hose" behind the scenes to provide financial assistance to Hong Kong independence activists. This information was initially revealed during a phone discussion with Leung Chung Hang, the convener of the "Hong Kong National Front." In the leaked portion, he commended Leung Chung Hang as a "hero" and stated that his action must continue, "If the momentum is lost this time, there will be no possibility of coming back."
Additionally, he said: "I promise you two things: first, I will continue to guarantee however much money is needed; second, I tell you that the United States will be handled by me and Bannon (former Chief Strategist of the White House), who has met with some of the top echelons of the United States."
Guo Wengui's assertion was not a casual remark. At the time, he was very close to Bannon, who was highly anti-China, and had secretly raised funding to support the anti-extradition law protests. That was merely the beginning; the ultimate goal was to bring down the Beijing regime.
He first met Bannon in 2017, and the two, characterised as "like-minded and equally nefarious," established a USD100 million fund to probe into corruption in China and support the "persecuted." By 2019, this fund has been the source of what he stated to Mr. Leung: "continue to guarantee however much money is needed."
Guo Wengui was introduced to hedge fund tycoon Bass through his association with Bannon at the time. This man is likewise very anti-China and has expressed pessimism about the Chinese economy. In 2017, he bet on the RMB’s considerable devaluation and engaged in large-scale short selling, incurring a loss.
When the black riot broke out in 2019, he established a fund to capitalise on the deteriorating instability in Hong Kong by short selling Hong Kong dollars in a large scale, expecting the fund to earn considerably from the financial collapse. Bass made high-profile public statements at the time, claiming that the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance would drive many foreign corporations to relocate, severely impacting the economy and exchange rate stability, and that the linked exchange rate system was "in imminent danger."
Did Bass fund the anti-extradition movement behind the scenes?
There is no evidence, but the more tumultuous Hong Kong's politics is, the better his chance of winning.
According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Saraca Media Group, GTV's parent firm with connections to Guo and Bannon, transferred $100 million to an undisclosed hedge fund at the time. Bloomberg, citing sources, reported that it was one of Bass' hedge funds. That is, the three men collectively gambled that the situation in Hong Kong would spiral out of control. With this in mind, and Guo and Bannon both expecting that the Hong Kong unrest would cause regime instability in Beijing, there is grounds to suspect that they surreptitiously supported the radicals to make Hong Kong as turbulent as possible. All three people desired that Hong Kong would be as chaotic as possible, with Guo Wengui and Bannon's ultimate goal being that the upheaval in Hong Kong would cause the Beijing regime to collapse. According to Bloomberg, even after enacting the Hong Kong National Security Law in 2020, the fund continued to wager that the linked exchange rate system would fail and the Hong Kong dollar and US dollar will decouple within a year and half.
Of course, the outcome was not as predicted. The Hong Kong-US dollar link remained unchanged, and Hong's financial system remains as stable as ever. The machinations and secret acts of Guo Wengui and the two political and business magnates demonstrate that during the 2019 black riot, the foreign hidden forces affecting Hong Kong were more powerful than we could ever perceive. Fortunately, Guo Wengui and Bannon eventually failed and lost their entire gamble. Otherwise, the outcome would have been awful.
Lai Ting Yiu
