Tornado Alley (PROG)

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Donald Trump Business Conflicts Further Degrade US Credibility On China | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

"Hong Kong Protesters Apologize After Chaos at Airport
China doesn’t understand Hong Kong’s protests. That’s a big mistake."

MSNBC
Published on Aug 14, 2019

Rachel Maddow looks at reports that a Trump real estate project in Indonesia is intertwined with Chinese businesses, casting a pallor of corruption over Trump's flaccid response to pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

Is short, and well worth a watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ACtbQFCHZc

Maddow sees Hong Kong democracy demonstrations as a new movie. In China's present massing of military might, with Chinese troops in training
shouting "fall back, fall back", in English, she sees China jumping to the end of the script. Not only a show of force, but what looks a lot like a threat.

Meanwhile in Russia

Russia’s protests continue to grow — in a major warning to Vladimir Putin
By Vladimir Kara-Murza
DemocracyPost contributor
August 15 at 12:07 PM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/15/russias-protests-continue-grow-major-warning-vladimir-putin/

and, two from the video

Russia Orders Evacuation of Village Near Site of Nuclear Explosion
By Andrew E. Kramer
Aug. 13, 2019
MOSCOW — The Russian authorities on Tuesday announced the evacuation of the village nearest to the site of a nuclear accident in northern Russia, suggesting dangers more grave than initially reported.
P - The still-mysterious episode last week killed seven people and released radiation, apparently when a small nuclear reactor malfunctioned during a test of a novel type of missile near a naval weapons testing site.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/world/europe/russia-nuclear-explosion-accident.html

Another Russian nuclear accident seems to be characterized by lies
By Editorial Board
August 13
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/its-not-chernobyl-but-russia-must-be-transparent-about-its-latest-nuclear-accident/2019/08/13/3f9cd54c-bd3b-11e9-a5c6-1e74f7ec4a93_story.html

So while hands-off Present Trump is wishing the best to both sides (sounds familiar, eh) of the Hong Kong conflict (with a nod,
guessing likely to both sides in Russia too) his hands-on sons are working on Trump family moolah making in Indonesia, for one.

From video:

Trump Indonesia Real Estate Project Gets Chinese Government Ally


A road is being built in Indonesia from Jakarta to Lido, the planned location for a theme park linked to companies with business interests
tied to President Trump. Bay Ismoyo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Alexandra Stevenson and Richard C. Paddock

May 15, 2018

[...]

Both the theme park and the Trump-branded hotel and 18-hole golf course are being developed by the billionaire Hary Tanoesoedibjo, head of the MNC Group, and packaged together as part of a splashy $500 million complex called Lido City that it has marketed as an “integrated lifestyle resort and theme park.”

Hatunggal Muda Siregar, a spokesman for MNC, said the theme park and the Trump properties are separate projects within the Lido development. The agreement with the Chinese company to build the theme park does not include any financing for the project, he said.

The company will use a different contractor to build the Trump resort at Lido and a second Trump resort and golf course on Bali, he said. The company has its own resources to finance the resort projects, he added.

There isn’t any evidence that the agreement with the construction company was intended to sway the Trump administration on any matters. Still, Mr. Trump has threatened China with tariffs on $150 billion in Chinese-made goods if it doesn’t back away from plans to use state support to finance a new generation of high-tech industries.

[...]

There is no indication that the president or the Trump Organization was involved in helping arrange the Chinese role in the Lido City project. The deal was first reported by Agence France-Presse.

[...]

Mr. Trump’s business dealings in Indonesia prompted scrutiny even before his inauguration, and he pledged not to embark on any new deals while in office. But the Trump Organization held onto the projects in Indonesia, saying the contracts with Mr. Hary were signed in 2015 and were binding.

Mr. Trump has reported receiving between $2 million and $10 million in royalties from the project. In 2016, Mr. Trump said he received $380,952 in management fees from the projects, according to his most recent financial disclosure.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/world/asia/trump-hotel-china-indonesia.html

Related:

Indonesian firm cancels Chinese loan for its Trump project

by The Associated Press
Posted Aug 13, 2019 2:51 am PDT

JAKARTA, Indonesia — U.S. President Donald Trump’s son and his Indonesian business partner say a theme park that also features a Trump hotel and condos will no longer have Chinese financing.

Donald Trump Jr. said Tuesday at a news conference in Jakarta that his father is not involved in Trump-branded resorts in West Java and Bali.

In a move that alarmed Trump critics, MNC Land, the Indonesian company that is developing the theme park owned by billionaire Hary Tanoesoedibjo, said in May that it has hired a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned Metallurgical Corp. to build the park at its Lido City development outside Jakarta.

Tanoesoedibjo said the Trump Organization has nothing to do with the theme park and his company has cancelled a Chinese bank’s loan for the project.

The Associated Press

https://www.citynews1130.com/2019/08/13/indonesian-firm-cancels-chinese-loan-for-its-trump-project/

-

Back to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong protests: Satellite photos show scale of China's military build-up near border

Updated Thu at 12:24pm

Satellite photos show what appear to be Chinese armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles parked in a sports complex in the city
of Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong, in what some have interpreted as a threat from Beijing to use increased force against protesters.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-15/satellite-photos-chinese-armoured-vehicles-shenzhen-hong-kong/11415740

-

China Blog - Hong Kong protest: What is mainland China hearing?

By Beijing bureau BBC News
16 August 2019

[...]

In early July, media published their first stories about the demonstrations after protesters broke in to the Legislative Council, Hong Kong's parliament. Xinhua, the state-run news agency, criticised "lawless acts that caused mass destruction, which was shocking, distressing and infuriating", citing the Hong Kong Liaison Office of the central government.

A second round of coverage on the protest rolled out when the Liaison Office was besieged in late July.

* What graffiti says about Hong Kong's evolving anger
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-48836048

* In pictures: HK protesters storm parliament
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-48829298

The official line has highlighted moments of violence, with words like clashes, mobs and riots, fanning mainland public anger.

Over the past week, coverage has focused on protesters throwing petrol bombs and causing injuries to police.

Much of the attention in Hong Kong media has been on a female protester whose eye was injured during clashes.


Eye patches have been adopted as a symbol of protests

Both sides were hurling projectiles, so it is unclear whether her injury was caused by police or demonstrators. Protesters blame police, but CCTV reported on Monday, with a firm tone, that the injury was caused by a fellow protester. It even posted a photo which showed a woman counting cash .. http://m.news.cctv.com/2019/08/12/ARTIZFDwhpv8u9PFBzzWbYhP190812.shtml , and reported suggestions that this was the same woman and a paid provocateur.

Videos of armed police assembling in the neighbouring city of Shenzhen, on the mainland, were circulating by state media as well, as well quotes from the Chinese government's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office warning that the movement had laid the foundations for "terrorism" .. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-49348462 . Some have seen this as preparing the public for a potential crackdown by Beijing, even by armed police.

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-49354507

-

Finally a reminder

The term Two Chinas refers to the current geopolitical situation of two political entities each calling themselves "China":[1]

* China People's Republic of China (PRC), commonly known as "China", established in 1949, controlling mainland China and two special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau.

* Taiwan Republic of China (ROC), now commonly known as "Taiwan" but originally as "China" when it controlled mainland China from its establishment in 1912 to 1949, when it retreated to the island of Taiwan. Since the end of 1949, when it lost control of mainland China in the Chinese Civil War, the ROC has controlled only Taiwan and some nearby island groups. The ROC lost its status as representing "China" in the United Nations in 1971.

[...]

Current situation

The People's Republic of China (which administers mainland China) and the Republic of China (which administers Taiwan) do not officially recognize each other's sovereignty. The official position of the governments of both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China remains that there is only one sovereign entity of China, and that each of them represents the legitimate government of all of China—including both mainland China and Taiwan—and the other is illegitimate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Chinas

there are two governments in China. Two governments, each claiming sovereignty.

See also:

The Google Machine is a wonderful thing. So is paying attention while not looking through a RW filter.
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Waning of American Power? Trump Struggles With an Asia in Crisis
P - "Trump has been saying all week that he’s not a racist.
And then he does this speaking at a fundraiser last night.
P [ Trump also made fun of US allies South Korea, Japan and the European
Union — mimicking Japanese and Korean accents — and talked about his love of dictators Kim Jong Un and the current ruler of Saudi Arabia."
P - The Trump administration has taken a hands-off approach to conflicts — from Kashmir to Hong
Kong to the rivalry between Japan and South Korea — as Asian officials escalate the battles.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=150508461