I don't know why we bother, the hatred of all things CCP China is strong in that one.
I mean here we are talking about the national security law set by China and Hong Kong. The same cessation law exist in america as you pointed out, with four years of bloody war to boot. Yet China is the one being singled out as the bogeyman.
And how does he do that, by pointing out independence party exist in other countries such as Spain, Canada and the UK. Yet deliberately misleading members here about the freedom and democracy that goes with their independence movement.
Some freedom and democracy when the ruling parties gets the FINAL say as in the recent Spanish referendum. And all those participated are now a wanted criminal. Because....... the Spanish government didn't authorised it!
With regards to the Scottish referendum. Again, the whole of the UK has to authorised it. And if they don't, there's no referendum. The very fact they had been authorised in the past is because the central government knew they are going to win. See how is all stack against them. This is the reason why the Spanish referendum was "illegal" because the central government knew it was going to loose!
Our friend keeps harping on about CCP China making independence party illegal act. Well, perhaps he should come out and spoke up about independence is illegal in the USA. Then we could take him seriously. But as it is, it's always CCP China is wrong. Everyone else in the west is right, even if it does the same thing. The double standards and hypocrisy is strong!
With regards to Quebec. There was a similar question whether a "Yes" vote actually meant Quebec could separate without the rest of the country's approval. Furthermore, there were further complications by Aboriginal groups who are technically "sovereign nations" under Canadian Law who did not trust the Quebec government (they don't trust the Federal government already). They had threatened to declare their own independence from Quebec should a "Yes" vote actually meant separation. This was a contentious issue as most of Quebec's electricity was generated on Aboriginal territories. Finally, there was an issue whether the military would receive orders to withdraw, and how to deal with French-Canadian members. French-Canadians form a significant part of the Canadian military. Finally, there were economic issues as well. Quebec would have no currency, and since they had received "equalization" payments (other provinces gave Quebec money under federal oversight), other provinces felt they were "owed" this money back.
(As an aside, there is a Canadian military "MRE" (IMP) called Chinese-style beef macaroni. How is macaroni Chinese you may ask? It is actually a popular Quebec Chinese restaurant dish, so basically it's comfort food for French-Canadian soldiers)
So basically any implication that separation was just a matter of voting and saying your good byes is a gross oversimplification at best.
Furthermore, the current provincial government is not a pro-independence party. In fact, they specifically disavow separatism for the purpose of getting the best deal for Quebec. When the separatist party was in power, the interests of Quebec were actually harmed since whatever majority party formed the federal government essentially ignored Quebec. Now that the Quebec political situation is more settled and stable, they have been enjoying a lot of economic growth.
