....These are not the words of friends or partners but of a government intent on breaking from the wider world. That has been going on for some time if the city’s slide down annual global rankings is any guide.
In the latest rankings of world cities by Bestcities.org, Hong Kong plunged from 19th to 42nd, with a report noting that it was hard to imagine why a foreigner would want to “visit a city where they could very easily be detained for wearing the wrong shirt”. In Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, Hong Kong fell from 73rd in 2019 to
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Before the national security law was introduced, I still had hope for the city. But in the wake of mass arrests, often on what appear to be spurious grounds, the rabid hubris of officials here and in Beijing, and the lack of awareness of the importance of diplomatic language, I am fast rethinking my position.
I’m starting to agree with a belief that we’re fast sliding and becoming a second-tier city alongside the likes of Wuhan and Hangzhou. The death knell will be sounded if any attempt is made to shut out or censor internet giants like Google, Facebook and
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