Thanks for the article and the warning, Helen. China is a fascinating country, and I'm glad I got to visit there in 2016 before Xi showed his true colors and people had more freedom. Our excellent tour guide would always say China had freedom of speech, but only on the bus. She also loved Hong Kong and told me she wished all Chinese cities were free the way it was.
But I imagine the tour buses are bugged as well these days (and hope she's okay; she was a good person and honest). I wouldn't go to China today for the reasons you said. It's just too risky. If Beijing could pressure Marriot Hotels to fire a night clerk in Omaha for retweeting a defense of Hong Kong, it could arrest any tourist it wants for any arbitrary reason it chooses. Sad but true. So I'll never be able to see China or even Hong Kong again. And I wouldn't invest in any Chinese companies, either.
Thanks for the article and the warning, Helen. China is a fascinating country, and I'm glad I got to visit there in 2016 before Xi showed his true colors and people had more freedom. Our excellent tour guide would always say China had freedom of speech, but only on the bus. She also loved Hong Kong and told me she wished all Chinese cities were free the way it was.
But I imagine the tour buses are bugged as well these days (and hope she's okay; she was a good person and honest). I wouldn't go to China today for the reasons you said. It's just too risky. If Beijing could pressure Marriot Hotels to fire a night clerk in Omaha for retweeting a defense of Hong Kong, it could arrest any tourist it wants for any arbitrary reason it chooses. Sad but true. So I'll never be able to see China or even Hong Kong again. And I wouldn't invest in any Chinese companies, either.
Here's more evidence why we cannot trust our elite to tell the truth. As late as May this year, BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, was bullish about Chinese stocks and bonds. https://www.afr.com/markets/debt-markets/blackrock-is-bullish-on-china-stocks-and-bond-etfs-20230524-p5dasx
Agree!