February 28, 2005

You are on the invidual archive page of WTO in Hong Kong. Click Simon World weblog for the main page.
WTO in Hong Kong

While 5,000 anti-globalisation morons prepare to be met with Hong Kong's traditional greeting, the Government has been busy trumpeting the "benefits" of December's WTO meeting in the Big Lychee. The conference will bring an estimated HK$100 million in tourism receipts with 15,000 visitors. The event will cost HK$250 million to stage.

Work with me here: income = $100 million; cost = $250 million. The Government says Hong Kong has been facing fierce competition and needs to participate in more international events to boost its image. Even Harbourfest cost only $100 million to stage. Why not boost Hong Kong's image by not participating in these events. It would save us a fortune.

posted by Simon on 02.28.05 at 09:47 AM in the WTO category.




Trackbacks:

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blog.mu.nu/cgi/trackback.cgi/69005


Send a manual trackback ping to this post.

Organised Chaos
Excerpt: Yesterday we discussed the costs of staging the WTO meeting in Hong Kong this December. I was wrong. The comedy value from the protesters is worth the money alone.Protesters gearing up for the December World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong, a l...
Weblog: Simon World
Tracked: March 1, 2005 11:34 AM


Comments:

i'm confused on this one. your economic analysis is clearly right on, but this government is not always rational in that sense.

i'm more perplexed by the absence of media coverage of the anti-WTO planning conference. in the indymedia coverage, the civil reporters describes some strange scenes: a key speaker started rambling about how Fiji signed onto WTO without reading the text; the meeting ended with a singing of the Internationale. Throughout all that, the overall sense is that the police is begging the protest organizers to have mercy on them, because it is really not that fault. Really?

I want to be here when it happens.

posted by: eswn on 02.28.05 at 11:21 PM [permalink]

There was a bit on this in the SCMP this AM. Apparently, these leftists are saying that they won't control their more violent comrades if the Police decide to act against them. They told the HKSAR Gov't to "trust the demonstrators and to avoid any overreaction that might provoke more radical action by individual activists".

Trust the demonstrators? Sure, and I've got a genuine Rolex that I bought in TST off a street vendor. .. It really sounds like they think they are above the law, issuing threats to the HK Police.

I hope the HKSAR authorities spell it out plainly to them: "You start a fight, we will finish you. You think this is San Francisco?"

Or they could always consider deploying the PLA Garrison...

posted by: abraxis on 03.01.05 at 08:43 AM [permalink]

It's like a car accident - you can't bear to look but nor can you bear to look away.

The point is the protesters want the police to make arrests - that's how they generate publicity.

posted by: Simon on 03.01.05 at 10:04 AM [permalink]

Hmmmm. Not sure if they want that.

I think they want to show how impotent the "forces of globalization" are by showing them (leftists) running amok with the authorities being unable to stop them (like in Seattle and Italy).

That would show how "powerful" their cause is. All done for effect. They want the authorities to stand down. I don't think that there was ever a demonstration by these leftists where they were met by equal force (or the will to use it against them).

That's because they do these things where they have politicians and fifth columnsts that support them. They have leverage that way. Now, HK should be a different animal now because it's part of PRC. Like I said before, deploy the PLA and dare the leftists to start trouble...

At least your friend in the HKP makes it sound like they're ready. Hope they act accordingly when the time comes.

posted by: abraxis on 03.01.05 at 02:00 PM [permalink]

I am not sure if anyone in the HK Sar has the authority to mobilize the PLA garrison command in Hong Kong. As far as I am aware, the commander is subordinate to his superior officers in the Guangzhou military region and of course Beijing.

I maybe wrong on this though, and maybe the HK Chief executive can exercise authority over them.

posted by: Jing on 03.02.05 at 07:54 AM [permalink]




Post a Comment:

Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments:


Remember your info?










Disclaimer