Internal Affairs (2014), documentary and script
Occupy Central was a disastrous turning point in Hong Kong's history. Organiser Benny Tai sums up the idiotic movement: "Are you willing to give up some of your freedom in order to achieve democracy?"
Note: I started this six months before brainless students led by prime idiot Joshua Wong went on the rampage, invading CGO then shutting down Admiralty. That’s why both Benny Tai and Longhair still have hair when interviewed. Benny Tai shaved his off for no apparent reason. Longhair - the smartest of the interviewees - got a trim during the one month in prison between being interviewed and the protests.
Emily Lau was useless to interview as she was more interested in some school kids visiting LegCo at the time.
Martin Lee was polite but annoyed with my questions. I was probably the first Western journalist not to shower him with praise. He’s not quite as much of a scumbag as Jimmy Lai, seen sitting next to him in a shot where they’re both wearing masks. Lai was one of the funders of the movement, paying for crates of water, gas masks and snacks, which were piled up at strategic places along the dual carriageway the protesters lived in for weeks.
During the 2019 riots, Lai was probably the guy paying protesters to attack police. He is a repulsive character and deserves to rot in prison for the crimes against his own people. It was obviously a bad idea from the start and was going to ruin the city. Imagine a bunch of millenials who have never had jobs, never paid tax or bills or lived anywhere else and think Hong Kong is terrible. In reality, it was one of the most modern, free, efficient, safe and - in some ways - cheap places in the world. Not any more, thanks to them and the 2019 rioters. The most annoying thing for me was that I had lived there since before they were born.
INTERNAL AFFAIRS PART ONE:
VO
There's a war going on around the world. It's unprecedented in size and scope, affecting millions, even billions of lives...only, many people are oblivious to it.
It's a war fought on battlefields, in the media, in corporate board rooms... and now, on the streets of Hong Kong.
UPSOUND PROTESTS
VO
To most people, Occupy Central is about issues that only affect locals, yet it is a pivotal moment in the global fight for power and resources and signals a dramatic turning point for the city.
023726 BENNY TAI
I think it's a time, it's a very critical time for Hong Kong people to make a choice that whether they think democracy is important.
023736
And not only that, we ask also are you willing to pay a price for that, that is, are you willing to give up some of your freedom in order to achieve democracy for Hong Kong.
003438 Martin lee
Now people may not all vote, but people want the right to vote....You may not eat chicken every day, but why should I take away from you, the right to eat chicken.
VO
If the politicians and press are to be believed, the people have spoken and their message is clear... they want democracy and are prepared to fight for it.
000151 EMILY LAU
I have said for quite some time that it seems the Beijing government is now regretting that they had actually said Hong Kong could have democratic election in 2017.
LONGHAIR:
If somebody walked into your house and ate your food and drank the Coke in your fridge, you would not be polite. And it's not just a hamburger or a Coke. It's our fundamental rights. Would you say "Hello" and invite the people that broke into your house to join you for a meal? No, sorry.
VO
But are freedom and democracy really what are being fought for? Are the protesters being used for other means? Could this be the dawn of an era of unrest unlike the city has ever seen?
001249 EMILY LAU
We don't want a bloody revolution. I don't think Hong Kong people want to have turmoil like in Egypt or even in Thailand or Syria. No. People want peaceful, orderly protests.
FADE TO BLACK
UPSOUND MARTIN LEE AND ANSON CHAN ARRIVE BACK FROM UK TRIP AT AIRPORT, GROUP OF PEOPLE SHOUTING IN THE BACKGROUND.
VO
In July, veteran politician Martin Lee and former chief secretary Anson Chan visited Britain, where they told the former colonial rulers that Hong Kong looked off course, as far as the path to democracy agreed by Beijing and London in the 1980s was concerned.
003635 MARTIN LEE interview
So already delayed. And then Beijing is now saying "OK, I give you the vote for the Chief Executive election. But I pick the candidate for you. You are allowed to marry, I pick the wife for you." Come on, this is the 21st Century.
VO
Earlier in the year, Lee and Chan went to the US to update Washington on Hong Kong's affairs.
VO
But the reception laid on for them at the airport when they returned wasn't what they were expecting. To their embarrassment, the people waiting there were yelling “traitors”. It appeared to take a few seconds to sink in.
013923 REPORTER AT AIRPORT CHINESE BITE - DATE
(You've been accused of being a tell-tale instead of reflecting your opinions directly to the central government.)
MARTIN LEE CHINESE BITE
The Chinese government has been dragging its feet on the issue and now it's giving us a fake (universal suffrage).
EDIT (SHOT OF US/UK MEETING)
We think the international community has to be told.
EDIT 014345
After all, Hong Kong's well-being is China's.
VO
It was difficult for Lee to get his message across due to the noisy protesters.
003717 MARTIN LEE interview
Do you see that Beijing is now deliberately generating opposition? Normally, OK people demonstrate against the government, for different reasons. But it's only in dictatorships, or countries run by dictators that you find counter-demonstrators demonstrating for the government.
VO
Lee and Chan's excursions didn't go down well with Beijing, which accused the US and Britain of meddling in its affairs. It wasn't the first time Lee had made a trip to Washington, just the latest of many to brief American lawmakers and others.
2nd June 2003
Effectively if Beijing wants any organisation to be banned in Hong Kong, it can press the requisite button in Beijing and the rest would follow.
4th March 2004
Beijing must be persuaded to see democracy is the only possible future for Hong Kong.
REPORTER ASKING LEE QUESTION
(Some of the folks in Beijing have said this is not the right thing for the US to be doing to have you come here and testify and that it's a matter of internal affairs. How do you respond to that?)
VO (OBAMA AND XI MOUNTAIN RETREAT)
The mistrust between China and the US is mutual. Washington frequently raises red flags at Beijing's increased defence spending, which is a fraction of its own for a country that's much larger. The Chinese are concerned about the American “pivot to Asia”, the policy of shifting its forces east away from the disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and surrounding China.
VO
President Barack Obama has boosted bases in Japan and renewed Washington's vow to protect the country. He's made a new deal to station troops in the Philippines and even forged military ties with former arch-enemy Vietnam.
OBAMA
I'd like to welcome... Truong Tan Sang to the White House.
EDIT
We discussed the need for continued efforts to resolve peacefully maritime issues that have surfaced in the South China Sea.
VO
Now he's thinking about planting missile systems in South Korea.
Longhair
In the era of George Bush, they built up two immediately reactionary contingents. One was in the Middle East, one was in Europe. But now it's too much, so they build only one and a half, so the main one should stay in Asia, so now thats's why they come back to Asia.
EDIT
That's why the Sino-Japanese relationship turned very tight.
VO
The US wants to maintain its status as the world's sole superpower. China's rapid development is seen as a threat by hawks patrolling Washington's corridors of power. Similar moves are being made against Russia, with waves of anti-Moscow propaganda in the Western media and plans to put missile bases in Poland.
UPSOUND UKRAINE FIGHTING
VO
Currently, the West is blaming Russia for the civil war in Ukraine, which began after protesters overthrew the government in late February. The US State Department has been funding revolutionary movements in Ukraine for years so they can oust anyone who comes into power it doesn't like - it's the second time in 10 years.
13th December 2013, VICTORIA NULAND US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe
07:34 Courtesy US-Ukraine Foundation
All that is necessary to achieve the objectives of Ukraine’s European aspirations.
We have invested more than $5 billion to help Ukraine to achieve these and other goals that will ensure a secure, prosperous and democratic Ukraine.
VO
Two days earlier, Victoria Nuland was spotted handing out bread and cookies to protesters and riot police in Kiev.
NULAND TALKING TO OLD UKRAINIAN WOMAN
“We're here from America. Would you like some bread? Please take some...please.”
VO (NULAND/CLINTON LIBRARY SHOT)
She was later caught on tape insulting Europe during a phone conversation in which she discussed who among the protest leaders should run the new government after the imminent US-backed revolution. Support for regime change wasn't limited to Obama's administration.
13th December 20013 JOHN MCCAIN
I'm proud of the people of Ukraine and their steadfast efforts for democracy for their country.
VO MCCAIN ON STAGE AT RALLY IN SQUARE
Opposition Republican senator John McCain made several trips to Kiev and openly called for the overthrow of democratically-elected pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanucovich.
MCCAIN USING PHONE TO VIDEO PROTEST THROUGH A WINDOW LOOKING DOWN ON SQUARE
Do you see an American flag down there?
There'll be one somewhere.
VO
The US State Department also had a hand in the protests in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, funding and training the activists who ousted their leaders in the so-called Arab Spring.
LONGHAIR
They print the money in Wall Street in order to topple those governments.
EDIT
It's not entirely right. I don't support the U.S. policy. I don't think they're fond of democracy.
VO
Sowing the seeds of revolution are organisations like the National Endowment for Democracy, which was created in 1983 and is funded by the State Department. It's spent millions of dollars training thousands of activists from all over the world to evade authorities, organise protests and more. They attend training camps and are given access to technologies that can bypass government firewalls and send secure text and voice messages.
In 1991, one of the NED's founders said...
KEY ON “A lot of what we do was done 25 years ago covertly by the CIA.”
ALAN WEINSTEIN.
VO
Leaders of Egyptian student group, the April 6 Youth Movement, who organised the mass protests that ousted ruler for four decades, Hosni Mubarak, told the US media that without NED help and encouragement, they probably couldn't have done it.
VO
The policies that were supposed to bring freedom and democracy to Egypt, Ukraine and Libya have instead, created disaster areas, ravaged by civil unrest and political power struggles. What is far more plausible is that these have deliberately been “taking out” of the global game of power and control. Is it possible that as the US moves its pieces, surrounding China, the many NED-funded groups operating within its borders are planning to bring down the country from the inside? And could Hong Kong be playing an unwitting role?
003819 MARTIN LEE
Are you suggesting that the Hong Kong demonstrations are instigated by the US government?
VO
More on that after the break.
===
INTERNAL AFFAIRS PART TWO:
VO
In the battle for global power and control, the media plays an important role in smearing adversaries and stirring up trouble. In the same way the mainland press peddles propaganda to its people, the likes of CNN and the BBC have conditioned generations in the West into treating anything China does with suspicion. Opportunities to bash Beijing are rarely missed.
VO
The defection of blind mainland activist Chen Guangcheng was portrayed as a victory for US diplomacy and human rights, but in reality, it was neither. He was jailed in 2006 after trying to sue authorities in Shandong province for strictly enforcing the one-child policy.
VO
He was freed in 2010 but put under house arrest, only to somehow escape and seek asylum at the US embassy in Beijing in 2012. It was an international incident as then US secretary of state Hillary Clinton was visiting China at the time.
4th May 2012
HILLARY CLINTON
This isn't just about well-known activists, it's about the human rights and aspirations of more than a billion people here in China and billions more around the world and it's about the future of this great nation and all nations.
VO
China Aid, a charity sponsored by Clinton's State Department through the National Endowment for Democracy, promoted Chen's cause around the world.
BOB FU China Aid Association DATE?
After Chen Guangcheng walked out of his home and he was offered to come abroad for safety protection, but he was very reluctant to do so because he wants to fight to the end for the freedom and basic rights.
(UPSOUND CHEN SPEAKING MANDARIN ON PHONE HELD BY BOB FU AT US SENATE MEETING, WITH FU TRANSLATING FOR CHEN)
BOB FU: “I want to meet with secretary Clinton.”
CHEN LAUGHING ON PHONE
VO
A month later, Chen, his wife and two children were granted US visas so he could go to New York to work at a university. The mainstream media coverage fizzled out soon after the Chens touched down in America, free at last...
VO
The fate of the women subjected to the forced abortions that originally outraged Chen hasn't been so widely reported. Nor has the fact that the abortions were paid for by the United Nations as part of its Population Programme. Few media outlets pointed out that president George Bush blocked US payments to the fund in 2002, because of pressure from pro-lifers, but Barack Obama resumed the flow of money in 2009 as he believed the population programme would...
KEY ON “improve the health of women and children”
VO
Chen, who won the NED's Democracy Award in 2008 for his hard work, has effectively been gagged on the issue of abortion. He's turned his attention to other pressing mainland matters. Recently he warned that a Ukraine-style uprising could happen in China any day now.
UPSOUND RIOTING IN XINJIANG
VO
Perhaps, through his ties at the NED, which funds dozens of groups across China, he knows something we don't. Is it possible the mainland is ripe for another revolution, coordinated by the NED's vast network of activists, just as it has done in Ukraine and elsewhere with devastating results?
004246 MARTIN LEE
Even if they fund groups in China, if it is illegal, they should be prosecuted. If it's legal, why are you asking questions?
VO
Martin Lee was presented the NED's Democracy Award in 1997 and still has a very close relationship with the organisation. When we asked him about his links to the NED and his opinion of Chen's prediction, he refused to answer.
190509 MARTIN LEE
You are asking me what other people said as being possible reasons for certain things being done by certain groups in the states,
(But this is a group you have strong ties to...)
In Hong Kong, yes but I don't have ties with any in the operations outside Hong Kong. That seems to be the nut of your question and it is totally irrelevant to our discussion about Hong Kong's democracy.
VO
But others were willing to talk about it.
BENNY TAI
That's possible. As we know that the there's a lot of social unrest in China and mainly protest in China everyday, but just it may not widely reported and I think that's not from...it's from unofficial data, rather by the Chinese government itself.
LONGHAIR
Well I don't really care about what the U.S. Government is trying to do in China.
EDIT
At the end of the day, U.S. administration is the biggest empire on this earth. Of course, they try to influence different parts of the world. It's crystal clear. They have a budget for the CIA. It's not any news.
LAW
China spends more on maintaining stability than on national defence.
VO
Law Yuk-kai runs the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, one of the local organisations that are funded by the NED, receiving millions of dollars over the past 15 years. Despite the large amount of cash involved, he claims he didn't know the NED was run by the US government.
LAW
No, no, no...you mean the National Endowment of Democracy?
(How can you consider yourself an NGO when you get money from the US government?)
VO
Civic Exchange, a think tank founded by “green queen” turned government minister Christine Loh also received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the NED. No one there would agree to be interviewed but they did answer our questions. They also denied receiving money from the US government, insisting the NED relied on private donations.
Are these organisations aware of exactly where their funding comes from?
LAW
The National Endowment Democracy funding requires a year end report of what we have done, we will just say what we have done. It's not reporting to the US government. But it's important to know that people who contribute their money and time here - these volunteers - care about Hong Kong issues.
VO
Law insists it's unlikely foreign-funded groups on the mainland are capable of bringing down the government.
LAW
The Chinese authorities learn from the USSR to nip buds before they grow up, so making any initiative from the people, any organisation which would challenge the authority of their governance, they will stop them.
VO
It's ironic that that strategy is identical to what America appears to be doing to China to maintain its status as the world's only superpower.
UPSOUND FIGHTING IN MONG KOK
VO
As we've seen in the rest of the world, supposedly pro-democracy activities have divided nations and destroyed economies. Despite Beijing's efforts to filter out word of social unrest and civil disobedience in Hong Kong, the news will have repercussions on the mainland, although it may not be immediate. Is this the ultimate aim of Washington's input in Hong Kong - destabilising China?
162500 TAPE 2 – MARTIN LEE
But you've got to make it relevant
(Of course it's relevant.)
MARTIN LEE
How? In what way? Unless you're suggesting the US government is funding these demonstrations in Hong Kong. Well, in any other way encouraging it... and if you're not, then what is the relevance?
5th October 2013 RITA FAN
If you believe that foreign powers really want to assist Hong Kong, if you believe that, either you're naïve, or worse. I feel it is quite possible that all they want to do is create more problems for China and maybe they think that giving support to Hong Kong pro-democratic groups will cause more problems for China.
000832 EMILY LAU
I know Beijing is always and has for many years, trotted out this excuse of foreign interference has been a subversion. I don't have any evidence. Those who make the accusations, they have to produce evidence.
BENNY TAI
They try to... all the foreign groups might have their own interest, and what they say or even the research they find all this, it just a way to shape the public opinion of Hong Kong people.
LAW
If we contribute to the democratisation of Hong Kong, which is also in the interests of the US, then I will congratulate the Hong Kong public that we have supported not only ourselves, but also another part of the world.
5th October 2013 RITA FAN
If you rely on foreign powers to achieve something, then they can very easily just take it away.
VO
Whether most Hong Kongers want or even care about democracy is no longer an issue. What the Occupy protests have done is force people to pick sides and take their fight onto the streets. This could just be the beginning of an era not only of protests, but of political and ideological violence.
LONGHAIR
I didn't say that it's heaven. So, if the American people are sick and tired of the parliamentary democracy, they will revolt one day. They will say no. They will say enough is enough. They will riot.
VO
With the Occupy and student leaders vowing to continue their action, there are growing demands to know who is keeping them going.
Pro-government lawmakers are calling for a formal investigation into the civil disobedience movement and former security secretary Regina Ip, now an influential Beijing loyalist in LegCo, wants it to get to the bottom of allegations that American interests are funding the campaign.
Former LegCo president Rita Fan shares similar concerns, reflecting the thinking in Beijing.
11th October 2014, Rita Fan CHINESE BITE
All along, on the international level, there are people who don't want China's development to grow too fast. Therefore, it's not strange that they are using Hong Kong as a loophole with the hope to affect China's development.
VO
Fan believes foreign forces are pulling the strings of the protest leaders and questioned how there seems to be an endless supply of essential goods and food, doubting that it's all been donated by concerned locals.
VO**
For now at least, the mostly young protesters out in the streets are not asking such questions. Any suggestion that they’re being manipulated in a much bigger and more cynical political game by foreign interests is instantly dismissed or ridiculed as a conspiracy theory.