Thread by @AMFChina

"Beijing has grown anxious about any kind of spillover to the mainland."

Timely @washingtonpost report on the CCP's paranoia about political contagion from Hong Kong to mainland China by @ShibaniMahtani @gerryshih & Tiffany Liang.

#StandWithHongKong

washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pac…

@washingtonpost @ShibaniMahtani @gerryshih Quote

"Andreas Fulda, the author of a book on efforts at democratization in China and a senior fellow at the University of Nottingham’s Asia Research Institute, said voices like Chen’s are 'not being heard.'

'But we shouldn’t think that these voices do not exist,' he added."

@washingtonpost @ShibaniMahtani @gerryshih Let me add a few reflections about this topic.

Since 2007 and as a university lecturer in the UK I have taught many mainland Chinese students.

In the years 2011-12 I noticed a shift in their overall attitudes, away from the party line & towards a much more critical inquiry /1

@washingtonpost @ShibaniMahtani @gerryshih 2011-12 was a critical juncture, for the following reason.

On 23 July 2011 two high-speed trains collided near Wenzhou, Zhejiang province.

The cover-up of this tragedy by the CCP showed utter contempt for the victims.

Many middle class mainland Chinese were shocked /2

@washingtonpost @ShibaniMahtani @gerryshih The train crash served as a highly symbolic reminder to mainland Chinese citizens, that while many upward mobile people—especially urbanites—had benefited from CCP-led economic modernisation, without the rule of law these economic gains could be transient and easily reversed /3

@washingtonpost @ShibaniMahtani @gerryshih You may ask, what does this have to do with the CCP's fear of political contagion from Hong Kong to mainland China?

I noticed that since 2011-12 International students from mainland China have become much more independent & critical in their thinking /4

@washingtonpost @ShibaniMahtani @gerryshih This will not be lost on the CCP, which has tried to stop the spread of liberal-democratic thought and practice from the outside world into mainland China.

Think of the role of highly problematic organisations like the Chinese Students and Scholars Associations /5

@washingtonpost @ShibaniMahtani @gerryshih @METhorley has explained that the CSSA *do* to a certain extent provide useful services to overseas students.

Yet *at the same time* they can also be considered 'latent networks' which can be used by the Chinese party-state in times of crisis /6

theasiadialogue.com/2019/07/05/hua…

@washingtonpost @ShibaniMahtani @gerryshih @METhorley I have also written in @ForeignPolicy about the Chinese Communist Party's attempts to weaponize nationalism against Hong Kongers.

The CCP is unleashing ethno-nationalism since they are worried that Chinese youngsters could demand the same freedoms /7

foreignpolicy.com/2019/07/29/bei…

@washingtonpost @ShibaniMahtani @gerryshih @METhorley @ForeignPolicy The hard truth is that liberal-democratic thought & practice already made inroads into mainland China prior to the popular uprising in Hong Kong.

During the *relatively* more liberal Hu/Wen era, an emancipatory mainland Chinese civil society has grown by leaps and bounds /8

@washingtonpost @ShibaniMahtani @gerryshih @METhorley @ForeignPolicy While emancipatory civil society in mainland China has been pushed back by a Stalinist Xi Jinping, these liberal-democratic ideas and practices still exist and could resurface any time.

There are *many* citizens in mainland China who are sympathetic to Hong Kong's cause /9

@washingtonpost @ShibaniMahtani @gerryshih @METhorley @ForeignPolicy This means that the CCP has every reason to be concerned.

In mainland China there is a big constituency which is ready and open for liberal-democratic change.

They may not be able to speak about Hong Kong openly, but let there be no doubt:

They are on #TeamDemocracy /End

Unroll @threadreaderapp