so according to state media contacts, Beijing genuinely thought they were going to win big in the elections today, to the point of having pre-written the stories
now, of course, it's also *politically impossible* to prepare the 'we lost' story, but they seem to have been really convinced they would need the win ones.
have now heard this from GT, PD, *and* CD folk.
this is funny but also scary on two levels: as @Pinboard points out it backs the 'high on their own supply' theory, and Beijing's most reactionary and nasty measures often come after they've been disappointed over something they thought would work
@Pinboard more details available via DM for those who want to know, don't want to dump my sources in it.
@Pinboard CCTV friends; you know you want to dish to me on this too.
@Pinboard sorry, CGTN, whatever the damn place is called nowadays
@Pinboard also HK is apparently causing quite serious moral/personal qualms for at least some of the Chinese staff involved in covering it - they might broadly agree with govt case but dislike tone, extremism of it
Wrote this up in full here -
foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/25/hon…
foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/25/hon…
