A downbeat Hong Kong marked the 25th anniversary of its handover to the Chinese by swearing in John Lee Ka-chiu, a hardline former HK policeman, as chief executive. He is one of several top HK officials sanctioned by the US over the Chinese territory’s declining autonomy and freedoms; and the European Parliament has recently begun to investigate whether he should sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act. As Hong Kong’s former security chief, Lee has been instrumental in the crackdown on opposition figures. His upcoming cabinet includes four other high-ranking officials under sanctions.
To add weight to his elevation the ceremony was attended by Xi Jinping, who spoke about Hong Kong’s future as a city run by “patriots”. Hong Kong was ceded to the British in 1842 after the Chinese lost the First Opium War – so it would always rankle amongst nationalists but when it was handed back in 1997 there were promises, now broken, of maintaining HK’s political independence.
His Swearing In took place on this morning July 1 at 10.20 am (I think, any corrections gratefully received). That gives an alarmingly ruthless and oppressive chart with a Pluto opposition Moon square Mars; with Mars in Aries on the focal point of a mini-Grand Trine of Saturn to Mercury. No quarter will be given to democracy activities. There’s also an evasive Mercury square Neptune and the autocratic, high-tension Uranus square Saturn is tied into the North and South Node by hard aspect. The next two years will be do-or-die determined when it comes to imposing his will and if the time is right the populace will be up in arms in 2023/2024 with tr Pluto opposition the Moon. But no guesses who’ll win that battle.
He was born 7 December 1957 and is a rigid Sun Saturn in Sagittarius trine Uranus with a can-be-fanatical Uranus square Neptune tied into the North and South Nodes; plus a vengeful Mars in Scorpio.
The Hong Kong 1 July 1997 chart is devastated and dismayed with its Solar Arc Mars square the Neptune exactly now inducing a feeling of panicky failure. With more to follow as tr Pluto is conjunct the Neptune in 2023/24 for demolished hopes for the future. There are vestiges of a fight back after mid decade but it may be a faint hope given Xi Jinping’s Presidency chart for 24 October 2017 having a confident surge, putting in place major changes between now until late 2025. It has a lucky Jupiter Sun conjunction opposition Uranus – so underserved good fortune. Admittedly with a few uncertainties as well along the way but generally the fates will be kinder than he deserves.
I feel sad for the ordinary everyday people of Hong Kong who either didn’t have the means to get the hell out soon after the handoff, or trusted in the promises of “two systems.”
Thank you for the website address. I merely corrected misinformation, I didn’t expect a response. As I said the EU GHRSR will assess possible sanctions against John Lee – not the EU Parliament which currently is not part of the process, much to it’s chagrin.
As the resolution I posted states (paragraph H):
“whereas the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom have adopted similar sanction regimes; whereas cooperation among like-minded countries that share the values of fundamental rights, democracy, and rule of law will make the application of targeted sanctions more coordinated and thereby more effective………”
I presumed you agreed with effective cooperation between the US, Canada, the UK and the EU but perhaps I was being presumptuous.
BTW I did notice the first item on the agenda for discussion on 4/7/2022 given on your website was:
“The US Supreme Court decision to overturn abortion rights in the United States and the need to safeguard abortion rights and Women’s health in the EU”
Procedure file:2022/2742(RSP)
Should be interesting! We (the USA, Canada, the UK and the EU) can certainly learn from each other – as long as we understand each other’s laws and legal processes.
Oh Liz You’re probably a very nice person and I do so enjoy reading Marjorie’s website but this is so boring……..
Then feel free not to read my comments or respond to them. We are fortunate we don’t live in China where such matters as abortion rights or sanctions against members of tyrannical regimes are closed to public discussion.
I can only reiterate that the adoption of the EU GHRSR on 7 December 2020 was a huge step. To my knowledge, it’s power to impose sanctions on individuals has not yet been used or tested – until now. The consequences and ramifications of global human rights sanctions regimes (GHRSRs) in Western democracies will be huge and it is as well to ensure they are properly scrutinised. If that is boring – so be it.
PS I didn’t raise the topic of GHRSRs – it is implicit in the article. But let’s move on.
Trish. I quite agree. Stick to the astrology Liz and cut out the heavy handed expositions.
Incidently, I know very little about the Inter-American Court of Human Rights which I would have thought similar to the European Court of Human Rights under the auspices of the Council of Europe (ie the ECtHR).
Marjorie, would it not be possible for individuals in the US denied abortions by state law to appeal to the IACtHR?
Marjorie, I note your comment that “the European Parliament has recently begun to investigate whether [John Lee Ka-chiu] should be sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act”.
I would point out that the European Parliament (ie the parliament of the EU) has no institutional role in such a process – not at July 2021 in any case. I apologise if the situation has since changed but I can find no record of any such change.
The European Parliament can really only pass resolutions and instruct the President to forward those resolutions to the Council of the European Union (often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers) and to the Commission as well as the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for adoption (or not as the case may be). See paragraph H12 and H21:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX%3A52021IP0349
I quote from paragraph H12:
“The European Parliament regrets that [it] has no institutional role in the process; calls for parliamentary oversight of the EU GHRSR and an enhanced role for the European Parliament in proposing cases of serious human rights violations, in order to increase the legitimacy of the EU GHRSR*; calls for the establishment of a dedicated Parliamentary Working Group to scrutinise the implementation of the sanctions regime; and calls for systematic and institutionalised information sharing with, and reporting to, Parliament and the Member States, by the EEAS and the Commission.
[*the EU GHRSR stands for the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime; the EEAS stands for the European External Action Service (the EU diplomatic service); and the Commission is the executive of the European Union. The Commission is responsible for initiating laws and managing the EU’s policies. It is made up of 27 commissioners (one from each nation state) and is based in Brussels.]
In other words the elected members of the European Parliament want more say in regard to sanctions on individuals and don’t want them left to the 27 appointed commissioners – especially when decisions by commissioners are required to be unanimous rather than by qualified majority (a double voting system based on a majority of commissioners with those commissioners representing two thirds of the EU population).
I may sound as if I am nit picking but many of your American readers seemingly misunderstand the role and functioning of the EU – often confusing the EU Council of Ministers with the Council of Europe (a completely separate organisation) and the EU Parliament with the Council of Europe assembly.
It is important to remember that the enforcement of laws passed by the EU rest entirely with the individual nation states which are members of the EU. The role of the EU itself being to find a consensus and to harmonize those laws across the nation states – not always an easy task.
As I kept saying throughout the Brexit ordeal, the EU is unsustainable in it’s current form as a supranational organisation and will only function democratically and effectively if and when it evolves into a full blown federal superstate – a United States of Europe. But then the USA as a full blown federal superstate seems to have, or make for itself, a lot of administrative problems – not least the inability to find a consensus and harmonise human rights laws (eg abortion laws) across the states.
Sanction assessment against the new Chief Executive of …https://www.europarl.europa.eu › E-9-2022-002027_EN
9 Jun 2022 — … mainland puppet, John Lee, as Hong Kong’s next Chief Executive. … the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime (EU Magnitsky Act)?.
Liz, I do wish you would take your obsessions about the EU somewhere else. They are getting tedious.