This July 19, 2020 article presents the continuation of Genki Fujii’s essay, “America’s ‘Racial Riots’ Are a Movement to Prevent Trump’s Re-election.”
It examines the destruction of Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” framework under the national security law, Hong Kong’s position as an international financial centre, Xi Jinping’s power struggle with the Jiang Zemin faction, the suppression of pro-democracy forces, China’s possible return to a closed socialist system, and its prospective decoupling from liberal democracies.

2020-07-19
The following is taken from an essay by international political scholar Genki Fujii, published in this month’s issue of the monthly magazine WiLL under the title “America’s ‘Racial Riots’ Are a Movement to Prevent Trump’s Re-election.”
Anyone who reads this essay will surely wonder what Japanese reporting, beginning with NHK’s Watch 9, actually is.
As with its reporting on the Wuhan virus, NHK deliberately fails to observe the five Ws and one H, the fundamentals of journalism.
Its reporting is propaganda produced by people displaying the utmost arrogance, who attempt to lead the Japanese people according to their own distorted ideology.
Yesterday, I learned for the first time that Kensuke Okoshi had served as editor-in-chief of Watch 9.
This was the same man who, while presenting the programme, invited Kang Sang-jung as a guest and used the public airwaves of what is effectively the flagship news programme of Japan’s national broadcaster to make the utterly absurd declaration that he respected him from the bottom of his heart.
He also sincerely believed and stated the fabrication that forced removals had taken place.
If even NHK is like this, it is hardly surprising that TV Asahi and TBS continue without hesitation to engage in conduct that merits the revocation of their broadcasting licences.
This essay is essential reading not only for the Japanese people but for people throughout the world.
The following continues from the preceding chapter.
Xi Jinping’s Rational Decision?
The national security law adopted by China at the National People’s Congress destroyed the “one country, two systems” framework, and Hong Kong was to be treated in exactly the same way as any other Chinese city.
When Britain returned Hong Kong in 1997, China promised to preserve “one country, two systems” for fifty years, until 2047.
However, only twenty-three years after the handover, Xi Jinping openly and shamelessly broke that promise.
Abandoning “one country, two systems” meant that Hong Kong would lose the rule of law.
Foreign investors who had deposited money in Hong Kong could no longer know when their assets might be confiscated by China.
The loss of the rule of law also meant the loss of Hong Kong as a financial centre.
Some may wonder why Xi Jinping made such a foolish choice.
For him, however, it must have been a rational decision.
Hong Kong was a stronghold of the Jiang Zemin faction, which opposed Xi Jinping.
Furthermore, resistance from the pro-democracy camp showed no sign of subsiding.
In other words, Xi Jinping considered crushing the Jiang Zemin faction and the pro-democracy forces a higher priority than the damage caused by losing Hong Kong as a financial centre.
Paradoxically, this demonstrated just how intense the power struggle with the Jiang Zemin faction had become.
Xi Jinping must now have the image of Mao Zedong in his mind.
Mao’s Great Leap Forward once resulted in the starvation of tens of millions of people.
Even after destroying the economy and losing power to Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, who favoured economic development, Mao did not fall from power.
He recovered effective control through the Cultural Revolution.
In the future, China may reverse course toward a closed socialist society and be decoupled from liberal countries led by the United States.
Nevertheless, it is attempting to survive by constructing an economic sphere with certain countries, including Pakistan, which the Belt and Road Initiative has reduced to a subordinate position.
Even if China loses international influence, the Chinese Communist Party’s dictatorial system will not necessarily collapse unless it suffers a decisive defeat, such as losing a military confrontation with the United States.
As long as he controls the military and the propaganda organisations, Xi Jinping must believe that he will not lose power even if the economy declines.
He presumably reached that conviction while reflecting on the life of Mao Zedong.
To be continued.