關於 global sanctions list ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

Nightcrawler whistles | Lee Yee

High-ranking officials who have been sanctioned by the US and those who have not yet made it on the list have each responded, one after another, in a “One Country, One System” tone of voice. Apart from "resolutely opposed" and "severely condemned," they have not addressed the reasons behind the US’ decision for the sanctions. They say it is an honor to be sanctioned for the cause of the nation. Some simply issued statements in simplified Chinese characters, clearly not targeted at the Hong Kong people. The most ludicrous is that Carrie Lam said she was planning to proactively cancel her US visa that expires in 2026 anyways. It turns out that she cannot enter the US border because she “voluntarily canceled” it herself. Her Ah-Q-style, self-consoling spirit does not die!

An honor or a disgrace, it really depends on who issued the sanction. To be sanctioned by North Korea, Cuba, Russia or China is not the same as being sanctioned by the US. As such, feelings of glory or humiliation should be the opposite too. Some international experts and finance experts analyzed that the strictest clause is to “prohibit all transactions by US persons or within (or transiting) the US that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.” If genuinely implemented, it would mean that the bank accounts and credit cards of sanctioned individuals will be canceled, their Facebook accounts will be shut down, McDonald’s cannot sell them Happy Meals, they cannot buy iPhones from Apple and cannot enjoy original factory maintenance services, etc. It is said that even China-funded banks will be black-listed because China-funded banks also have branches in the US. It is still uncertain whether these will be the case because never before have sanctioned individuals come from an international finance center such as Hong Kong. Although it is undetermined, the concerned parties cannot but consider the implications and countermeasures if confirmed. It is embarrassing enough just not to be able to use a credit card.

In 1969, the Soviet Union wanted to carry out a “surgical strike” on China’s nuclear base. It tried to gauge the reaction of the US, but the US halted them to stop. Why did not the Soviet Union test the water with other nuclear-weapon states such as the UK and France? This is because the US military power is strong enough to contain reckless military actions by other countries.

In 1971, Henry Kissinger made a secret visit to China and the Sino-US relations achieved a major breakthrough. That year, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly passed a motion to admit the entry of China in the UN. How is it that China had struggled for more than two decades to join the UN but managed to win the resolution this round? This is because the US had changed its China policy.

In 2000, the US granted China permanent normal trade relations status. The following year, China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) and has since found prospering opportunities to become the World’s Factory in the global market. Why had China not been able to enter the WTO for so many years? This is because the US did not grant China this permanent normal trade status until this time.

When China and the US commenced diplomatic relations in 1979, Deng Xiaoping visited the US and said to his accompanying associate on the plane: “Looking back over the past few decades, all countries that have good relations with the US have prospered.” China has indeed thrived. What Deng did not say was that the countries that have unfriendly relations with the US have pauperized, such as Cuba, China before 1976, and even the Soviet Union, which had only strategic weapons, and its people had to line up to buy bread.

The Cold War after the Second World War was led by the US, and other Western countries followed. The US has always been the trending global leader with its national power, system, technology, dollar hegemony, pop culture, and free spirit. It is not that the US does not make mistakes, but its system and the spirit of freedom make it capable of correcting its mistakes. The US began the wave of diplomatic relations between Western countries and China in the 1970s, and the trend of investing in China in the 21st century. Without the US, China would still be isolated and impoverished. The US is now making amends and starting an ultra-cold war with China, which seems to have also shown a trend-setting momentum.

So, are sanctions the new direction? At least the Five Eyes Alliance will follow subsequently. Stop deceiving yourself with “I have no assets in the US” and “I do not want to go to the US.”

Therefore, not only eleven individuals and their families suffered insomnia last Friday night, but also some followers and those who did things against their conscience. Returning officers responsible for disqualifying nominees, wicked police officers, 18 members of the Council of the University of Hong Kong, and those who claimed not patriotic enough to make it to the first sanction list and not able to enjoy the honor. I’m afraid they did not get a wink of sleep either or at least suffered anxiety because only an idiot cannot see the true powers and the direction of the world trends.

The humiliation brought about by being cut off from US companies, the immediate considerations of various inconveniences, the spread of sanction from the US to other civilized countries, the devastating impact on the will to govern subordinates and the entire ruling team, and many more. These will not just happen overnight but will come one after another and very soon. The responses of the sanctioned high-level officials are really just nightcrawlers whistling.

Theatre of the absurd for real (Lee Yee)

Carrie Lam said last week she was not worried about “being included on the sanction list” and had no assets in the U.S., nor did she aspire to America, so without a visa, she might as well exclude America from the list of countries she would travel.

Being the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and asked whether she was concerned about being picked on by a foreign country, she should have answered appropriately that she was worried about the overall Hong Kong issue instead of uttering personal affairs. In fact, her son is doing his doctorate in America. If the sanction against her threatens his resident visa, how could she not be worried? Worse still, if the sanction is stringently put in force, the banks that service the sanctioned will become embroiled, and will thereby revoke the accounts of the latter.

Chip Tsao said on his Facebook page, “Her saying ’I have no assets in the U.S.’, deemed by netizens in the mainland an innuendo against members of the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) moving their assets to America, has unexpectedly made her one-night heroine in the mainland.” Some mainland netizens said they were moved by the firmness and unyieldingness of Carrie Lam, and if all their officials and party members were the same as Carrie Lam, no one would give a damn about the U.S.’s sanctions.

The media disseminated that the U.S. government is considering banning all CCP members and their families from traveling in the U.S. and expelling those currently in the U.S.. When White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked about it, she answered that she had nothing to announce regarding that aspect, but with respect to issues about China, they reserved every possible option. It means the abovementioned measure is not obviated.

Global Times Chief Editor Hu Xijin said on his Weibo page: “This has been the most insane envision of U.S.’s diplomatic measure made by Washington, D.C. so far, and leaking the news to the media is also an evil act”. Mainland netizens jeered at him by saying, “What are you jittering at, Hu? Now that you are so contemptuous of American Imperialism, why do you take a U.S. visa to heart? A ban on CCP members and their families from traveling in America is no big deal. We don’t care for it! It has nothing to do with ‘insaneness’ and ‘evilness’. ”

Honestly, “insaneness” and “evilness” are just words of exaggeration. In actuality, the measure pertains to U.S. domestic affairs. The U.S. Immigration Act stipulates that all subordinates to communist party and members of its affiliates cannot enter or immigrate to the U.S., surely with clauses of exemption. If the U.S. wants to do it, it can simply enforce it without unnecessary legislation.

Carrie Lam‘s “not worried” and Hu’s “insaneness” have in fact laid bare their genuine worries at heart. When sanctions befall individuals, it is all about personal interests instead of state’s interests. Carrie Lam’s son is in the U.S.; Xi Jinping’s daughter is said to be in the U.S.; a lot of other officials’ offspring and assets are also in the U.S.. It seems that the sanctions will be extended to the U.K. and other countries.

The National Security Law takes the cake. In less than a month since its promulgation, the U.S. and China have been at daggers drawn with each other. It has also put China in a situation in which it is beleaguered by countries all around the world. All of these amount to the theatre of the absurd. Everything stems from a book about Xi Jinping’s private life to be published. Then, five stakeholders of Causeway Bay Books disappeared. It was suspected that Paul Lee, one of the owners, was carted off to the mainland. Amidst an uproar in the media, the extradition amendment bill was tabled for deliberation early last year upon the question “Why can’t we nab a person in Hong Kong?” put forward by Beijing. “Extradition to China” was to be legalized by communist Hong Kong in collaboration with China so that cross-border law enforcement would be made legitimized. However, the backlash from Hong Kong people against it was unexpectedly ferocious and extensive, even making an impact on the international community. After the withdrawal of the bill, the National Security Law, which is even sterner, was then introduced. To everyone’s surprise, the evil law triggered off backfire from all around the world, followed by countries laying siege to China in tandem on end.

How to make an elephant out of a fly

What is weirdest is Carrie Lam tabled the extradition amendment bill to allegedly remedy a “loophole” in the extradition treaty with Taiwan, yet in the end she prompted those countries including the U.S., Canada, Australia, the UK and Finland that have signed an extradition treaty with Hong Kong to rescind the treaties which were based on the promise that criminals would not be extradited to China. With the National Security Law having taken effect, the basis is gone. More countries are believed to follow suit.

The loophole is not remedied, but keeps on festering. There could be a complete collapse of Hong Kong and China’s diplomatic relations with the world. The calamity stems from just a little book. What else could be more absurd?

When Americans are determined (Lee Yee)

There are many things in the world that ordinary people find impossible to accomplish, yet if some put their heart into it, things may not turn out to be all that impossible.

I saw an essay on a mainland site two months ago that was titled “The World’s Most Powerful Parents, Two Against a Country”. It was quickly deleted, but relevant information could be found on overseas sites.

The parents here were the parents of Otto Frederick Warmbier, a college student who was imprisoned and tortured to death by North Korea more than four years ago. Otto went to North Korea on a short trip in December 2015. As he was leaving, he was accused of attempting to steal a political propaganda poster from a hotel in Pyongyang, and was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. On June 13, 2017, North Korea suddenly released him on “humanitarian grounds”, he turned to the US in a vegetative coma. A week later, he died.

Otto’s father, Fred Warmbier, described the state of his son on his return to the US, and was determined that Otto was severely injured from being tortured in North Korea. His mother, Cindy, said that North Korea only released him because “they did not want him to die on their land”.

Otto’s parents filed a lawsuit in the US courts and demanded compensation from North Korea. The family ran a large-scale metal processing company that was on Forbes’ list in 2015. They were not short of money, and only wanted a revenge with the ask for compensation. In the US legal system, suing a country will be blocked by sovereign immunity, except when the country is classified as a terrorist country by the US. At that time, North Korea was not on the list. So the couple went onto media platforms, again and again, to speak about their son’s death, and the huge blow it was to their family. In the US where family values are cherished, they received great sympathy from the civilians, to the Congress, and to the White House. In November 2017, Trump added North Korea to the list of terrorist countries. In April 2018, the court accepted the lawsuit. On December 24 of the same year, the US Federal Court ruled that North Korea owed Otto Warmbier’s parents US$510.13 million.

This was great, but did it do anything? Would a rogue nation like North Korea acknowledge it? Many felt that this is an unenforceable ruling that was no different from a sheet of scratch paper.

However, the Warmbiers launched an operation to trace North Korea’s global assets. The media called it “the crusade of the Warmbiers”. The first installment of the compensation arrived soon enough. In April 2018, a cargo ship that belonged to North Korea was detained in Indonesia for violating the UN sanctions on the transportation of coal. In the year after, M/V Wise Honest, the second-largest single-hull bulk carrier registered in North Korea, was forfeited in the US, sold in September 2019 on orders of a US federal judge to compensate the Warmbiers.

On May 11, 2020, the US Federal Court ordered all relevant US banks to provide the parents with detailed information, including North Korea’s account number and holder’s address. While it is unclear the total amount of North Korea’s hidden overseas assets, what was discovered was that within the US alone was US$74.36 million.

The couple started a bank investigation into the deposits of senior North Korean officials in the US, and actually found three North Korean funds totaling US$23.89 million from three banks. The money will no doubt go to the Warmbiers.

Though a closed country, the Kim regime still has large deposits overseas. After all, North Korea still needs certain necessities imported from overseas.

It is highly doubtful that North Korea’s overseas assets would exceed US$510.13 million, but the couple persists and would not give up. Three years in, their determination for revenge has not diminished. They even make use of the global Jewish network to search for secret North Korean funds hidden around the world. “Our goal is to make North Korea pay for our son’s death,” the couple said.

One couple to bring this much headache to the whole country of North Korea. This is bigger than money, this is the dissemination of bad reputation.

The moral of this story is that if Americans are determined to pursue their trace for accountability, they would give it all and never surrender. If a country is listed as a terrorist country or criminal group, there will be no sovereign immunity for the country to be prosecuted; if any person is added to the US sanction list, tough luck to you. Some things that may seem unlikely, as long as one is determined, success may not be out of the question. Although justice is often no match for absolute powers, justice must be upheld, just like the Warmbiers.