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  • Hey, everybody. Nathan Rich here.

  • Just wanted to remind everybody that they can support this channel by going

  • to Patreon or SubscribeStar or my public Wechat or BuyMeACoffee, and several

  • other ways. So please do that if you're interested in me continuing to talk

  • about political and controversial subjects.

  • Thanks. Today, I want to talk to you about yet another lie in regards to

  • America-China relations having to do with Hong Kong.

  • I read an article recently and here's a little bit of what it said.

  • Pompous said, "I am announcing visa restrictions on current and former CCP

  • officials who are believed to be responsible for or complicit in undermining

  • Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy, as guaranteed in the 1984 Sino-British

  • Joint Declaration..." So already this is a little bit weird because I'm

  • pretty sure Pompous doesn't work for the British government and the

  • Sino-British Joint Declaration has nothing at all to do with the United

  • States. So already, before we go any further, everyone watching this should

  • be wondering "Why this pompous have any opinion about this at all?

  • What does this have to do with him or his country?

  • " Nothing. It has nothing at all to do with the United States.

  • So it's already a little bit weird.

  • But let's just assume that Pompous' ideas and Pompous' reactions are somehow

  • relevant. Let's carry on.

  • The Sino-British Joint Declaration does not guarantee anything like what he

  • just said. It's not a guarantee or a promise at all.

  • If you actually read it, it's a declaration.

  • That's why it's called a declaration.

  • But even if it was, let's just assume that it actually...

  • it totally is, OK?

  • Again, that has nothing to do with the United States.

  • I mean, the United Kingdom and the United States aren't actually the same

  • country. This may be surprising to people, but...

  • Friday's announcement follows the State Department's determination last month

  • in a report mandated by the Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 and the Hong Kong

  • Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, that the city no longer warrants

  • different treatment from mainland China.

  • So to me, great, awesome.

  • Don't treat it any differently.

  • China's embassy in Washington pushed back, arguing that China's Constitution

  • and Hong Kong Basic Law supersede any authority the Sino-British joint

  • declaration may have had because, "All rights and obligations of the British

  • side, as prescribed in the joint declaration, were completed when sovereignty

  • over the city was transferred to China in 1997.

  • " Obviously, the Constitution and Basic Law are the fundamental pieces.

  • So these are way more important than some vague, arguably non-binding, and

  • what this guy's arguing is since expired or invalid joint declaration.

  • I mean, that's pretty obvious.

  • I don't know why this is even an argument.

  • This is just an obvious fact.

  • I mean...OK...

  • The Joint Declaration states that China's basic policies regarding Hong Kong

  • will remain unchanged for 50 years after the handover, including the promise

  • that the city would retain a high degree of autonomy.

  • The Basic Law is the city's mini constitution put into effect by China's

  • National People's Congress in 1990.

  • And it sort of rambles, but that's pretty much its main points.

  • The interesting thing that nobody ever brings up, no matter how many times

  • they discuss this, no matter how many times they talk about Basic Law, Hong

  • Kong, China, the protests, this whole kind of thing that's been going on.

  • .. No one talks about this very simple fact - Even if I accept everything this

  • article has claimed as completely true, Hong Kong has not followed its own

  • Basic Law.

  • It has not enacted anti-secession, anti-treason, anti-sedition laws, as it

  • was supposed to, according to Basic Law Article 23.

  • And you have lots of people trying to break Basic Law Article 1 and many

  • other articles of Basic Law.

  • So even if we just agree with everything in this entire article, it is still

  • negated by the fact that this agreement was first broken by the local

  • government of Hong Kong.

  • This agreement has been nullified.

  • I mean, you can't have an agreement between two parties or in this case, two

  • parties in relation to a third party that a fourth party is butting its head

  • into... You can't have an agreement and only one party is ever expected to

  • uphold its side. That's not an agreement.

  • So as far as I'm concerned, even if all this is true, it still has been

  • nullified. Now, that doesn't mean that any side is right or wrong by itself.

  • It just means that you should really think about when you're watching and

  • listening to this news and reading news, why do they never, ever mention that

  • Hong Kong has been directly and specifically avoiding following its own Basic

  • Laws? They have gone out of their way to stop the process of following Basic

  • Law. And then when some citizens or some protesters or some rioters want

  • something, they suddenly think Basic Law is super important, but only this

  • one. This is the Basic Law we really like.

  • These ones we don't like.

  • Well, that's not following the law.

  • That's just literally lawlessness.

  • That's chaos. That's just doing whatever you want.

  • So I always recommend that if you're going to talk about this type of stuff

  • with somebody, make sure that they specifically bring up and mention and talk

  • about Article 23.

  • Make them explain to you why Hong Kong of everywhere in the world shouldn't

  • have anti-treason laws, anti-sedition laws, anti-secession laws.

  • Make sure they're very clear about that because whatever they come up with is

  • not going to make any sense.

  • Anyway, just another quick video.

  • There's a lot more coming, so stay tuned.

  • Thanks again, everybody, for your support and we'll see you soon.

  • Bye, everybody. Xiexie

Hey, everybody. Nathan Rich here.

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