Could start a new crackdown.

Are things getting worse in Hong Kong?

Or is it part of the CCP's  internal power struggle?

Welcome to China Uncensored. I'm Chris Chappell.

This episode is sponsored by PC-Doctor Toolbox.

Protect your PC from software  crashes, hardware failures,  

and the kind of glitches that  make your life miserable.

One year after the Chinese  Communist Party imposed a harsh  

national security law on Hong Kong, things  are looking pretty good...for the Party.

The Communist Party is well on their way  to remaking Hong Kong in their image.

Stifling freedom of the press.

Crushing democracy.

And molding the impressionable minds of Hong  Kong's youth with “patriotic education.”

Here's one of the biggest signs  of how Hong Kong has changed  

under the national security law. Hong  Kong used to be the only place in China  

where people could commemorate  the Tiananmen Square massacre.

And they did every year, even  last year during the coronavirus.

As part of the deal to give Hong Kong  to the People's Republic of China,  

the UK made the Chinese regime promise  

to leave Hong Kong's freedoms intact for 50  years after they took over the territory.

Hong Kong's annual Tiananmen vigil  

was seen as a test of whether the Communist  Party was actually honoring their promise.

Here's a thought. If a country you're making  a deal with has to promise *not* to take away  

people's freedoms...maybe that's a sign you  shouldn't make a deal with that country.

Because here's what happened. This year, under  the national security law, Hong Kong had no vigil.  

Police locked down the park and  arrested one of the organizers.

And it wasn't just that the vigil was  stopped. Some people tried to open a  

Tiananmen massacre museum. Then they had  to shut it down because the police started  

investigating them. For...licensing issues. Sure.

But hey, why do you need a Tiananmen massacre  museum when you can have a museum about the  

glorious Communist Party instead?! One that will  definitely not mention the Tiananmen massacre.

So the Chinese Communist Party promised to  leave Hong Kong's freedoms intact for 50 years  

and they made it for...less than 24 years.

And that's why you should never trust a  Communist. They're always missing their Marx.

Hong Kongers see the writing  on the wall...literally.

Which is why many are starting to leave.

But for those who are staying, there  is another sign many Hong Kongers are  

watching to see how bad the Communist  Party's crackdown is going to get.

That canary in the coalmine is the bright yellow  t-shirts of Hong Kong's Falun Gong practitioners.

And that canary is in danger.  I'll tell you why after the break.

Welcome back.

Like Hong Kong's Tiananmen vigil,  Hong Kong's Falun Gong practitioners  

have been a symbol of the city's  freedoms for more than 20 years.

Falun Gong, sometimes called Falun  Dafa, is a Chinese spiritual practice.  

In the late 1990s, there were between 70 to  100 million people practicing Falun Gong,  

according to the Chinese government.

But under former Chinese leader and shriveled  

toad Jiang Zemin , the Chinese  Communist Party banned Falun Gong.

And the Party began a long campaign  to eradicate it. Including arresting  

and torturing, and even killing  Falun Gong members for their organs.

But Hong Kong supposedly has  freedom of speech and religion.  

And in Hong Kong, Falun Gong is a  legally registered organization.  

So Hong Kong became the only place in  China where Falun Gong was allowed.

Falun Gong practitioners would  set up booths around Hong Kong  

to raise awareness about the  Communist Party's persecution  

just across the border in mainland China. Many  of these booths were aimed at Chinese tourists.

They also called out the  Communist Party in general.  

These banners say “Heaven will  destroy the Chinese Communist Party,  

Heaven will bless the Chinese nation” and “Loving  the country does not mean loving the Party.”

The Chinese Communist Party did not like  this. But they couldn't officially do anything  

about it, since they were supposed to leave  Hong Kong's freedoms alone. So instead  

they used proxy groups to target Falun Gong.

The biggest one of these was the Hong Kong  Youth Care Association. It was part of the  

Communist Party's United Front, which are  groups that are controlled by the Communist  

Party. United Front groups do stuff on behalf of  the Party while posing as regular organizations.

For example, the Hong Kong Youth Care Association  set up anti-Falun Gong banners next to the Falun  

Gong booths and monitored, harassed, and  even assaulted Falun Gong practitioners.

This went on for almost a decade. Then suddenly  at the end of last year, the Hong Kong Youth  

Care Association disbanded. They just packed  up their banners and left. It's not clear why.

But that doesn't mean Falun Gong's  troubles in Hong Kong are over.

Because now pro-Beijing Hong Kong lawmakers  

are calling on the Hong Kong government to outlaw  Falun Gong, under the national security law.

Legislator Elizabeth Quat said “external  forces are making use of 'religious groups'  

and 'media organisations' as a disguise  for extending anti-China forces in the  

city.” She also said that Falun Gong was one  of these organizations and should be outlawed.

Separately, Elizabeth Quat has said the BBC  

should be banned in Hong Kong because  it produces fake news to smear China.

Wait, Elizabeth Quat said that “external  forces” are using “religious groups”  

and “media organizations”? Clearly  the CIA is using Falun Gong and the  

BBC to subvert Hong Kong! Why  didn't we realize this before?

So, Quat seems like a very reasonable person who  

is not at all bootlicking to  appease the Communist Party.

But Quat wasn't the only one. Other pro-Beijing  lawmakers accused the Hong Kong government of  

being “weak” in the past about “handling” Falun  Gong and urged authorities to ban the group.

In response, Hong Kong's Secretary for  Security Chris Tang said the government  

will “look closely into” whether Falun Gong  is in breach of the national security law.

But he refused to comment further.

So if we're using Falun Gong's presence in  Hong Kong as a barometer for how bad the  

Chinese Communist Party's repression of Hong Kong  will get, this is bad... but not the worst. Yet.

Pro-Beijing lawmakers are trying to pressure  the Hong Kong government to ban Falun Gong,  

but the government isn't committing to anything.

But there are signs it could get worse.  Recent articles in Chinese state-run media  

are trying to connect Falun Gong to what they  are calling “terrorist attacks” in Hong Kong,  

including the man who stabbed a Hong Kong  policeman before killing himself on July 1st.

There's no evidence that the man had any  connection to Falun Gong. Chinese state media  

are basing their accusation on the fact that  the reporter who accidentally filmed the  

attack during a livestream is tied to a media  company linked to Falun Gong practitioners.

Now, that might sound like Chinese state media are  being ridiculous. But actually it's really smart.  

Because if reporters who livestream events  can be held responsible for those events,  

think about all those media who  livestreamed the Hong Kong protests!  

They're all responsible for  the protests! Lock 'em up!

Wait a minute...

we livestreamed the Hong Kong  protests. Don't lock 'em up!

By the way, this Global Times article is  not just about Falun Gong. It also attacks  

lots of Hong Kong Christian organizations  for supporting the pro-democracy movement,  

which could mean that a bigger religious  crackdown is coming to Hong Kong.

Now in some ways, a Falun Gong ban in Hong  Kong seems like just a matter of time.  

People were worried about it last year, as  soon as the national security law was passed.

But Hong Kong authorities spent the past  year targeting people directly involved  

in the 2019 protests, and left Falun Gong alone.

At this point, every prominent Hong Kong  activist is now either in jail or in exile.  

So Hong Kong authorities may  be looking for a new target.

Especially now that authorities have forced  pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily to shut  

down. Because the Hong Kong edition of the  Epoch Times, which was started by Falun Gong  

practitioners, is now the only local media that  actively opposes the Chinese Communist Party.

They've already been attacked  several times in the past year.

First, thugs wrecked their printing press.

Then thugs attacked a local  reporter with a baseball bat.

The Epoch Times says they won't back down.

But it turns out the Falun Gong issue in  Hong Kong could be more complicated. And  

a ban might not happen yet. Because of  factional infighting within the Party.

More after the break.

Welcome back.

The Falun Gong issue in Hong Kong could be  more complicated than it looks on the surface.  

That's because of a power struggle  within the Chinese Communist Party.

That's according to SinoInsider, a  China political risk consultancy .

You know what that means. It's time  for another installment of everyone's  

favorite communist soap opera, General Hostility .

Previously on General Hostility:  Hong Kong is a battleground  

between Chinese President Xi Jinping  and former toad leader Jiang Zemin.

Xi tried to go after Jiang and his cronies' wealth  

in Hong Kong. Jiang tried to force Xi to  crush Hong Kong protests with violence.

Neither side succeeded.  Who has the upper hand now?

In the deadly political battle between Xi Jinping  and Jiang Zemin , Hong Kong has been a stronghold  

for Jiang's faction. But Xi might use the  Falun Gong issue in Hong Kong to his advantage.

According to SinoInsider, in the debate between  Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang  

and pro-Beijing lawmakers, Tang  was speaking for Xi's faction  

when he refused to commit to banning Falun Gong.

While the pro-Beijing lawmakers trying to start a  

crackdown on Falun Gong were  speaking for Jiang's faction.

Basically, for years Jiang's faction  has been trying to get Xi Jinping  

to take over responsibility for  the crackdown on Falun Gong,  

which Jiang started. Meanwhile Xi has been  resisting that. He wants to use the threat  

of exposing the true extent of the Jiang faction's  actions against Falun Gong to keep them in line.

Xi has also been slowly  dismantling Jiang's power base.

That includes things like  eliminating the 610 Office,  

which Jiang used to persecute  Falun Gong and accumulate power.

If that carries over to Hong Kong, it would  explain the sudden disbanding of the Hong Kong  

Youth Cares Association last year, which  was also used to persecute Falun Gong.

Meanwhile, the Jiang faction wants to use unrest  in Hong Kong to undermine Xi Jinping's ability  

to get a record third term as Party  leader, which he will try to do next year.

Xi obviously wants to prevent that.  Because Xi wants to be presitator for life.

According to SinoInsider, if Xi succeeds against  Jiang, he may increase the suppression of Falun  

Gong in Hong Kong, but he wouldn't outright ban  the group before he gets a third term next year.

But if Jiang comes out on top, then the ban  on Falun Gong could happen a lot quicker,  

because Jiang's faction would use that to  blame Xi for a harsher Hong Kong crackdown.  

Their ultimate goal is to weaken Xi  enough to get rid of him altogether.

That's intense. General Hostility  always keeps me on the edge of my seat.

The Chinese Communist Party just  celebrated its 100th birthday.  

But with the power struggle between  Jiang and Xi getting worse by the day,  

will the Party make it to 101? Find  out next time on...General Hostility.

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I'm Chris Chappell. Thanks  for watching China Uncensored.