The contrast
between the fortunes of Taiwanese and Hong Kong people today couldn’t be
clearer, as reviewed by the TV news today.
Following the
report on the momentous election campaigns of the upcoming presidential
election in Taiwan is the one on the farcical scenes of two clowns from the
camp of Hong Kong pan democrats campaigning for being “elected” as the
representative to participate in the “election” of the next Chief Executive. While
the Taiwanese are proudly contemplating how best to make use of their votes to
choose a president of their choice, we are condemned to fooling ourselves that
the hallucination or downright lie that we have a say in who will be given Hong
Kong’s top job next. (Not that it would make any difference, of course!)
The subsequent
report was equally revealing about the pitiable state of Hong Kong people. Some
vendors of pork complained about the two supermarket chains recently making a
huge slash of pork prices by 30 percent, saying that this was an attempt to
drive the small vendors out of business so that the chains can monopolise the
market. Such aggressive moves of the supermarket chains are nothing new. Not so
long ago, it was reported that they bullied wholesalers to stop supplying
products to small retailers who were selling those products more cheaply than
they did. Hong Kong people are cursed with the cruel reality of being exploited
by, and at the mercy of, the tycoons who own those mega multi-billion dollar
businesses.
I congratulate
Taiwan for being the own region (or country, depending how you look at it)
populated by Chinese which provides its people with the right to choose their
own leader and government. While I won’t feel sorry for ourselves, the
difference in fortune between the two peoples is a pill which is not easy to
swallow.
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