The Wall Street Journal - 26.11.2019

A6| Tuesday, November 26, 2019 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

MEXICO

Economy Stagnated

In Third Quarter

Mexico’s economic activity

was flat in the third quarter fol-

lowing three quarters of negative

output, putting the economy on

track for its worst yearly perfor-

mance in a decade.

Gross domestic product, which

measures output of goods and

services, was unchanged from

the second quarter in seasonally

adjusted terms, the National Sta-

tistics Institute said Monday.

Revised numbers showed GDP

posting 0.1% contractions in each

of the previous three quarters,

meeting the conditions of a tech-

nical recession defined by many

economists as two consecutive

quarters of negative growth.

In the third quarter, industrial

production fell 0.1% from the sec-

ond quarter, while services rose

0.1% and agricultural production

increased 3.3%.

GDP was down 0.3% unad-

justed from the third quarter of

2018, and was unchanged in the

first nine months of the year, the

statistics institute reported.

The economy is widely ex-

pected to show little or no

growth in all of 2019, which will

make this its worst performance

since the recession of 2009.

The change of government in

Mexico, a global economic slow-

down and trade tensions with

the U.S. have contributed to the

lack of investment and economic

growth this year.

—Anthony Harrup

EUROPE

Rains Cause Deadly

Flooding, Destruction

At least nine people have

died after heavy rain slammed

the Riviera coasts of France and

Italy, trapping travelers in their

cars, and caused flooding in

parts of Greece.

Some roads remained closed

Monday on the French Riviera,

and rivers were still rising in It-

aly after the weekend flooding.

The administration for

France’s Var region said four

people died, including a couple in

their 70s from the perfume capi-

tal of Grasse whose car got sub-

merged. Another died after a

French rescue boat sank in the

Mediterranean and another was

found dead in a car.

In Greece, the bodies of the

two men believed to be tourists

were recovered late Sunday and

early Monday near the port of

Antirio, about 150 miles west of

Athens after a sailboat they

were using was caught in the

severe weather. Another two

women died when storms hit

the Aegean islands Monday,

state ERT TV said.

And in northern Italy, a

woman was found dead after

the Bormida River swept away

her car. Rescuers are also

searching for possible victims af-

ter a landslide caused the col-

lapse of an elevated highway

near the flooded city of Savona.

—Associated Press

CYPRUS

U.N. Chief Seeks to

Restart Peace Talks

The head of the United Na-

tions sought to inject momen-

tum into efforts to revitalize

moribund talks on reunifying

ethnically split Cyprus, saying he

will continue work on finalizing

terms for a new round of nego-

tiations.

U.N. Secretary-General

António Guterres said he is look-

ing to bring together Cyprus’ ri-

val leaders and officials from the

island’s three “guarantors”—Brit-

ain, Greece and Turkey—for an

informal meeting to reach con-

sensus on those terms.

—Associated Press

fering congratulations to the

new political representatives.

Supporters included Mi Fung, a

34-year-old educator who said

she stayed up until 4 a.m.

watching the election results

unfold.

“It was very encouraging to

win,” Ms. Fung said. “Maybe

the election will make Beijing

less inclined to take a hard-line

approach. But if Beijing really

cares about what we think, this

wouldn’t have happened.”

A record 2.9 million voters—

more than 70% of those eligi-

ble—turned out to vote on Sun-

day, with dozens of

establishment and pro-China

candidates getting swept out of

power. The city’s pro-democ-

racy camp won a large majority

of seats and now controls 17

out of 18 councils.

Although the councils are

low-level power centers con-

cerned with neighborhood is-

sues, the elections for them are

the only ones in Hong Kong to

offer universal suffrage. Activ-

ists said the huge electoral

swing will re-energize a protest

movement fighting for five de-

mands, including full universal

suffrage and an independent

inquiry into police conduct.

“The governments should

see this as a demonstration of

the maturity and responsible

way of how Hong Kong people

behave,” said Steve Tsang, di-

rector of the School of Oriental

and African Studies China In-

stitute at the University of Lon-

don. “This is a clarion call for a

political solution, and they

have nothing to fear from Hong

Kong’s democracy.”

He said Hong Kong’s leader,

Carrie Lam, should “seize this

opportunity” to work out a po-

litical solution, although he

feared both the Hong Kong and

Chinese governments would

view the results as a threat.

“Beijing is likely to redouble

the repression,” Mr. Tsang said.

Mrs. Lam said on Monday

that the elections were con-

ducted in a peaceful, safe and

orderly manner. The results re-

flect “people’s dissatisfaction

with the current situation and

the deep-seated problems in

WORLD NEWS

society,” she said, while adding

that the government “will lis-

ten to the opinions of members

of the public humbly and seri-

ously reflect.”

In some respects, the vote

might be worse for Beijing than

the recent violence that has en-

gulfed the city, including last

week’s scene at PolyU—where

police arrested, or identified

and released, over a thousand

people in the standoff, which

has stretched for more than a

week. That is because it could

put even more pressure on

Hong Kong’s leaders and China

to pursue peaceful solutions

rather than imposing their will

through violent confrontations.

In Beijing on Monday, For-

eign Ministry spokesman Geng

Shuang said stopping violence

and restoring order were of the

utmost importance after Hong

Kong’s elections. He said the

Chinese government was op-

posed to any foreign forces in-

terfering in Hong Kong politics,

a comment that came after

President Trump said last week

the Hong Kong protests were a

“complicating factor” in U.S.-

China trade talks.

“Hong Kong is China’s Hong

Kong, and Hong Kong affairs

are purely China’s internal af-

fairs,” he said. “The Chinese

government is determined to

uphold our security and sover-

eignty and development inter-

ests. We are also resolute in

upholding the one country, two

systems principle. We are de-

termined in opposing foreign

meddling in these affairs.”

For Tony, a 23-year-old ac-

tuary, the election outcome is a

way for Hong Kong people to

“achieve their goals and make

changes in society” politically.

He said he believes the results

rebut the misconceptions of

pro-government supporters

that pro-democratic supporters

only make up only a minority

of society.

“We can vote to change the

current political state,” he said.

“These elections prove we have

advantage in numbers.”

HONG KONG—A day after
residents voted in record num-
bers to back the city’s pro-de-
mocracy movement, newly
elected local leaders took to an
embattled university campus to
support protesters still trapped
inside, and stepped up calls for
a political solution to the
unrest.
In an immediate show of
their newfound clout, dozens of
elected district councilors—
who don’t assume office until
January—assembled near Hong
Kong Polytechnic University on
Monday to summon help for
the fewer than 100 demonstra-
tors still on the campus. Those
trapped inside the university
are the holdouts from last
week’s standoff, which led to
violent clashes between police
and protesters.
“We have but one goal to-
day: to rescue those brothers
and sisters,” said Ng Kin Wai, a
pro-democracy advocate who
won a seat as district councilor
in Yuen Long.
Sunday’s election outcome
raises the stakes for the Hong
Kong government to open dia-
logue with opposition groups
to reach a solution to the more
than five months of social un-
rest gripping the city. The vote
was also a rebuke to Beijing,
which has pushed the semiau-
tonomous city to take action
against the protests and now
must contend with an electoral
landslide against the city’s
political establishment. It un-
dercut the assertions of Beijing
and local leaders that
protesters don’t have vast pub-
lic support.
Hundreds of citizens gath-
ered on Monday near PolyU,
listening to speeches while of-

BYSTEVENRUSSOLILLO
ANDWENXINFAN

Councilors Challenge Hong Kong Leaders

New pro-democracy

officials press

government, Beijing

for political settlement

Gary Fan Kwok-wai, a newly elected councilor, right, walked through debris on Monday to try to meet with holdout protesters at the

Polytechnic University in Hong Kong. Below, other new pro-democracy council members gathered near the university.

FROM TOP: NG HAN GUAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS; KIN CHEUNG/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chinese Woman Cites Prejudice Against Province in Job Suit

The hopes of millions of
people are riding on an $8,
lawsuit in China.
Henan, a little-developed
province that would be the
16th-most-populous country if
it were a sovereign state, has
long suffered from a reputa-
tion as a blighted region with
a reputation for scandal. Its
residents often are treated
with suspicion and mistrust.
But when a company in the
wealthy eastern city of Hang-
zhou recently rejected the on-
line job application of one
young woman on the basis of
her Henan roots, she sued.
The woman, identified only
by her surname, Yan, applied
for two job openings at a hotel

in Hangzhou in July, only to be

disqualified the next day be-

cause she was from Henan,

said Wang Xushan, a lawyer

for the woman.

Ms. Yan’s lawsuit, which is

seeking about $8,500 in com-

pensation, was accepted in Au-

gust by a Hangzhou court spe-

cializing in online disputes

and is to be decided as soon as

Tuesday. The woman is also

asking the court to compel the

hotel to publish formal apolo-

gies in three state-run media

outlets, including the national

newspaper People’s Daily, for

15 consecutive days, Mr. Wang

said.

A woman who answered a

mobile-phone number listed as

the company’s legal represen-

tative declined to comment.

The case has brought atten-

tion to regional discrimina-

tion, a scourge in a nation of

roughly 1.4 billion people di-

vided by language and re-

gional mores despite decades

of internal migration.

Stories have circulated

widely in state media and on

social media of, for example,

Henan natives stealing man-

hole covers to resell for scrap.

Last year, a hiring manager at

Baidu Inc.’s iQiyi video-

streaming service instructed a

subordinate to filter out appli-

cants from Henan. It apolo-

gized after an online backlash.

IQiyi said it fired the employee

and said it has a channel for

complaints about discrimina-

tion in recruiting.

Victoria Wang, a 29-year-old

Henan native who works at a

Beijing law firm, said she rarely

suffers discrimination but sees

it more clearly in jobs with

lower barriers to entry.

When Ms. Wang was looking

for a babysitter recently, she

was surprised to hear the ad-

vice: Don’t hire people from

Henan. Ms. Wang said she has

hired hardworking, diligent

people from the province.

The case in Hangzhou is a

rare appeal to the legal system

to seek redress against regional

prejudices. Partly because there

is no formal antidiscrimination

legislation in China, it is diffi-

cult for citizens to sue on the

grounds of discrimination, said

Lu Jiefeng, an associate profes-

sor of law at the University of

International Business and Eco-

nomics in Beijing.

But Chinese citizens have

been speaking up in recent

years, filing workplace law-

suits alleging discrimination

on the basis of gender and

sexual orientation. The cases

often receive help from public-

interest lawyers and nonprofit

organizations, said Mr. Lu,

who said the plaintiffs aren’t

fighting for personal gain.

Mr. Wang, the lawyer in the

Hangzhou case, said when peo-

ple win such lawsuits, compen-

sation is typically small.

The Hangzhou lawsuit has

attracted attention, igniting

some heated discussions online.

“Bad-mannered, unrefined,

low, swindling,” one user com-

mented on Weibo, a Twitter-like

platform, referring to the suit.

Others are standing up for

the litigant. “Those who don’t

know about Henan have no

right to blacken our grand

Henan,” a user wrote.

Kevin Wu, who works at a

chemical company in Hangzhou,

laughs at himself to show how

absurd the discrimination is.

“I’m from Henan,” Mr. Wu

said. “We are all cheats.”

—Lekai Liu in Beijing

and Zhou Wei in Shanghai

WORLDWATCH

CONGO PROTEST: Residents of the eastern city of Beni stormed the United Nations peacekeeping

mission Monday, angered by the U.N.’s and the army’s failure to prevent a rebel attack Sunday

night that left eight people dead and nine kidnapped. The residents also set fire to Beni’s town hall.

USHINDI MWENDAPEKE ELIEZAIRE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Learn more atChildFund.org

SHE IS A WORLD

OF POSSIBILITIES.

DON’T LET THE WORLD

TELL HER OTHERWISE.