The Washington Post - 18.09.2019

A10 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 , 2019

they can fully break away from

Beijing’s control, but there is an

increasing embrace of Hong

Kong as a place apart. Many

locals call themselves Hong

Kongers rather than Chinese,

and they say the culture and

identity of Hong Kong must be

preserved.

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ed. Hong Kong officials say the

number of international visitors

fell by 50 percent in mid-August

after protesters staged sit-ins at

Hong Kong International Air-

port. Hotels have been forced to

slash room rates.

The protests have sharpened

the dividing lines over identity.

Few people in Hong Kong think

Kong district of Sheung Shui

denounced the parallel traders.

In August, protesters shouted

“Take back Hong Kong” at a bus

carrying shoppers into the terri-

tory.

Retailers report a sharp drop

in the number of Chinese coming

over from the mainland. Interna-

tional tourism also has plummet-

BY NICOLE TUNG

IN HONG KONG

T

he demonstrations in Hong

Kong are increasingly flar-

ing in its residential neigh-

borhoods, miles from the harbor-

side business districts where the

pro-autonomy rallies began in

the spring.

The clashes are now on the

doorstep of nearly every resident

in Hong Kong, aggravating al-

ready tense relations between

Hong Kong people and mainland

Chinese visitors and residents.

The tensions in the neighbor-

hoods are also spilling over to the

mainland Chinese who come to

Hong Kong every day to buy

goods.

Those who enter Hong Kong

for a day, making use of multiple-

entry visas that allow them to

cross easily into the territory, are

called “parallel traders.” They

buy goods such as baby formula,

dried foods, cosmetics and elec-

tronics to take back to the main-

land for resale. Unlike tourists,

they are mainly seeking house-

hold goods, and residents say

their presence has caused short-

ages of daily necessities such as

toothpaste and milk.

But now the day-trippers to

Hong Kong are facing increasing

anger.

They are seen by some protest-

ers as symbols of the mainland’s

reach into the former British

colony. In July, a rally in the Hong

The World

ITALY

Renzi to form new bloc

in setback for coalition

Former Italian premier

Matteo Renzi has left the ruling

Democratic Party to set up a new

centrist force, in a risky move

that further weakens the shaky

government forged two weeks

ago by the center-left Democrats

and the populist Five Star

Movement.

Renzi announced his

departure in a Facebook post on

Tuesday, after explaining the

abrupt move in an interview

with the daily La Repubblica.

The former premier recently

regained a central role in Italian

politics, using his influence in

Parliament to push for the

coalition deal between the

Democrats and their former

archenemies, the Five Stars, in a

last-ditch attempt to avert an

early election and the likely

triumph of Matteo Salvini’s

right-wing League party.

While Renzi has reassured

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte

that his loyalists will continue to

support the fragile coalition

government, the launch of a new

centrist party is sure to increase

Italy’s political uncertainty.

— Associated Press

UKRAINE

Ex-central bank chief’s

house burned down

The home of Ukraine’s former

central bank chief has been

burned to the ground, the third

chilling incident involving the

banker over the past few weeks.

Police said Tuesday that they

are investigating a suspected

arson attack late Monday on the

house of Valeria Gontareva

outside the capital, Kiev.

Firefighters were unable to put

out the blaze.

Gontareva, a senior policy

fellow at the Institute of Global

Affairs in London, was also hit by

a car in late August. Earlier that

month, a car registered to her

daughter-in-law was set on fire in

Kiev.

Gontareva has said she has

received threats from Ukrainian

oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, who

lost his PrivatBank to a

government nationalization that

was carried out while Gontareva

was at the helm of the central

bank in 2016. Kolomoisky has

denied any role in the incidents.

President Volodymyr Zelensky,

a former comedian, had business

dealings with Kolomoisky’s

media holdings during his acting

career. Since his election in April,

there has been speculation that

the decision to nationalize

PrivatBank could be reviewed.

— Associated Press

Cardinal Pell appeals sex abuse

conviction: The most senior

Catholic to be found guilty of

sexually abusing children has

lodged an appeal in Australia’s

highest court against his

convictions in the molestation of

two 13-year-old choirboys in a

cathedral more than two decades

ago. The Victoria Court of Appeal

last month rejected Cardinal

George Pell’s appeal. Pell, 78, was

sentenced to six years in prison

in March. The High Court is his

final chance to overturn his

convictions, but there is no

guarantee that Australia’s final

arbiter will hear his appeal.

Iran admits to detaining

3 Australians: Iran has

acknowledged for the first time

that it holds three Australian

nationals on suspicion of spying,

marking the latest cases of those

with Western ties being detained

in the country amid tensions

between Te hran and the United

States. The semiofficial Ta snim

News Agency quoted a judiciary

spokesman as saying that the

three had been charged in two

separate cases. Australia said last

week that it was pressing Iran for

their release.

Philippines arrests more than

320 Chinese: The Philippines’

immigration bureau said its

agents, backed by troops, have

arrested 324 Chinese nationals

accused of involvement in illegal

online gambling and other

crimes in a raid on hotels and

other establishments in a western

province. Immigration

Commissioner Jaime Morente

said they would be deported for

violating the conditions of their

stay. The Philippines, backed by

the Chinese government, has

cracked down on large numbers

of Chinese who mostly entered

the country as tourists and then

worked for online gambling

operations, which are illegal in

China.

— From news services

DIGEST

Hong Kong turns cold toward mainland visitors

TOP: Mainlanders in Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan district in August. Many of the mainland visitors are

“parallel traders” who travel to Hong Kong daily to buy goods for resale on the mainland — an activity

that is a point of friction. ABOVE: Tourists are reflected in mirrors at a lookout on Victoria Peak.

PHOTOS BY NICOLE TUNG FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: People enter Hong Kong at the Lo Wu border crossing. A man hangs clothes to dry in Yau Tsim Mong, a

densely populated low-income area of the city. A “dancing auntie” and a local man in Tuen Mun Park in August. Dancing aunties are

generally middle-aged and scantily clad mainland women who sing and dance for tips in the city; they were banned starting this month.

Mainlanders, like these in the Sheung Wan district, are seen by some Hong Kongers as symbols of Beijing’s reach into the territory.