A6 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 , 2019
his followers how 2 million Hong
Kongers could possibly all be
labeled rioters. Days later, in late
August, he was visited by author-
ities who asked whether he was
funded by anti-Chinese foreign
groups and pressured him to
stop talking online.
“I told them I’ll stop talking,
but I’ll continue to use VPN to
get outside information for my-
self,” Xu said in his basement
gym in east Beijing. “A s a citizen
of the People’s R epublic of China,
I have a right to know about a
huge incident like Hong Kong.
You can’t just hear one voice.
When you hear only one voice,
how do you know if it’s real or
fake?”‘Blanket repression’
Snuffing out dissenting voices
is a classic whack-a-mole strat-
egy for a Beijing government
concerned about the spread of
destabilizing ideas across its
southern border, said Jessica
Chen Weiss, an expert on Chi-
nese government and national-
ism at Cornell University.
But Weiss noted an increas-
ingly visible facet of the govern-
ment’s strategy: doubling down
on propaganda and patriotic
education to “preempt” critical
views of the Communist Party.
“They want to create a frame
of thought, t o urge people t o rally
behind the government,” she
said. “The Xi government is
resorting to indoctrination and
blanket repression.”
Protests in Hong Kong show
no signs of quieting down de-
spite the government conces-
sion, and schools have become
some of the epicenters. On Mon-
day, the first day of the school
year, Hong Kong high school
students sang protest songs over
the national anthem and boycot-
ted class.
Meanwhile, in mainland Chi-
na, millions of youths were
shown a 90-minute back-to-
school s pecial on s tate television.
In online forums, Chinese par-
ents lamented that their chil-
dren were assigned homework
about t he program, which drilled
into themes of patriotism, sacri-
fice and the sanctity of China’s
flag.
The program conspicuously
avoided any mention of Hong
Kong, but it drove home its point
with a final segment about Ma-
cao, a former Portuguese colony
and semiautonomous territory
that is often compared to Hong
Kong.
A schoolgirl from Macao sang
a ballad about her people’s un-
breakable loyalty to China de-
spite its colonial past:
“You know ‘Macao’ was not my
real family.
“I’ve been away from you,
mother.
“What they plundered was my
flesh.
“You still keep my soul.”
[email protected]
[email protected]Sh ih reported from Beijing.Andreas Fulda, the author of
a book on efforts at democratiza-
tion in China and a senior fellow
at the University of Nottingham’s
Asia Research Institute, said
voices like Chen’s are “not being
heard.”
“But we shouldn’t think that
these voices do not exist,” he
added.
Public figures in China who
have urged their countrymen to
have an open mind about the
Hong Kong crisis also have been
silenced. Last month, Chen
Qiushi, a Beijing lawyer known
for his online commentaries on
social issues, told his more than
700,000 Weibo followers that he
was skeptical about reports of
widespread “rioting” and trav-
eled to Hong Kong to get a look
on the ground.
“We can’t simply divide people
into good or bad. People are
complicated. People engage i n all
kinds of thinking,” Chen told his
audience in a live stream from
Hong Kong’s streets as marchers
walked past in August. “Not all of
them are rioters.”
That crossed the line. Days
later, Chen’s videos were re-
moved. His family and col-
le agues, under pressure from
authorities, urged him to quickly
return to Beijing. He hasn’t been
able to talk publicly since, said
Xu Xiaodong, a friend of Chen’s
who is also an outspoken social
media personality.
Xu, a mixed martial arts fight-
er by trade, said his social media
accounts also were shut last
month after he, like Chen, askedtesters, but above all, I’m con-
cerned of the rising totalitarian-
ism and centralization of state
power I see in China, which is a
really harmful trend,” he said in
an interview.
Chen said he has been forced
to “think twice” before express-
ing his views, especially on Chi-
nese social media apps. Getting
outed online for liberal views, he
added, is “nearly a death penal-
ty” in China.One of his contacts saved the
photo and distributed it with the
teacher’s personal details. It was
soon picked up by Chinese na-
tionalists with huge followings
on Weibo. Soon, he was flooded
with online messages calling for
his death or imprisonment.
Pl ainclothes officers paid him a
visit, he said, and have barred
him from going to Hong Kong
without prior approval.
“I feel sympathy for the pro-Facebook and Twitter and t o read
international news reports on
the protests.
Byron Chen, a 34-year-old
teacher at an international
school, attended a July 14 rally
organized by the Hong Kong
Journalists Association, which
advocates unfettered media ac-
cess to the protests. He posted a
picture on his WeChat page,
stressing the legal and peaceful
nature of the gathering.efforts reflect the dilemma of
how to ideologically insulate his
country even as the Chinese are
increasingly immersed in the
world, including 520,000 stu-
dents flowing yearly out of its
borders.
This conundrum is especially
acute when it comes to Hong
Kong, which Beijing has been
trying to integrate socially and
economically since the territory’s
1997 return to Chinese sover-
eignty, while keeping the finan-
cial hub’s relative freedoms from
seeping into the mainland.
The Chinese Embassy in the
United States reminded Chinese
students in an open letter this
week to be “representatives for
this generation of Chinese
youth” at American campuses
and “demonstrate young Chinese
peoples’ feelings and responsi-
bilities through openness and
confidence.”
When Chinese students in
Hong Kong returned to the city
after summer break, a text mes-
sage sent to their phones from
Chinese provincial authorities
urged them to “unwaveringly
uphold a position of loving the
country and loving Hong Kong”
and “by no means” attend any
protests.
Chinese authorities usually
block social media platforms
such as Facebook and Twitter by
using a censorship apparatus
nicknamed the Great Firewall.
Ye t they allowed hundreds of
nationalist youths to use special
software last week to vault over
the firewall and flood interna-
tional social networks with pro-
Beijing messages.
State media has at times
stayed silent on major develop-
ments in Hong Kong, including
the news Wednesday that Hong
Kong leader Carrie Lam had
withdrawn the contentious ex-
tradition bill that sparked the
crisis.
At other times, Chinese au-
thorities have splashed stories
about the Chinese flag being
hurled into the sea and promot-
ed viral hashtags on Weibo — the
country’s version of Twitter —
with pro-Beijing messages such
as: “The five-star red flag has
1.4 billion guardians. I’m one of
them!”
The information gap has
sometimes generated confusion
on Chinese social media. Some
users were puzzled about why
Hong Kong’s stock market sud-
denly shot up Wednesday after-
noon, w hen breaking news about
the extradition bill’s withdrawal
was s uppressed on the m ainland.
Other Chinese who had seen
weeks of coverage about violent
protests wondered why the gov-
ernment would cave to a radical
fringe.
‘Harmful trend’
Some Chinese citizens have
tried to offer a different perspec-
tive, using virtual private net-
work (VPN) software to access
HONG KONG FROM A
BY DAVID NAKAMURA,
JOHN HUDSON
AND ANNE GEARANTwo months after President
Trump shook hands with North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un a t the
Korean demilitarized zone, his
administration remains stymied
in its efforts to coax Pyongyang
back to the negotiating table,
leading to mounting frustrations
that time is running out while
Kim has strengthened his posi-
tion.
In a new letter to Trump on
Friday, leading Senate Democrats
are calling the North’s recent
short-range missile tests “a sig-
nificant step backwards” and de-
manding that the United States
hold Kim’s regime accountable
for actions that “clearly contra-
vene” U.N. Security Council reso-
lutions, according to a copy ob-
tained by The Washington Post.
A leading Washington think
tank concluded in a public assess-
ment published Friday that an
undisclosed North Korean oper-
ating base in Kumchon-ni houses
medium-range ballistic missiles
capable of striking southern Ja-
pan as well as the outskirts of
To kyo.
And the State Department,
whose efforts to engage North
Korean diplomats have floun-
dered, is weighing new steps to
publicly pressure the Kim regime
during the U.N. General Assem-
bly in New York this month, said
officials with knowledge of the
internal deliberations.
The developments stand in
sharp contrast to Trump’s efforts
in recent weeks to play down
friction with the North in an
effort to maintain a personal
relationship with Kim that has
driven his unorthodox strategy to
force one of the world’s most
brutal and dangerous regimes to
relinquish its nuclear arsenal.
“The president is increasingly
isolated within his own govern-
ment on this policy,” said Victor
Cha, Korea chair at the Center for
Strategic and International Stud-
ies (CSIS), whose program pub-
lished the assessment of the
Kumchon-ni facility.
Cha noted that Trump said last
month that he had received a
letter from Kim suggesting talks
would resume after the comple-
tion of annual joint military exer-
cises between the United States
and South Korea, which ended
two weeks ago.
“I sense a lot of frustration that
nothing is going on,” Cha said of
the president’s aides. “They
promised in August that these
things would happen.”
White House officials declined
to comment.
Kim has unsettled East Asiathis summer with tests of short-
range missiles that Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called
a clear violation of U.N. Security
Council resolutions. But Trump
has consistently maintained that
the tests do not violate a personal
pledge Kim made during their
first summit in Singapore last
year to refrain from testing inter-
continental ballistic missiles or
nuclear weapons.
Despite Trump’s unwillingness
to criticize Kim, U.S. officials have
been rebuffed time and again in
their overtures to Kim’s under-
lings since the two leaders met at
the Korean DMZ in late June,
according to people briefed on
the matter.
Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo’s hopes for a meeting
with Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho
at the U.N. General Assembly
were dashed when the North
announced this week it would not
participate in the internationalgathering, a shift from the past
three years, when high-level dele-
gations attended.
Two weeks ago, Ri insulted
Pompeo, whom Pyongyang views
as a hard-liner, by calling him
“poisonous” to diplomacy.
During a private briefing on
Capitol Hill last week, a senior
Trump administration official
told congressional staffers that
U.S. officials were continuing to
reach out to Pyongyang but had
heard nothing back, according to
a person familiar with the discus-
sion.
“A s we have indicated, we are
prepared to engage in negotia-
tions as soon as we hear from our
counterparts in North Korea,” a
State Department official told
The Post, when asked for a re-
sponse regarding Ri’s criticism of
Pompeo. The official spoke on the
condition of anonymity because
of the sensitivity of the situation.
Jean H. Lee, a Korea expert at
the Wilson Center who spent five
years as the Associated Press
bureau chief in Pyongyang, said
the North Koreans have signaled
uncertainty over how to proceed
ahead of an end-of-the-year dead-
line, set by Kim, to walk away
from bilateral engagement if
there is no deal.
Kim tested Trump in launch-
ing the short-range missiles.
Now, Lee said, the North Korean
leader could be contemplating
whether to ratchet up the stakes
by “doing something more pro-
vocative.”
Trump has consistently framed
his North Korea diplomacy as a
success, touting Pyongyang’s nu-
clear test moratorium and em-
phasizing that his administration
has maintained tough economic
sanctions on the Kim regime.
But experts said Kim has usedthe period of engagement to ac-
celerate development on other
aspects of his missile programs.
The New York Times reported
this week that Kim’s regime has
greatly improved the “range and
maneuverability” of its weapons
systems.
The new assessment from
CSIS’s “Beyond Parallel” program
provides significant insights into
one of the North’s estimated 20
ballistic missile operations that
the Kim regime has not disclosed
to the public.
The facility at Kumchon-ni is
located less than 50 miles north
of the DMZ and is equipped with
Hwasong-9 medium-range ballis-
tic missiles capable of striking
throughout South Korea in addi-
tion to southern Japan, according
to the report.
The findings come as Japan
and South Korea have ended an
intelligence-sharing agreement
amid a w orsening diplomatic row
that has roots in historical griev-
ances dating to Japan’s wartime
occupation of the Korean Penin-
sula.
“North Korea’s ballistic threat
is significant,” s aid Joseph S. Ber-
mudez Jr., a CSIS analyst who
compiled the report based on
commercial satellite imagery, de-
classified government reports
and interviews. “It is growing,
and it is something that needs to
be addressed not only for the
United States but for allies in
Japan and South Korea.”
In their letter to Trump, eight
Democratic senators, including
Minority Leader Charles E. Schu-
mer (N.Y.), Richard J. Durbin (Ill.)
and Robert Menendez (N.J.), call
on him to use the U.N. General
Assembly to push for account-
ability measures on the North’s
missile activities while also seek-ing to “establish the sort of regu-
lar working-level negotiations
necessary for diplomacy to suc-
ceed.”
Ye t it’s not clear how such talks
would resume. Trump’s second
summit with Kim in Hanoi in
February collapsed after Kim of-
fered to close a major nuclear
processing facility in exchange
for relief from economic sanc-
tions, but Trump demanded that
the North agree to relinquish its
entire nuclear and ballistic mis-
sile programs.
Since then, neither side has
signaled a willingness to offer
concessions. The standoff comes
amid reports that Stephen Bie-
gun, the lead U.S. negotiator with
North Korea, would be in the
running for a promotion to depu-
ty secretary of state if Trump taps
John Sullivan as the new ambas-
sador to Russia. In that event,
Biegun probably would stay in-
volved in the talks but appoint a
deputy to manage the negotia-
tions on a day-to-day basis.
U.S. officials have cautioned
that nothing has been decided.
Michael Green, who served as a
top Asia policy official in the
George W. Bush administration,
said Japanese and South Korean
diplomats have grown increas-
ingly pessimistic about the future
of the negotiations.
North Korea’s success in devel-
oping its weapons capabilities
could provide Kim with increased
leverage in the negotiations and
the ability to “escalate the situa-
tion when the time is right to test
again,” Green said. “Everyone I
talk to on both sides think that’s
where it’s headed — toward an-
other crisis.”
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]As Trump touts N. Korea talks as a success, signs of progress are hard to find
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un prepares to greet President
Trump at the Korean demilitarized zone on June 30.Beijing targeting mainland residents as it tries to contain Hong Kong protests
LAUREL CHOR/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK
Students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong take part in an anti-government protest on Monday. As pro-democracy demonstrations in
Hong Kong have intensified and defiance against Beijing grows, China has taken steps to prevent any kind of spillover onto the mainland.JEROME FAVRE/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK
A man places his hands behind his head as police arrest suspected protesters on a bus in Hong Kong.
Mainland residents have found themselves under scrutiny as they try to return home from the city.