Zheng Yanxiong is best known for his role in dealing with a
land dispute protest in Wukan, southern China.
The new organization, responding directly to Beijing, is set
up in Hong Kong this week to implement a draconian security law.
Regulation critics claim it erodes territorial freedoms.
With up to life in prison, the law opposes secession,
subversion and terrorism.
Many leading pro-democracy activists have abandoned their
positions and one of them, once student leader and local legislator Nathan Law,
has fled the region.
Separately, one of ten people arrested during demonstrations
on Wednesday has been the first to be convicted under the new legislation. Hundreds
were arrested in clashes.
The motorcyclist was charged with promoting secession and
extremism, accused of riding into a group of police while holding a banner
calling for Hong Kong 's independence.
Beijing has rejected criticism of the rule, saying the sort
of pro-democracy demonstrations seen in Hong Kong during most of 2019 must be
stopped.
In 1997, Britain handed over Hong Kong 's sovereignty to
China and other privileges under the "one country, two systems"
arrangement were to be guaranteed for at least 50 years.
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Yet China has dismissed UK and other Western nations'
allegations that it violates such assurances as interference in its domestic
affairs.
What do China 's latest appointees know?
Mr Zheng's most recent senior job in southern Guangdong
province was as secretary general of the Communist Party committee.
But he is best known as party boss in Shanwei, Guangdong,
when a protest broke out in 2011 by villagers in Wukan seeking compensation for
land requisitioned by the government.
He blamed villagers for complaining about their problems
to a few rotten international media outlets
instead of the government.
Such media outlets will only be happy when our socialist
county falls apart, he said on local TV.
The violence led the government to a unprecedented compromise,
with the direct election of a central official. Five years later, however, he
was arrested for graft and quashed demonstrations.
Although Mr. Zheng was no longer in his position in Shanxei,
he was still a senior official in Guangdong.
Mr Luo currently heads the liaison office in Beijing.
Veteran official Eric Chan will head the national security commission of the
territory.
You must learn about a Guangdong village named Wukan to
learn Zheng Yanxiong.
In 2011, disaffected residents violently ousted local
government officials, accusing them of stealing their property in a series of crooked
developer transactions.
A protest emerged and residents were granted the right to
elect their own council as part of a negotiated deal to defuse tensions. This
was China's grassroots political exception.
Five years later, the people, furious that no money was paid
for the confiscated property, began marching in the streets again. The crisis
worsened after the authorities took away their elected leader on what are
considered to be trumped up allegations.
In control of their own affairs, the motivated locals
believed they could achieve justice. But when this uprising fed up with the
Communist Party, senior cadre Zheng Yanxiong and others had to deal with it.
Hundreds of riot police were directed to seize power, mass arrests and disrupt
the Wukan trial.
This Cantonese-speaking enforcer has since risen up the
ranks with a reputation for doing whatever is required. He is now in charge of
a new intelligence agency in Hong Kong that operates without any legal
constraints and which no other agencies can enter.
What's the protection law?
This also allows closed-door hearings, wire-tapping suspects
and the opportunity for prosecution on the Chinese mainland.
Acts can be called terrorism, like destroying public transit
infrastructure-which also happened during the 2019 protests.
There are also questions about online privacy, as internet
providers can need to turn over data if demanded by police.
What was the overseas reaction?
US lawmakers overwhelmingly supported new Hong Kong-related
restrictions, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claiming that the legislation
amounted to a brutal, sweeping crackdown on the Hong Kong people to undermine the
freedoms they were promised.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the
legislation was a simple and serious violation of the joint Sino-British
declaration of 1985.
In the wake of the implementation of the law, the UK
provided residency and potential citizenship to up to three million Hong
Kongers.
Many others have raised deep concerns. Australia announced
it was considering giving Hong Kongers safe haven like the UK.
China replied by saying Hong Kong is none of your business.
Cuba adopted the rule at the UN Human Rights Council on
behalf of 53 countries.
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