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HKFP
6 days ago
- Politics
- HKFP
Declassified files outline UK plan to evacuate Hongkongers in ‘Armageddon scenario' after Tiananmen crackdown
The UK drafted plans to evacuate millions of people in Hong Kong in an 'Armageddon scenario,' following China's Tiananmen crackdown in 1989, according to newly declassified documents. The confidential British Cabinet Office files – made available online on Tuesday – show that then UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher's administration created contingency plans for a mass evacuation of Hong Kong people in the wake of the crackdown. Beijing sent troops to disperse pro-democracy demonstrators at Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, killing hundreds – if not thousands, according to some estimates. According to the 415-page documents, the UK assessed its capacity to transfer millions of Hongkongers to Taiwan, the Philippines, or other places in the region by air and by sea, as well as a potential military conflict with China during the evacuation. 'This paper examines the scenarios that might prompt a large-scale exodus from Hong Kong in the period up to 1997 or thereafter,' read a document dated August 17, 1989. 'This includes evacuation by both civil and military means, and arrangements for the reception and resettlement of refugees,' it continued. Hong Kong was handed over from British rule to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997. 'Internally generated panic' The contingency plan – drafted by a secret Cabinet Office committee called 'MISC 140,' which reported to then British diplomat Leonard Appleyard – proposed two pre-1997 scenarios and two post-1997 scenarios that could lead to a mass exodus of people from Hong Kong. In the period preceding 1997, Hong Kong could see 'a steady ebbing away of confidence, culminating in rising panic or economic collapse,' according to the document. 'If the confidence of the people of Hong Kong is not restored, there will inevitably be an increasing outflow of capital and talent from the territory. The rate of emigration would be limited only by the availability of places in the destination countries,' the paper read. The pre-1997 period could also see a 'panic provoked by further developments in China,' which included 'the brutal use of military force against Chinese civilians' and the scenario of a civil war in the country, the paper added. In post-1997 years, Hongkongers could still leave the territory en masse due to 'panic provoked by China' and 'internally generated panic,' the paper envisioned, which could result in the public losing confidence in the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a 1984 agreement under which Beijing promises to maintain a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong after the transfer of sovereignty. 'In a deteriorating situation, Hong Kong's inhabitants would judge that the Joint Declaration was not working: this might be because of increasing Chinese interference; because of growing corruption in the territory; or because of a perception that Britain and the rest of the international community were no longer willing or able to do much to help,' the paper read. 'Chinese attitude will be crucial' The Cabinet Office committee set out a three-phase contingency plan – from 'green' to 'amber' to 'red.' The British government would monitor movement from Hong Kong to the UK and amass the transportation capacity required for a mass evacuation when a large-scale exodus was imminent or had begun. Among the evacuation plans proposed by the committee was one that would charter all 143 non-Chinese-owned cruise ships in the world, then ferry people in Hong Kong to Taiwan, the Philippines, and Australia. Military assistance by the British air force and navy would be a 'significant feature' of an evacuation plan 'up to July 1997 but not beyond,' when Hong Kong was due to return to Chinese rule, according to the paper. 'The Chinese attitude will be crucial in determining whether there is a crisis leading to a mass exodus and, if so, how that crisis can be managed,' a document from October 1989 read. The UK also 'could not handle a mass evacuation alone,' the documents show, and material support from the US – which has a large military presence in Asian countries like Japan and the Philippines – would be imperative. 'Other countries would have to help, and the United States would be particularly important,' according to the documents. The files also disclose the UK government's estimate of the financial cost such a mass evacuation plan would have on the country. 'A large influx into the United Kingdom would create a huge resettlement problem which would be hugely expensive to deal with. This underlines the importance of doing everything possible to prevent a mass exodus,' the documents read. Exodus Between 1985 and 1997, about 57,600 people moved from Hong Kong, according to a 2021 BBC report citing official figures provided by the city's authorities. The number paled in comparison to a more recent wave of large-scale emigration during the Covid pandemic, with official data showing a net outflow of about 123,000 residents in 2020 and 2021. Part of the outflow is believed to have been propelled by the city's political changes following the pro-democracy protests and unrest in 2019 and Beijing's imposition of a national security law in 2020 to quell dissent. As of March this year, 163,400 people from Hong Kong holding British National (Overseas) passports have arrived in the UK since London began accepting applications in 2021, according to the UK's Home Office. Hong Kong's population shrank from about 7.48 million in 2020 to 7.34 million in mid-2022, before rebounding to about 7.53 million at the end of last year. The government attributed the population rise to various policies aiming to attract talent and import overseas labour.
Jordan News
26-03-2025
- Business
- Jordan News
Tax Settlements with 730 Companies and Taxpayers - Jordan News
The Cabinet also approved the recommendations of the Settlement and Reconciliation Committee for unresolved issues between taxpayers and the Income and Sales Tax Department, agreeing to settle 730 cases for companies and taxpayers who have financial obligations in accordance with the provisions of the Income Tax Law and the General Sales Tax Law. اضافة اعلان This decision is part of the ongoing efforts to ease the burden on economic activities and provide an opportunity for investors and business owners to settle their tax affairs. The goal is to ensure the sustainability and expansion of their businesses while removing obstacles and challenges that may hinder their growth.
Miami Herald
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Cote: Bravo Trump for sparking new momentum to lift ban of late Pete Rose and get him in Hall
Donald Trump exhumed the Pete Rose controversy in saying he would issue a 'complete pardon' of the late, permanently banned baseball star in the coming weeks. Pardon me, sir, but pardoning Rose for what, exactly? A 1990 tax-evasion guilty plea for which Rose served five months in prison was his only criminal conviction. He was handed down a life sentence by MLB, a permanent ban, for gambling but there is much doubt whether the scope of Trump's power includes overturning the rulings of sports leagues. Meantime, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is reviewing and considering an existing petition to lift Rose's ban and thus make him eligible to finally appear on the Hall of Fame ballot and be posthumously inducted. King Donald (presumably with the support of President Musk) wants to see Rose get into Cooperstown, and so the pardon talk may well just be a way to publicly nudge Manfred in that direction. At this point I must make a solemn confession with seven words I never imagined I would place in this exact order: I finally agree with Trump on something. (Nor did I ever imagine the words 'Bravo Trump' in a headline on anything I'd written.) I do not side with him on much in general or in specifics such as appearing to side with Russia over Ukraine, mass layoffs of federal employees including essential workers, or fomenting the dismantling of DEI initiatives, LGBTQ rights and women's right to choose. I also believe that, led by anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Trump has appointed the scariest Cabinet since The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. (Google it, kids.) But on Rose finally being allowed on the Hall ballot, we agree. I should note that, pending a Trump executive order to remove me, I am a BBWAA member and a Hall voter — unlike most of the self-righteous, blowhard 'journalists' and self-appointed moralists proselytizing from on high that Rose's ban should exceed his lifetime and extend to eternity. It isn't the Hall of Saints, folks. I would vote for Rose, as I have written and said for years, just as I voted for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and just as I now vote for Alex Rodriguez. Players who are otherwise absolutely Hall-worthy but for an imperfection should not be forever penalized. (However I also believe their bronze plaque for eternity should mention their delay in getting in; in Rose's case, the gambling matter that kept him out for years ... for life, it turned out.) Rose foresaw, in this final interview, that he might get in posthumously. Ten days before his death last September, Rose told Ohio sportscaster John Condit: 'I've come to the conclusion — I hope I'm wrong — that I'll make the Hall of Fame after I die. Which I totally disagree with, because the Hall of Fame is for two reasons: your fans and your family. And it's for your family if you're here. It's for your fans if you're here. Not if you're 10 feet under.' (Note: The standard saying is 'six feet under.' Perhaps unforgiving MLB insisted Rose be buried extra deep as added punishment?) It should be forever noted Rose bet only on his teams to always win. Under the too-broad umbrella of gambling, what he did was a misdemeanor relative to the felonious and infamous Black Sox scandal in which the 1919 World Series was rigged. Tendrils of hypocrisy appear in 2025 over baseball's continuing ban of Rose as sports leagues including MLB climb into bed with betting sportsbooks and reap millions from them, while simultaneously acting all aghast and indignant that a player of theirs might dip a toe in gambling. If it's against the written rule, it merits punishment, yes. Where is separate from the sanctimony is the idea placing bets on your own team to win deserves a lifetime-and-beyond banishment for the player who had more hits than anybody who ever played — the record, and the unwarranted shame, still his. Said Rose in that final interview: 'I'm not bitter about everything. I'm the one that [expletived] up. Why am I going to be bitter? When you make a mistake, don't be bitter to other people. I wish I hadn't made the mistake, but I did. It's history. Get over it. I didn't hurt you as a fan. I didn't hurt any of my fans by betting on the game of baseball to win. To win, OK?' Baseball should have had the common sense and forgiveness to lift Rose's ban and allow him on the Hall of Fame ballot while he lived. It shouldn't take a U.S. president's involvement now to at least make it happen posthumously.
