The Daily - Pageantry in Beijing. Firebombs in Hong Kong.

Episode Date: October 2, 2019

As China celebrated 70 years of Communist Party rule, scenes of pageantry, pride and unity in Beijing contrasted with the firebombs, rubber bullets and mass protests in Hong Kong. We look at what this day of contradictions tells us about the simmering unrest in the territory. Guests: Javier C. Hernández, a China correspondent for The New York Times reporting from Hong Kong, spoke with Natalie Kitroeff, a business reporter for The Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.Background reading: The violent confrontations in Hong Kong have presented a challenge to the image of unshakable control that President Xi Jinping of China has sought to project.As an American journalist in Beijing, our colleague was accustomed to a watchful Chinese government. But never before had the police insisted on occupying his home.A timeline of the summer of protests in Hong Kong: how they started, why they grew and how the government has responded.

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today, as China celebrated 70 years of Communist Party rule, scenes of pageantry, pride, and unity in Beijing, were met with firebombs, rubber bullets, and mass protests in Hong Kong. My colleague Natalie Kitchereff speaks with China correspondent Javier Hernandez about a day of historic contrasts. It's Wednesday, October 2nd. Wednesday, October 2nd.

Javier, take us back to a few weeks ago when you get this knock at your door. It's Saturday morning. I'm in my home in Beijing, just relaxing. And I get a call from downstairs saying that there's an officer from the Beijing Police Department and he wants to discuss something with you. And in that moment, I didn't really know what he wanted to talk about, whether it was an article I'd written.

You know, sometimes we get visits from the police. But in this case, I really had no idea. And so I was racking my brain. And before I knew it, the knock was at my door. And I opened it up, and it was Officer Wong Young. And he was a veteran of the police department. He had a nice smile, but also looked kind of nervous. And he asked, do you know about the National Day celebrations?

And do you? Well, as a correspondent in Beijing, yes, I did. We had sort of been obsessed with the National Day preparations. And so it's this yearly event where China celebrates its birthday, where there's often a lot of festivities going on. But this year was the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. And so it was an extra special year. It was like the biggest event of the year or even the decade for the Communist Party. And they were planning this huge military parade that would crown Xi Jinping as the indomitable leader of China. And so it seemed like it was going to be a particularly sensitive year. But why is he at your door asking if you know about this celebration?

Well, he wanted me to leave. He basically said, you have no choice. You need to leave. Armed police are going to be stationed inside your home for four days. Whoa. Why would the police need to take over your apartment for this parade? Well, I've been asking myself that a lot lately, and I don't think there's a clear answer, but I think it has to do with this obsession with security that's spread throughout China in recent years. And this fear that something could go wrong. This is a meticulously rehearsed extravaganza. This is something that they've planned to every detail. They've been rehearsing for months and everyone here knows that they're going to be on TV. And I think there's probably a lot of fear on that stage if anything goes wrong. And so I think they were just being extra careful, wanted to minimize any risk and kicked me out. So where do you go?

So I stayed in my apartment for a few more weeks. Every weekend, though, the party was having these mass rehearsals for the parade. And so they forced me to stay in my room under curfew while they held these rehearsals. And I was told to close my curtains promptly at 8 p.m. And the officer kept checking in on me to see what my plans were. And I didn't really know. So I kind of just put him off for a while. And then eventually I had to make a decision. So I decided to go to Taipei, where I have family, and watch the parade from there. from there. So it starts about 10 a.m. and you see thousands of soldiers come out holding the Chinese flag, many holding huge rifles. The weapons are rolling out one by one.

We see supersonic drones. We see unmanned underwater vehicles. There are intercontinental ballistic missiles. And here's the last equipment formation. It features DF-41 nuclear missiles. The DF-41 is an intercontinental strategic nuclear missile. Its purpose is for both balancing power and securing victory. You see thousands of soldiers come out holding the Chinese flag and they're walking down a huge red carpet. These columns of soldiers dressed in white and black and green and they're walking down a huge red carpet, these columns of soldiers dressed in white and black and green,

and they're walking toward the center stage where Xi Jinping is preparing to make a speech. And what happens as Xi Jinping takes the stage? Well, there's this moment where there's an incredible resounding salute throughout the entire Tiananmen Square. I think it's a 70-gun salute, and they welcome Xi Jinping to the stage. So he walks to say about Hong Kong. Why? Why is that important? Well, we're now in the 17th consecutive week of protests in Hong Kong.

They started back in June over opposition to a bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China. But since then, they've morphed and escalated into this broader fight for democracy and for civil liberties in Hong Kong. And throughout this period, there's been one voice that's been missing in all this, and that is the voice of Xi Jinping. that's been missing in all this, and that is the voice of Xi Jinping. And so this was a moment on this very important day where we thought Xi Jinping might finally offer more details about his thinking on Hong Kong or how the government might deal with this crisis.

It was clear what his message was, and it was that China would not back down. And even he himself said, No power can stop the progress of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation. So, I assume that message didn't land well with the protesters in Hong Kong. So, we always knew there would be big protests on National Day in Hong Kong. So we always knew there would be big protests on National Day in Hong Kong. But Xi Jinping's remarks seemed to add to the deep anger that a lot of protesters felt.

So I headed to Hong Kong to see what was happening on the ground. A lot of festivities lined up for the day, and we are really excited. As you see, all the audience, their excitement is really infectious. So back to you, Zou Yue. All right. Thank you very much, Sun Ye, for your reporting on the Tiananmen Square. And you're now watching a special coverage on the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic

of China. We'll be back in a minute. So I landed in Hong Kong around 3 p.m. And it's kind of eerie. It's really quiet. And this is a week when a lot of mainlanders are on holiday and they would typically come to a place like Hong Kong. But they're not making that trip this year for obvious reasons. And so I go and walk through this empty airport.

Hey, Kevin. How's it going? And find our bureau's tech manager, Kevin Roche. So what do you got? Should we go through here? Sure. Why don't we go over there? And he gives me my equipment. What's the equipment?

Okay, let's see. Well, he gives me a gas mask. And so it just straps on in the back there? Yeah, it just straps on right here, yeah. A helmet, a first aid kit. And this is a new kind of a full face mask that we just got a few of. And a press vest, one of those like bright yellow, like construction worker vests. So I think that's everything you might need.

There's a bottle of water in there. So right away upon landing, you're preparing for this situation to become pretty dangerous. Right. So the protests have been relatively peaceful, but there have been these cases where it quickly escalates. And certainly that's picked up in the past couple of days. I'm at the airport now and I'm checking my phone and seeing a lot of messages saying that there's a pretty tense standoff in northern Hong Kong. And so I'm going to go check it out. And so I headed out, got an Uber. Sorry, what did you say?

Be careful. Oh, yes. Thank you. Thank you. And found my way to the protesters. Bye bye. Bye bye. and found my way to the protesters. Bye-bye. And what did you see?

In front of me, I could see black-clad protesters, and they were lighting fires. They were just creating chaos along this particular stretch. The scene is pretty chaotic. There are hundreds of protesters gathering around different stores that are believed to have a pro-Beijing stance, and they're trying to vandalize the exterior to loot the inside and take whatever they can. And so are you able to talk to any of them? Yeah. How old are you?

I'm 17 years old. And are you from Hong Kong? Yes, I'm from Hong Kong. It was basically all young people, students at university and high school. Hong Kong people don't want us to become the same like mainland China. And I started to talk to them just about why they come out and how they felt about this national day and the celebrations that were going on in Beijing.

This is a kind of like birthday for the CCP, but for us, this is not a day that worth celebrating. We would like to tell the world in Hong Kong we are facing a serious condition that we need the world's help. They said Hong Kong is in crisis. They felt that Xi Jinping on this day should be listening more closely to their concerns and not standing in Beijing surrounded by soldiers at a military parade. Are you asking any of them about the escalating violence?

Yeah, I asked them about that. We are not attacking everybody in the street. We're not destroying without purpose. We have our objective. We know what we're doing. So yes, we are somehow destroying something, destroy something, but at the same time establish something as well. A lot of them seem to be not really bothered by it.

Actually, I don't think that's violence because all we destroy is some maybe public transport, which is an object, not a human being. So I don't think that actually is a violence and that is a kind of the way to express our demands. And that's a theme that we've seen repeatedly in these protests, that when it has escalated in these moments and when these protesters have hit the streets

and destroyed subway stations and vandalized public property, they felt that the violence was actually necessary in order to gain the world's attention. I just spoke with one of the young protesters who was setting fire to a subway station and breaking cameras and other things. And I was just asking him about what he says to those people who think that violence and more extreme tactics are undermining this movement. people who think that violence and more extreme tactics are undermining this movement. And his reaction was pretty much,

I have to do this in order to show the police that I'm angry. They're not going to listen otherwise. And in the meantime, it sounds like the situation around you is escalating. Yeah, so I look around. I'm feeling the tear gas in my eyes and on my skin, and more and more protesters are lighting fires and defacing the front of buildings. And then I get news on my phone that the police have shot a teenage demonstrator, an 18-year-old high school student.

And that's the first time in months of protests that a live round was used against a protester. And so it's very clear to me in that moment that this is going to be big news for the protesters and might change things. So videos start to circulate showing the protester being shot at very close range. And a lot of people are posting photos supposedly showing his being shot in the left shoulder and bleeding. And in these videos, he's saying his name. And in these videos, he's saying his name. At the same time, there's also videos showing the protesters attacking the police. And so we reach this moment where these graphic photos are being shared,

clearly inflaming the protesters, and the police are also firing back, defending their response. So at that moment, I remember this just rush of people coming toward me, and almost like a stampede. And these protesters were running away from a crowd of about 30, 40 police officers, all holding riot gear, shields and batons, and they were basically clearing the area. And so I run with the protesters and then find shelter

and watch what happens from the side. So how do you feel about that, that this young man was shot with a live bullet? It was just, it's just not... it's not acceptable, you know? People are livid. The police, they're trying to kill them. They're not trying to solve the problem. They just want to beat them up.

They just want to... they just want to put them behind bars. They just want to kill them. They tell me that the shooting of this teenager, for them, is a direct assault on everything that they believe in. shoot that student. And they have a lot of non-level weapons, like pepper spray and things. He choose to use his pistol to shoot him at his chest. They're not trying to stop anything. They're not trying to stop the riot from happening. They are pushing them to riot.

And for a lot of them, it kind of makes them feel like they need to fight even harder. I feel just, we are angry. I feel angry. So we do that. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Okay, okay.

And so what I see on the ground is people rush back to the very same street where they were vandalizing and lighting fires and do the exact same thing all over again. It really is this moment where you feel like the anger is unleashed and prompting people to be much more aggressive than they ever would be. Yeah, we can't give up. I'm struck that this scene in Hong Kong is such a stark contrast to the pageantry and the choreography of the parade in Beijing. And I wonder what you make of that. I think this was their parade in many ways. This was the message and the image that they wanted to be seen around the world.

Their goal was really to overshadow whatever was happening in Beijing. And in many ways, they achieved that. This was a huge embarrassment for the Communist Party. It just reminded people that Hong Kong is chaotic, that it's not under control, that Xi Jinping's unassailable control and power is perhaps not as strong as it seems. What you seem to be saying is that there was a deliberate effort by the protesters to seize the narrative here on the National Day demonstration. Exactly. They wanted to show the world that they control the narrative in Hong Kong. Of course, that's a bit optimistic on their part, but in this moment, they felt that the only thing they could do was to go out on the streets to create chaos and to hope that

the world would watch. And so when I talked to a lot of these protesters, they would point to the example of the United States or other countries and saying that the most important thing is to keep the pressure on China and the only way to work with China is to test China and to push China. That becoming increasingly aggressive toward China, whether it's through violence or other acts, is the only way that they can achieve their goal and sustain this movement.

They feel like provoking China is their only option. Right. For a lot of them, they see this as their last opportunity to stand up to Beijing. And they feel like if they don't do it now, that China might attempt to destabilize and squash this movement entirely. And so before that happens, they want to stand up to Xi Jinping,

to stand up to China, and to say, we're gonna fight and we're gonna try to attract the world's attention to stop whatever might happen. Javier, thank you so much for staying up so late to talk to us. Thank you. We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is pushing back against a plan by the House Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry to depose five State Department officials as part of their investigation.

Pompeo called the depositions, scheduled for this week, a, quote, act of intimidation. In response, the chairman of the three House committees overseeing the impeachment inquiry accused Pompeo of intimidating the witnesses to protect himself and the president. In a letter, the committee chairman said that blocking the depositions would constitute an obstruction of their inquiry, an act that they view as an impeachable offense itself.

And in a closely watched case that challenged affirmative action in college admissions, a federal judge has rejected claims that Harvard intentionally discriminated against Asian American applicants. The plaintiffs in the case, a group representing Asian American students rejected by Harvard, had argued that the university's affirmative action policies had benefited Black and Hispanic students at the expense of Asians. But the judge said that while Harvard's admissions policy was, quote, not perfect, it did not violate the law. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro.

See you tomorrow.