The Uneasy Rise of the Mafia Superpower - China

The recent kidnapping of dissidents from Hong Kong by the alleged personnel connected to the Chinese Government or the Communist Party (CCP) is the last straw that breaks the camel back of the silent tolerance of Hong Kongers, after 4 staff and shareholders of the now famous Causeway Bay Bookshop were "disappeared" or "kidnapped" by means of "entrapment" outside of Hong Kong.

Naturally for Hong Kongers, they were more concerned about the breach of the "One Country Two Systems" when the Chinese cross its border to arrest dissidents without any legitimate warrant whatsoever. They are more worried about the impact on their Freedom of Expression and human rights violated by the Chinese authorities, which has promised 50 years of unchanging system for Hong Kong.

But for a Singaporean, a Singapore Politician having my family residing in Hong Kong, it means pretty much more than that.

China, under the current leadership of President Xi, aspired to be a Superpower under the slogan of "China Dream". It is no coincidence that China is going full steam ahead to build quite a number of Aircraft Carriers which would mean a sharp rise in its long term defence budgets and commitments.

The West, in particularly Americans, have openly put forward their worries of the "Chinese Threats", despite repeated "assurance" by the CCP leaders that they will be a peaceful rise of a new power in the East.

A weapon in the hands of the responsible will mean good, but if it ended up in the hands of the Mafia, it would mean disaster in the making. How do you determine whether a country is under a responsible government? It would simply from the actions it have taken in the past and present.

Unfortunately, the Chinese authorities have underestimated the negative impact of such covert operations against five dissidents in Hong Kong. Entrapment of these people within their own border (i.e. Shenzen) may be tolerated but kidnapping them in foreign country, Thailand, is totally an act of gangsterism.

The worse part is to violate an international agreement which it has signed for the peaceful return of Hong Kong sovereignty under One Country Two systems would raise eyebrows. If the Chinese government couldn't even keep simple promise like the Sino-British Declarations and keep to its own agreement of One Country Two Systems and observe the legitimacy of Basic Laws, how could anyone believe the China Communist Party could keep to any other international treaties or be a responsible member of the International community?

CCP is acting like a Mafia, through and through, using such despicable methods which only gangsters will use to deal with their adversaries or dissidents. Could you ever believe the words of a Mafia, or a Mafia government in this case?

Thus, if you look at these events, which may seem to be a "domestic" issue to Hong Kong, you will realize that we are dealing with the uneasy rise of a big and powerful country under the rule of a Mafia party. They will disregard any international treaties signed, lest verbal promise of any sort to anybody. They will disregard other countries sovereignty by doing whatever they like in and out of these countries, covertly. They will disregard all principles of rule of law and they basically don't have any in their land.

And yes, we in Asia, especially a small country like Singapore with massive investment in China, should start get worrying about the rise of this big gangster in Asia.

It would seem to me that the rise of China's military power will indeed spell trouble for Asia if we continued to have a bunch of gangster communists running it. If CCP ever has its dream of building 4 or more aircraft carriers in the next one or two decades materialized, it will sure flex its muscles recklessly in the region, in such an irresponsible way as it has shown in this few cases of abduction of dissidents.

I believe this case will definitely further caution the Taiwanese of this rogue regime and strengthen the perception that the Communists cannot be trusted at all. Taiwanese will be even more wary about reunification with China under such a Mafia rule.

Having said all these, I believe that the decision of abducting dissidents from Hong Kong and Thailand was made by the middle management of the Chinese government. It would be unimaginable to have President Xi to make such stupid decision because the potential international political repercussions will definitely be too great a price to pay for just getting their hands on a couple of unknown dissidents outside its borders.

Xi must understand that the growth of power must be accompanied with the evolution of a responsible government which will be highly regarded by its international peers. Else, it will only spell instability and distrusts of CCP and China for many years to come.

Goh Meng Seng