Beijing's struggle to win Hong Kong's young hearts

This week, Hong Kong marks 20 years since its return from the UK to China but Lai Chun-yin is not celebrating.
He is lying on his back on the pavement, spinning a football in the air. Between his stunt and the iconic Hong Kong harbour skyline stand a handful of mesmerised tourists.
Chun-yin is a 20-year-old coffee shop barista and freestyle footballer, supplementing his earnings by busking his ball skills on the street.
"I don't have much sense of belonging to China," he says. "I love Hong Kong and feel like a Hong Konger. My generation just don't have a good impression of China."
His assessment of the mood among young Hong Kongers was borne out by a survey this month suggesting the number choosing to identify as "broadly Chinese" has declined to new lows in the three years since student democracy protestors occupied the heart of the city during the so-called Umbrella Movement.

Read more about Hong Kong since the handover:


On a warehouse rooftop 21 floors up in a packed district of Kowloon, art student Prince Wong is putting the finishing touches to a wordless statement in graffiti about her sentiments on the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China.
Instead of painting the Hong Kong flag in its familiar colours of white flower on red background, she is spraying the background black to symbolise mourning.
Only a few hours later, on the eve of President Xi Jinping's visit, Prince was arrested for clambering onto a monument which was the 1997 handover gift from China to Hong Kong.
At 20, Prince is a veteran protester. Her awakening came at the age of 15, watching pupils demonstrate against a patriotic curriculum on Chinese history which the local government tried to introduce in Hong Kong's schools.
Two years later, she was at the heart of the 79-day Umbrella Movement, mounting a week-long hunger strike to demand democracy. Now she runs workshops in schools to politicise the generation coming up behind. But Prince is no longer optimistic about what protest can achieve.
"We still bear the scars of the Umbrella Movement," she says. "We did our utmost and we lost. Before we hoped to move forward, now we're just trying to avoid moving backwards."
Prince is a symptom of the difficulty Mr Xi faces in connecting with Hong Kong's post-handover generation. She suspects his intentions and despises his values.
"If you want people to love your country, it depends on what you do," she explains. "If your country treats your people well, then your citizens will sure love your country, right? We hate the government because they do bad things. We don't hate it for nothing."

Stern patriotism

In my - admittedly limited - experience this week, the only 20-year-olds in Hong Kong who are reliably celebrating Mr Xi's visit and the 20th anniversary of the handover are the mainlanders.
Those who grew up in the Chinese school system are taught from an early age that the loss of Hong Kong in the 1840s was a moment of national humiliation and that taking it back from Britain 150 years later is correspondingly a moment of national pride.
This Hong Kong story is a crucial part of Mr Xi's political message at home, a centrepiece of his "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation".
Sunny Tan from Hunan Province in central China is enthusiastic. An economics student at Hong Kong University, Sunny has a summer internship at a big Chinese state bank and when we meet in the busy shopping area of Causeway Bay, she is wearing a sober business suit.
In common with Chun-yin and Prince, she is a 20-year old Chinese national living in Hong Kong.
But unlike them she went to school on the Chinese mainland, believes the history she was taught there and is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover.
"I see the handover as a sign of an increasingly powerful China," she says. "I am a patriot and I think we should love our country."
"Young people here just want to achieve a high level of democracy at high speed, they want to do it overnight. But they should understand the realities."

Thinking the unthinkable

University campuses are a natural battlefield in this war of ideas. In his office overlooking Hong Kong bay with the hills of mainland China stretching away on the horizon, the vice chancellor of Hong Kong University, Peter Mathieson, tells me that "the three and a half years I've been in post have been among the most tumultuous in Hong Kong's history".
Some of his local students have moved from demanding democracy in the Umbrella Movement three years ago to calling for self-determination or even independence today, claiming that separation from China may be the only way of realising their goals.
Such ideas are anathema to Beijing and, on the mainland, Mr Xi has subjected university campuses to ever stricter political indoctrination, but Peter Mathieson says that however unrealistic independence may be for Hong Kong, university campuses should be places where people are permitted to think the unthinkable.

"I think the calls for independence are a symptom, not a disease," he explains.
"The actual number of my students who really believe in independence is quite small but they're anxious about the future. So people want self-determination, anxious about the alternative - which is greater and greater integration with China."
After a long career in the Hong Kong civil service spanning the decades before and after the handover, Rachel Cartland takes the long view. She first arrived here from Britain 45 years ago at the age of 22, herself fresh from university.
After watching many politicians come and go, and following the twists and turns of Hong Kong's democracy movement, she is hopeful about the values and the talent of some of the young leaders now emerging.
"I think if they can keep their heads, avoid going to prison as far as they possibly can and think about how to appeal not just to the young hotheads like themselves but also to the more mainstream Hong Kongers," she says. "I think Hong Kong could have a pretty bright future."
"Personally I have enormous faith in the people of Hong Kong. I think it will take a very great deal to make them look more like mainland China is today."

Economic pressure

For some young Hong Kongers the vision of a bright future is less about politics than economics. Ann Tsang is 33 years old, single and saving for an apartment.
She and her 30-year-old brother both live with their parents. She says that is completely normal in Hong Kong, but driving discontent.
"You don't eat, you don't go out, you don't have a social life, just to buy a house and you have a mortgage of 30 to 40 years. Basically you live like a slave for your house."
Ann and I are standing on a busy street, staring at the apartments on offer in the window of an estate agent.
A space little bigger than a living room elsewhere in the world costs more than US$1m (£770,000) here.
Hong Kong is now the world's most unequal city after New York. Ann Tsang is not a political protester, but she would like the politicians to tackle the housing crisis.

'We push back'

"Youngsters get really agitated and frustrated. They don't know what their future is," says local writer Jason Ng.
On a hot Hong Kong tram rattling through this densely packed human hive, he remarks that this is not the tour the Chinese president will get.
"He will be taken on a North Korean-style highly controlled tour where he will only see the best side of Hong Kong. He will not see pain and suffering or protesters."
Jason Ng argues that this lack of connection with ordinary people has caused Chinese leaders to misdiagnose the problem in their relationship with Hong Kong.
"As far as Beijing is concerned the root cause of a lot of the ungovernability of Hong Kong is because young people don't have the sense that they are part of China. And the best way to get at that is to inculcate an idea of patriotism at an early age. To Beijing that is the ultimate solution. But you can't force people to love you."
The writer says if by some miracle he got a chance to speak to the Chinese president during the celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the handover, his message would be blunt.
"If you want to govern Hong Kong there's one very simple answer. Leave us alone. That's all we want. We are not interested in ending one-party rule in China. We just want our way of life. So de-escalate. Don't push us because when you push us, we push back."
BBC NEWS

Afghanistan conflict: US says troop withdrawal was too quick


US Defence Secretary James Mattis has said that the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan was done too rapidly.
Mr Mattis was briefing Nato allies on future strategy, amid reports the US will boost its military presence.
His comments were in direct contrast to Nato's secretary-general, who said the withdrawal should have happened sooner.
US troops reached 130,000 in 2011 but were drawn down, leaving the Afghan military in control at the end of 2014. There are now 13,500 Nato troops there.
Mr Mattis was speaking at a press conference after meeting Nato defence ministers in Brussels.


He said: "Looking back on it, it's pretty much a consensus that we may have pulled our troops out too rapidly, reduced the numbers a little too rapidly."
However, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg insisted it was right to end Nato's combat role in 2014, saying: "If anything, we should have done it before."
Diplomatic and US sources have suggested the number of US troops could increase by between 3,000 and 5,000 to try to counter a resurgent Taliban and the presence of an Afghan branch of so-called Islamic State.
Mr Mattis said: "I don't put timelines on war; war is a fundamentally unpredictable phenomenon.
"The bottom line is that Nato has made a commitment to Afghanistan for freedom from fear and terror, and freedom from terror demands that you can't let this be undone."
The conflict in Afghanistan has dragged on for 16 years, since the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
At the end of 2014, Nato assumed the Resolute Support mission, helping train the Afghan military while handing over frontline combat duties.
Mr Stoltenberg said there would be more Nato troops for Afghanistan but gave no precise figure and said they would not be in combat roles.
UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon pledged 100 more troops on top of 500 already in Afghanistan.
"We're in it for the long haul," he said.
Afghanistan has been hit by numerous violent attacks in recent weeks, including a massive bomb attack in the capital, Kabul, that killed more than 150 people.
BBC NEWS

Paris mosque: Man held after 'trying to ram crowd with vehicle'

A man has been arrested in Paris after trying to drive his vehicle into a crowd outside a mosque, police say.
The incident took place at about 18:30 local time (16:30 GMT) in the suburb of Créteil and no-one was hurt.
The man was apparently thwarted by barriers put up to protect the mosque.
The suspect's motives remain unclear but Le Parisien newspaper reported that he was of Armenian origin and had said he wanted to avenge Islamist-linked attacks in Paris.
Europe has seen a number of vehicle attacks in the past year, many by those claiming allegiance to IS.
A police statement said the suspect's 4x4 vehicle repeatedly struck bollards and barriers designed to protect the mosque in the south-eastern suburb of the French capital.
The car sped off but crashed and the man fled before being arrested shortly afterwards.
He did not appear to be acting under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Le Parisien said.
It reported that the suspect had said he wanted to avenge attacks on the Bataclan theatre and Champs-Élysées, both linked to so-called Islamic State.
France remains under a state of emergency, in place since attacks on the capital in November 2015, including at the Bataclan theatre, claimed 130 lives.
In April, a gunman killed police officer Xavier Jugelé on the Champs-Élysées before being shot dead. A note defending IS was found near his body.

Timeline: Vehicle ramming attacks in Europe

  • 14 July 2016, Nice, France: A man drove a lorry for 2km (1.2 miles) through a large crowd gathered to watch Bastille Day fireworks in Nice. Eighty-six people were killed, and more than 300 injured
  • 19 December 2016, Berlin, Germany: A man drove a lorry through the crowded Breitscheidplatz Christmas market, killing 12 people and injuring 49. IS said one of its "soldiers" carried out the attack
  • 22 March 2017, London, UKSix people died and at least 50 were injured when a car mounted the pavement on London's Westminster Bridge and drove at high speed through pedestrians. The attacker then entered the parliament complex on foot and fatally stabbed a police officer, before being shot
  • April 7 2017, Stockholm, Sweden: Four people were killed when a lorry crashed into the front of a department store. The Uzbek driver was arrested and confessed to a "terrorist crime"
  • 3 June 2017, London, UK: Eight people were killed when three attackers drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge and launched a knife attack in Borough Market. The attackers were shot dead
  • 19 June 2017, London, UK: A man was arrested on suspicion of terror offences after he drove a van into a group of worshippers close to a mosque in north London. One man died

bBBC NEWS

Syria war: US-backed forces 'surround IS in Raqqa'

US-backed forces say they have fully encircled Islamic State fighters in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the capital of the group's self-proclaimed caliphate.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, say they have now sealed off escape routes to the south.
IS seized Raqqa in early 2014 and established its headquarters there.
The SDF have been gradually advancing on the city since November and launched an offensive to take it on 6 June.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group confirmed the last route out of the city had now been cut off.
Col Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, the US-led coalition against IS, said that the SDF now controlled "all high speed avenues of approach into Raqqa from the south".
He said that IS fighters "abandoned by their leadership, are being pressured by the SDF from multiple axes around the city".
Col Ryan also said the forces had "cleared about 7.5 sq miles (19.4 sq km) from IS in and around Raqqa this week".
Ali Shervan, a Kurdish SDF fighter, told Kurdistan24: "The city centre is completely besieged, and our forces are fighting from all sides."
The SDF say they have discovered an extensive network of tunnels used by IS fighters in the city.
Another SDF fighter, Bave Delil, said: "[IS] militants do not fight face to face, rather they send suicide bombers or plant mines to impede the advance of our troops."
The coalition has said the capture of Raqqa will deliver a "decisive blow" to the caliphate proclaimed by IS in June 2014, months after it took control of the city.
The battle for the city has been brutal for the civilians there.

The UN said on Wednesday that at least 173 had been killed this month, and that the actual figure could be far higher, stressing that "civilians must not be sacrificed for the sake of rapid military victories".
It is believed that up to 100,000 people are trapped by the fighting. Reports continue to emerge of IS militants preventing civilians from fleeing.
Up to 4,000 militants are believed to be holed up inside Raqqa.
More than 300,000 people have lost their lives in six years of conflict in Syria, which began with protests against President Bashar al-Assad before escalating into a full-scale civil war. Eleven million other people have been displaced by the fighting.
BBC NEWS

Trump travel ban comes into effect


People from six mainly Muslim countries and all refugees now face tougher US entry due to President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban.
It means people without close family or business relationships in the US could be denied visas and barred entry.
Grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces are not considered to be "bona fide" relations.
The rules apply to people in Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, as well as all refugees.
Moments before the ban began at 20:00 Washington time (00:00 GMT), it emerged that the state of Hawaii had asked a federal judge for clarification.
It has in the past accused the US government of violating the Supreme Court's instructions by improperly excluding people.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court partially upheld the ban, lifting injunctions that had halted one of the president's key policies.
The court ruled that people seeking visas to travel to the US from the six restricted countries, and all refugees, would have to prove a "bona fide relationship" to someone in the country.
The Supreme Court is expected to make a final decision on the ban in October.

Who can come in?

According to the new rules, for the next 90 days those from the six countries without a close relationship will not be able to enter the US.
IN - a parent, spouse, child, son or daughter-in-law, or sibling, including step- or half-siblings.
OUT - grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, in-laws, extended family and grandchildren.
Also exempt from the new rules are those with business or educational ties to the US.
However, the guidelines specifically state that the relationship must be formal, documented and not formed for the purpose of evading the order.
Those who already hold valid visas are not affected. Dual nationals who travel on their passport from the unaffected country will also be allowed entry.
The court also approved a 120-day ban on refugees entering the US, allowing the government to bar entry to refugee claimants who cannot prove the same ties to an American individual or entity.

What has the reaction been


After the Supreme Court ruling:
  • Attorney General Jeff Sessions said "the threat to our national security is real and becoming increasingly dangerous". He said the ruling was "an important step towards restoring the separation of powers between the branches of the federal government"
  • Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants' Rights Project, said that "in practical terms most of the people who stood to be affected by the ban will still be allowed to come in"
  • David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), said "the court's decision threatens damage to vulnerable people waiting to come to the US: people with urgent medical conditions blocked, innocent people left adrift, all of whom have been extensively vetted"

How did we get here?

The US president insisted his ban was necessary for national security and pointed to terrorist attacks in Paris, London, Brussels and Berlin as evidence.
However, critics called the policy un-American and Islamophobic, and that this ban would not have stopped atrocities in the US perpetrated by American-born attackers.
The original ban, released on 27 January, provoked mass protests at American airports.
It included Iraq among nations whose travellers would be barred from the US, and imposed a full ban on refugees from Syria.
The president issued a revised version with a narrower scope on 6 March to overcome some of the legal problems.
The policy was left in limbo after it was struck down by federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland.
BBC NEWS

Apple to scan iPhones for child sex abuse images

  Apple has announced details of a system to find child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on customers' devices. Before an image is stored on...