I when I learned earlier this week that Sarah Palin's Hong Kong engagement was not a hoax and that she was indeed going to the region, I was particularly interested in what happened and what she had to say. I went there on vacation for a week in 2003. I spent the first day with someone I met online who showed me around the city (ok go ahead and laugh but she was a great tour guide). As we were having dinner that night, I made a remark about the Mainland government and she froze, turned white, looked away and pretty much said "shut up". And that is why I am so interested in this remark she made about HK.
It was then we realised that whoever wrote the Palin sermon for her, they had – mercilessly – allowed some of the real Sarah to show through. Even husband Todd got a mention. He had flown with her into Hong Kong. And – here was a reference to the Alaska fish and caviar consumed in this "beautiful", "magnificent" and "libertarian" part of China – "some of the fruits of our labour, mine and Todd's, ended up on tables here". The caviar at the Hyatt, it should be added, comes from Iran.
Libertarian? By what standard in Hong Kong libertarian? Is that why my friend freaked when I cracked a remark about the Chinese government. Is that why thousands of HKese fled to California and British Columbia just prior to the transfer from the UK to China? Yes, you can go there and make some money, party, hit the massage parlors, gamble on Macau get a slurpee from 711. But just because the tanks don't roll through Kowloon does mean HK is free. Watching the San Francisco Giants and Manchester United on hundreds of TV stations doesn't give people assurances that Beijing is not keeping an eye on things. Whatever China's agreement may be with the UK means nothing the day the internet cafes go dark and their online porn gets blocked. And one day, the annual vigil marking the Tianemenn Square massacre will one day come to an end. Palin might want to read up on her geography.