Hole
of Justice
By
Peter G. Jimenea
How Hong Kong Became a British Colony
(3rd of a Series)
During the 1800s, European powers
funded their colonial ambitions through narcotics. Britain led the drive. The British
are the most organized drug traffickers in history. They Import opium from
India and targeted China’s millions of people as principal market.
Prior to the British campaign, China
has a small number of opium smokers, leftovers of the Dutch efforts. The
British became the first Western government to traffic in narcotics due to big
profits as shown in their 20% of the India’s opium revenues.
Despite the Emperor’s objection,
Indian opium shipments increased, so did the number of addicts. The Chinese
banned opium but British captains of the Soldier-Merchant-Executives of London
ignored the ban. They sailed into different Chinese ports to unload the stuff.
From 200 tons in 1800s, the opium
shipments increased to 2,000 tons in 1840. The Chinese resented the British
colonial aspirations. Though the Ch’ing Dynasty was politically weak they seized
and destroyed $6 million of opium and arrested some British traders.
Those arrested were exiled in the freezing
Central Asia and one was even crucified and shown publicly at Canton docks as a
warning to British traders. The British exploded when Cantonese officials
dumped thousands of kilos of opium into the sea during the Far Eastern Boston
Tea Party.
The British responded by shelling the
coastline and a full-scale wars between Britain and China erupted in 1839 to 1856.
But Chinese junks and rusted canons have no match against the powerful fleets
of the enemies. The dubbed “Opium Wars” resulted to a full British victory.
China became powerless to stop the
opium trade and worse, it was also obliged to pay the British a costly
war-reparation. Unable to pay the cost, they ceded Hong Kong to British
control. This is how Kong Kong became a British colony. Soon addiction spread
from China to Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States.
Britain made opium the world’s largest
cash commodity. When the demand overtook supply, the Chinese government, which
by then badly need of funds, finally tolerates domestic opium cultivation in
two provinces. By 1900, it turned a blind eye to a yearly production of 20,000
tons.
During the late 1800s, a new breed of
colonizers from Europe divided Asia into colonies, protectorates and spheres of
influence. Laos and Cambodia became French-Indochina. Burma and Thailand became
a British boundary separating it from the French territory.
The 1911 people revolution led by Mao
Tse-tung ended the imperial government and a new republic was formed. But it
only worsened the problem. Without a strong Central government to provide,
powerful military warlords controlled the cultivation and exports of opium.
But not until a New People’s Republic
of China was formed that put everything in place. Hong Kong residents feel
living on a borrowed time. The perceived the fantasies of Lifestyle of the Rich
and Famous will soon be over. Only few have the faintest idea of this upcoming
event.
The Joint Declaration signed between
the People’s Republic of China and Great Britain states that Hong Kong shall be
returned to China by 1997. On July 1997,
Hong Kong was returned to Mainland China as agreed and its residents became
restive.
Mostly affected are drug lords and
drug syndicates thriving in Hong Kong. They knew the Mainland Chinese have a simple
solution to drug problem – a bullet in the head done in public. Thus, drug
lords were forced to migrate to the East and the West to play safe.
Others picked the Philippines as
country of choice after knowing the corruptibility of our public officials.
They knew drug money can buy judges, prosecutors, police and military officers,
government workers politicians and even barangay leaders. The problem is they also
bring their wares with them!
Next issue: Illegal Drugs as backbone
of the Triads
No comments:
Post a Comment