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Thursday, July 16, 2015

Hong Kong a British Colony

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

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