Featured: Hong Kong Gagged

Audio 05:15

By: Frédéric Couteau Follow

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"  The Chinese tanks did not roll in the streets of Hong Kong, but the legislative coup of Beijing, the day before yesterday Tuesday, on the eve of the 23rd anniversary of the return of the territory to China, is not far from provoke the same terror, exclaims Le Monde: pro-democracy traders hastily removed the slogans that hung on their storefronts, and the candidates for emigration number in the thousands.  "

And Le Monde denounces this "  so-called 'national security law' imposed by Beijing, which criminalizes attacks on its power, and which in fact violates the Hong Kong Constitution, according to which the territory must equip itself with such legislation by consulting its people. It struck a fatal blow to the joint Sino-British declaration of 1984, which guaranteed, by a treaty deposited with the UN, the high degree of autonomy of Hongkong during fifty years. She forcibly imposes what the Hong Kong people feared, sighs againLe Monde, and what they took to the streets in droves last year: laws that could send citizens to life imprisonment for 'subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreigners'. A sinister breach of lawlessness in the local judicial system, modeled on British common law . "

Any contestation prohibited

"  Beijing exports the arbitrary to Hong Kong,  " also denounces Le Figaro . “  The police have chained arrests since the entry into force of the national security law. At 11 pm sharp Tuesday, the text voted in the morning by the regime's registration chamber in Beijing, entered into force without having been previously disclosed to the 7 and a half million inhabitants of the former British colony . This opaque and expeditious procedure perfectly sums up the spirit of this text which exports to Hong Kong the brazen rule in force on the continent since the advent of Mao in 1949: any contesting of the Communist Party's hold is prohibited, and leads to the prison box.  "

"A nail in the coffin of freedom"

Suddenly, wonders La Croix, " is this the end of Hong Kong? "

It is an additional step in this direction, replies Valérie Niquet, head of the Asia pole at the Foundation for Strategic Research, questioned by the newspaper: "  This law on 'national security' adds a nail to the coffin of freedom that 'He stayed in Hong Kong, which now risks looking like a country where people hesitate to express themselves, where research is fading, where freedom of expression is diminishing. Hong Kong will lose more and more of its specificity as an area of ​​freedom. (…) The Hong Kong opposition cannot do much, apart from demonstrating en masse, but the risks are significant. The law is very vague on the designation of the crimes it covers. And for her part , continues the researcher, " the international community does not have many means of action either, even if it must express its condemnation in a strong way in order to remind China of its international commitments. "

Soon a new government… with the same Prime Minister?

Also on the front page: in France, the government reshuffle… According to Sud-Ouest, it “is  fast approaching  ”

" This may also be the new world, the newspaper pointed out: a cabinet meeting to say goodbye to the starters - it will take place tomorrow - and another to say hello to the entrants - it will be for next Wednesday. At least, that allows to have a fork for the date of the reshuffle which will thus take place, estimates Southwest, between July 3 and 8, and this simple indication is like a small light in the night for the observers who swim in full fog. (…) The only (almost) certainty for those who think they know it well, still points South-West: Édouard Philippe wants to stay. But this is not the most important: the essential question is whether Emmanuel Macron wants to keep the same Prime Minister. And there, the president is even more sphinx than the head of government. Be that as it may, Édouard Philippe's shares would have gone up on the Élysée side, among the main advisers. This does not prevent rumors from circulating on its possible replacement. Because the names of women are coming back, note South-West: on the right, that of Valérie Pécresse, but this one hardly seems tempted, and especially, on the left, that of the Minister of Defense, Florence Parly: the rumor ignited Tuesday the halls of the Assembly. Still for the left, Jean-Yves Le Drian also remains on the circuit. Only a few days to wait … ”

Alain Duhamel leaves Libé

Finally the last chronicle of Alain Duhamel in Liberation…

A column entitled “  the collapse of French democracy. Municipal governments confirm this, he says: our representative system is indeed sick, between the loss of legitimacy of the leaders and the decline in participation . "

It is on this not frankly optimistic note, that the famous political commentator, 80 years, leaves Liberation , after 30 years of collaboration with the newspaper.

And Liberation pays tribute to him this morning from the pen of its director Laurent Joffrin: “  From Mitterrand to Macron, he commented for us five or six reigns, twenty political crises, a hundred twists and turns in public life. Today he wants to make the most of life, after a rich common history. We will regret this courteous, warm and learned companion, this distanced and precise observer of the games of power and society. In his own way, without necessarily sharing our opinions, he defended the cause of Liberation. Let him be thanked from the bottom of my heart.  "

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