Exchange for Support (Lee Yee)
There was one other major world event on Jul 1, apart from the promulgation of the National Security Law for Hong Kong. A referendum was held in Russia on the revision of the country’s Constitution.
In the Newscast on the night before last, CCTV broadcast a key feature about the telephone dialogue between Xi Jinping and Russian President Putin. Putin expressed firm support from Russia for China's efforts to maintain national security in Hong Kong. Xi mentioned the Russian constitutional amendment, endorsed by a majority vote in a referendum, which will allow Putin’s term as the president to last until 2036. Xi reaffirmed China’s firm support for Russia's commitment to a development direction that is appropriate for the nation.
Not a word was uttered by China on Russia’s celebration of its 160-year occupation of Vladivostok. Instead, the compliments on Putin’s uninterrupted re-election were dished out in exchange for Russia’s support for the National Security Law.
Although there are 53 countries on the United Nations Human Rights Commission (and reportedly 20 more) that support Hong Kong National Security Law, once all the names of these countries are unfolded, it is not hard to spot that none of them are countries that would likely attract Chinese nor Hong Kong people to invest, study, or live in. There is not a single great power amongst them. However, though opposition to the law has only been voiced out by 27 countries, all of them are influential with significant leverage on world affairs. Of course, among them the most adamant is the United States, which has withdrawn from the Human Rights Commission. Now that Russia is at last joining the Chinese bandwagon, the situation looks a little less awkward for China.
On July 1, the referendum on the constitutional amendments in Russia drew to a close. 78% of the voters supported the amendments, the most important one of which is the "removal of the upper limit of the presidential term in the ‘re-election’ clause”. That is to say, all the presidential terms before the amendment takes effect will be revoked. Everything will be back to zero. Putin's term of office will start all over again. According to the new constitution, Putin can be re-elected as the president until 2036. He will have stayed in the highest power for the longest in Russian history, even surpassing the reign of Peter the Great.
Like Xi Jinping, who forced through the National Security Law for Hong Kong, Putin did not receive any blessings from other major international powers for his feat. There was no strong opposition because after all it went through a referendum. The United States and the European Union, however, were skeptical about the voting process, questioning whether there was coercion of voters, or repeated voting.
Russia's deletion of the presidential re-election regulations is analogous to China's deletion of the presidential re-election regulations in the year before last. With both world powers ruled by lifetime leaders, concerns about such a situation have been raised in international public opinion.
Despite all the twists and turns throughout history, in China as well other countries, everything boiled down to power struggles that basically stemmed from succession schemes amongst the most powerful, which in turn came with a lifetime tenure amongst top leaders. A lifetime tenure for the most powerful led to absolute power that bred absolute corruption, which is the root cause of all political complexities in human society.
All the struggles in the royal courts originated from the inheritance of power. The potential heirs, not the sons, of an emperor were the focuses. There was no place for normal family intimacies amongst sons, daughters, siblings, wives and concubines. Family relationships were built on associations with the potential heirs. For the past 70 years in the Soviet Union, the severe suppression of the people by the dictatorship, and all the brutal struggles have all been due to the inheritance of power at the highest level. During Mao Zedong’s rule, every single one of the never ending political movements of class struggles could be traced back to the inheritance of power at the top. Ordinary people were the victims as a result.
After millennia in the dark ages, it was not until 1776 when the United States became independent that the problem of inheritance of power at the highest level was basically solved. Finally, people could vote to authorize the succession of power in a legal manner, without bloodshed and contention. A system was established to ensure the separation of the three powers, a multi-party system, freedom of news reporting, speech, religion, and association, etc. as checks and balances of the highest power so as to prevent absolute corruption that came with absolute power.
In 1800, there were only three democratic countries in the world. By 2015, the number of countries authorized by the peoples’ votes increased to 130. According to Churchill, ‘democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.’ In all those that have been tried, plebs were inevitably victimized in the power struggles.
Deng Xiaoping might also have understood that power inheritance is the root cause of all political complexities. That was why he laid down the system for naming the heir for the generation after the immediate next. This system achieved a certain period of social stability. What is the impact of abandoning this approach? Putting China aside, what we saw in Hong Kong was the changes in the period from the Causeway Bay Bookstore incident to the implementation of the Hong Kong version of National Security Law.
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president of the european commission election 在 多益達人 林立英文 Facebook 的最讚貼文
【時事英文】
Emmanuel Macron sweeps to victory in French vote 馬克宏以 66%的得票率奪下法國總統寶座
Emmanuel Macron has swept to emphatic victory in France’s presidential election, beating far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and clinching 66 per cent of the vote, according to estimates. 根據估計,馬克宏(Emmanuel Macron)已高票當選法國總統,他以 66%的得票 率擊敗了極右派候選人勒朋(Marine Le Pen)。
The euro rose 0.2 per cent against the greenback to $1.1019 in the wake of Emmanuel Macron’s victory, the highest since November 9. Against the yen the euro is up 0.3 per cent at ¥124.29. 馬克宏勝選的消息傳出後,歐元兌美元的匯率上升了 0.2%,來到 1 歐元兌換 1.1019 美元,這是自去年 11 月 9 日以來的新高。歐元兌日元的匯率則上升 0.3%, 是 1 歐元兌 124.29 日元。
The independent centrist comfortably beat the National Front candidate on 34 per cent, according to the estimate by Ipsos-Sopra Steria for a group of French media including France 2 television and Le Monde, based on a sample of 60,000 votes. 根據 Ipsos-Sopra Steria 公司為數家法國媒體,包括了 France 2 電視臺和《世界 報》(Le Monde)所作的推估,中間立場的獨立候選人馬克宏輕鬆擊敗國民陣線 (National Front)候選人,後者的得票率為 34%。
Mr. Macron’s victory is a phenomenal achievement for the 39-year-old former Rothschild banker, who has never before held elected office and whose political movement En Marche! was set up barely a year ago. He becomes the youngest ever elected French president. 馬克宏的勝選對這位 39 歲的羅斯柴爾德(Rothschild)前銀行家來說是一項驚人 成就,此前他從未擔任過民選產生的公職,而且他領導的「前進(En Marche!)」 政治運動是在一年前剛剛成立的。他成為史上最年輕的法國當選總統。
His win follows a divisive and at times rancorous campaign that produced a stark choice between two radically different visions of France and its place in the world. 在他勝出之前,法國經歷了一場導致分裂的、有時充滿敵意的競選,最終要 求選民在有關法國未來及其世界地位的兩種截然不同的願景之間做出選擇。
In a solemn address to the French people, Mr. Macron on Sunday night said: “A new page in our long history opens tonight. I want it to be one of hope and confidence regained.” 馬克宏在周日晚上嚴肅地向法國人民表示: 「我國的悠久歷史今晚翻開新的一 頁。而我希望這一頁是能讓大家重獲希望和信心的。」
But he said he did not underestimate the difficulties facing France. “I understand the divisions in our nation which led some to vote for extremes. I understand the anger, the doubts and the anxiety that some have expressed.” 但他表示,他沒有低估法國正面臨的困境。 「我瞭解我們國家的分歧,這些分 歧導致一些人投票支持極端主義。我能理解有些人要表達的憤怒、疑惑和焦慮。」
The Europhile social liberal, brandishing a program of pro-business reforms coupled with Nordic-style welfarism, fought off a far-right candidate wanting to pull France out of the euro, impose protectionist barriers and drastically curb immigration. 這名親歐的社會自由派人士在競選政見中結合親商的改革與北歐風格的福利 主義,並以此擊敗一個想要讓法國退出歐元區、架起保護主義壁壘、以及大力限 制移民的極右派候選人。
Ms. Le Pen swiftly conceded defeat but said her “historic and massive result” had made her party “the number one opposition force” in France. She vowed to continue the battle between “patriots and globalists” in legislative elections next month. She also said she wanted to profoundly transform her party into a new political force. 勒朋當即承認敗選,但表示,她取得的「歷史性巨大成果」使她的黨成為法 國的「頭號反對力量」 。她誓言要在下月的議會選舉中繼續進行「愛國者與全球主 義者」之間的鬥爭。她還表示,打算要推動她的黨進行深度轉型,成為一股新型 政治力量。
President Donald Trump, whose onslaught against globalism carried him to the White House, nonetheless sent his congratulations in a tweet. 憑藉大力抨擊全球主義而入主白宮的美國總統唐納‧川普(Donald Trump),發 表了推文祝賀法國產生新總統。
There will be intense relief across the markets and other European capitals that the pro-European center ground held up against the populist far-right. In the end, Ms. Le Pen fell well short of the 45 per cent that she was projected to win at one point earlier in the year. 對於親歐的中間立場挫敗民粹主義的極右派,金融市場和歐洲其他國家政府 會感到極大的安慰。今年稍早的時候,勒朋一度被預計將贏得 45%的選票,但最 終她的得票率是遠低於這一水準。
Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, said he was “happy the French had chosen a European future”. 歐盟委員會(European Commission)主席榮克(Jean-Claude Juncker)表示,他「很 高興法國人民選擇了一個歐洲團結的未來」。
President François Hollande said the result showed that a “large majority of our citizens wanted to unite around the values of the republic and mark our attachment to the EU as well as to France’s openness to the world”. 法國現任總統歐蘭德(François Hollande)總統表示,大選結果表明,「我國大多 數公民希望共同奉行共和國的價值觀,希望表明我們是歐盟一員、我們秉持法國 對世界開放的精神」 。
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