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Speaker 1: Hither dubis Ellen right with us.

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Speaker 2: Right now, We've got Peter Lewis Asia Business correspondent, Hey, Peter.

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Speaker 1: Good evening, Header Peter.

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Speaker 2: How was Hong Kong reacting to these democracy leaders being jailed?

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Speaker 1: Well, it depends who you ask, really. I mean, obviously

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Speaker 1: the government and the government supporters say that the Hong

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Speaker 1: Kong forty seven, there was actually forty five of them

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Speaker 1: convicted out of the forty seven, we're trying to subvert

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Speaker 1: Hong Kong and overthrow the governments. Now, what they will

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Speaker 1: say and what their supporters will say is it wasn't

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Speaker 1: overthrowing the governments. It was trying to win the election.

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Speaker 1: And remember what their crime was. It was basically they

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Speaker 1: held a primary election to decide which of their candidates

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Speaker 1: was best place to stand in the district elections, and

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Speaker 1: then whoever won that primary would then gone on to

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Speaker 1: be the candidate in those elections. And obviously they were

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Speaker 1: trying to win that election and ultimately replace the governments.

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Speaker 1: There was a real chance at the time that they

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Speaker 1: could have won enough seats to certainly control the ledge

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Speaker 1: cod Now the thing about that is that actually under

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Speaker 1: the Hong Kong Basic Law, which it affected Hong Kong's

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Speaker 1: constitution that came into effect when China handed it back

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Speaker 1: to when England handed Britain handed it back to China.

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Speaker 1: This was perfectly legal. These types of elections have been

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Speaker 1: held in the past. The basic law stipulates that a

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Speaker 1: party that wins the election and forced the government to

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Speaker 1: have to resign by not approving its budget, and that's

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Speaker 1: exactly what they intended to do. But nevertheless they were

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Speaker 1: found guilty of subversion. And the other notable thing about

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Speaker 1: it is the way the trial was held. The forty

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Speaker 1: seven were denied the right to a trial by jury,

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Speaker 1: which would be the normal case here in Hong Kong,

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Speaker 1: and instead three judges heard the case. Now, those three

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Speaker 1: judges were and picked by the Hong Kong Chief Executive,

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Speaker 1: John Lee Site and his predecessor were handpicked by the

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Speaker 1: governments in effect. And also they were denied some of

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Speaker 1: the representation that they wanted, the legal representation that they wanted.

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Speaker 1: And that's one of the features of the Jimmy La

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Speaker 1: case that's going on at the moment. He was denied

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Speaker 1: the opportunity to have his choice of barrister represent him

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Speaker 1: who was from the overseas because he was seen as

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Speaker 1: a national security risk. So a lot of worrying things

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Speaker 1: about this case overall.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, totally, Hey tell me something about ugeneping. So is

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Speaker 2: he pitching himself as kind of like the good guy

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Speaker 2: in the world at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, He's been in South America, he was at the

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Speaker 1: APEX Summit of the G twenty summit in Rio. Here's

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Speaker 1: an effect presenting himself as the champion of globalization and

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Speaker 1: free trade. He's sort of stepping into the void that

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Speaker 1: the US has left or will leave when Donald Trump

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Speaker 1: arrives in office. And he's been basically talking up the

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Speaker 1: advantages of free trade. He's saying that globalism can't be unwound.

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Speaker 1: It's absolutely essential to stop the fragmentation of the world economy.

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Speaker 1: Now part of this, of course, is because of China's economy,

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Speaker 1: which is struggling at the moment and what it doesn't want.

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Speaker 1: The thing that Chiging Ping most fears is that if

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump imposes tariffs on exports of Chinese goods, other

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Speaker 1: nations might follow suits, particularly in emerging markets. And there

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Speaker 1: are some countries in South America, like Chile, like Brazil

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Speaker 1: that have also imposed tariffs on Chinese goods because they're

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Speaker 1: worried about the flood of imports there. Well, that's a

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Speaker 1: trend that chi Jing Pig absolutely doesn't want to see

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Speaker 1: because it will be disastrous for China. So he is

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Speaker 1: a meeting with all sorts of leaders in South America.

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Speaker 1: He himself as a free trade person and wants the

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Speaker 1: global sealth countries in the global selth to support him

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Speaker 1: in that arrangement.

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Speaker 2: And what about this business with the North Korean troops

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Speaker 2: in Ukraine, I mean or not in Ukraine rather than

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Speaker 2: Russia fighting Ukraine. This must be incredibly uncomfortable for China,

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Speaker 2: isn't it?

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Speaker 1: It is, and he is saying absolutely nothing about it.

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Speaker 1: He was asked several times in press conferences while he

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Speaker 1: was in Rio what his spance was on that, and

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Speaker 1: has said nothing official about it, and Chinese state media

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Speaker 1: have said nothing about it either in their press releases.

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Speaker 1: But nevertheless, it's an issue that is very uncomfortable for Jiujinping.

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Speaker 1: What he did say was that he told the presidents

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Speaker 1: of South Korea that things have changed on the Korean peninsula,

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Speaker 1: but he said that Beijing. He said, Beijing will continue

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Speaker 1: to play a constructive role in its own way. To

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Speaker 1: end the conflict. Now, he didn't say quite what his

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Speaker 1: own way was, and certainly most people didn't envisage that,

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Speaker 1: including North Korean troops being in Ukraine. But the problem

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Speaker 1: for him is is this is an issue where in

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Speaker 1: contrast to what he's trying to do on trade, he

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Speaker 1: has been very much sidelined. This is all down really

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Speaker 1: to the US and EU and NATO in terms of

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Speaker 1: what happens here next. Has really very little that President

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Speaker 1: G can do to influence the outcome. But it does

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Speaker 1: appear he has less sway over North Korea. I mean,

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Speaker 1: many people thought that he will be able to dissuade

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Speaker 1: King choremen from doing this doesn't appear to have been

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Speaker 1: the case. And it seems to be Russia that has

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Speaker 1: more sway over North Korea at the moments, which is

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Speaker 1: certainly something that President G won't appreciate. But he's not

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Speaker 1: saying in public what his thoughts are on this and

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Speaker 1: what is doing behind the scenes.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, fascinating. Hey, thanks very much, Peter, I really appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: Peter Lewis Asia Business correspondent will speak to you in

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