spacehunt.info

It has been almost 2 weeks since reports of Sichuan’s swine flu outbreak have trickled through to Hong Kong. And while Sichuan pork meat has disappeared in local markets, this is not because Hong Kong has banned the import of pork from Sichuan, but rather, Sichuan themselves have banned the export of their pork.

While the end results may be the same, the difference is significant. What good is a government that outsources the protection of its own citizens to some other state?

Even other provinces in mainland China have imposed their own bans. Alarmingly, ’sources from the HK Government’ (don’t you just love these unattritable ’sources’?) reveal that Hong Kong actually do not have any autonomy over foodstuff imports; Hong Kong has to ‘present enough scientific evidence’ before ‘negotiating with the PRC any bans’. How wonderful. Once again, one country two systems successfully implemented — HK gets the worse system.