Information operations directed at Hong Kong

My YT overlord lately decided I should watch Jackie Chan commentates about the situation in Hong-Kong [0]. I was very surprised to see the English comments almost unanimously support China. Would have expected the opposite sentiment.

[edit: stupid me, the uploader is CGTN, a well-known state propoganda channel]

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7rIg49I0yI

Jackie Chan is entitled to his opinions.

During those protests there have been rioting and ransacking of the local Parliament with some expressing views that HK was not, or should not be, China. This can genuinely trigger feelings of patriotism and outrage.

The lastest protest seems to have been peaceful and to have respected the authorities' restrictions as much as possible so it may be that they have understood that using violence was playing into the hands of the other side.

I did not say anything about his opinion, I was referring to the comments, which for a platform that should be blocked in China, are surprisingly pro-China.

Yes, but as I mentioned it is not surprising that there is genuine support even if some of the comments may not be real. There are many Chinese living abroad.

I'm thinking it may also depends on which channel you're looking at. This one is essentially a government one and so may be followed by people who tend to be sympathetic.

There are also quite a few negative comments.

One thing that is super impressive about these protests (other than the sheer number of people) is the lack of looting, violence etc (not counting police violence on unarmed people). Very very impressive. Compare this with French riots etc in recent years - night and day!

The format of the top comments are all similar. 20-30 words staying under the "Read more" limit, “I am X, I support China", 200-250 upvotes. Replies are argumented with links to anti-US articles.

Not very subtle, this was probably just homework for the interns.

Jackie Chan has a very pro-China stance. In his autobiography, he mentions that he is proud to be Chinese, and makes several associations to Chinese culture, seemingly over Hong Kong.

I found it to be a curious position, seeing as he is adored by Hong Kongers, and always seemed to identify as / with HK.

He was adored by Hong Kongers - he is now generally rather disliked and considered a sell-out in HK, for exactly this reason...

I actually expect that a lot of violence and such are false flag operations, designed to taint the image of the protesters.

Given what we've seen there with the planted triad attacks, it would make perfect sense that they would infiltrate and stage violence as well. That's a tactic that has been used even in liberal democracies in the past when dealing with rampant protests.

I think this is partially because the French are certain their police won’t excessively go to town on them even when they are looting/pillaging.

The same thing does not apply in HK I think.

You do know that Hong Kong was really part of China right? It was taken by the British Empire in 1842 by destroying China in the First Opium War. When the British finally gave it back to China in 1997, a lot of the non-chinese moved out of HK.

What I'm trying to emphasize is that "Hong Kongers" and Jackie Chan are Chinese.

I don't know, a lot of YouTube comments are "I am X and I think Y". Usually "I am from X country and support Y country" (on national anthems and such) or "I am young and like old music".

One possible factor in the French riots is immigrants, for example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_French_riots#Context. This is not a problem in HK and very tightly controlled in China.

Also the same factor could be important in other mass crimes, for example, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35231046.

I guess you missed all the news about excessive use of force by the French police during the riots, and the insane show of force by the French police on the volunteers (many of whom are French nationals btw) helping immigrants?

French police are not exactly a beacon of friendship.

You can twist this however you want - you still can't take away the fact that HK protesters seem much nicer, better organized and well behaved.

And no, I have nothing to do with China/HK, never been there etc. I am just an impartial observer impressed with the HK protesters, thats all.