Impossible to separate sport and politics as Hong Kong’s football team rained on Xi’s parade
It was so nearly the perfect day for China and Xi Jinping - until Hong Kong spoiled the party
Twelve thousand troops, 200 aircraft, 500 military vehicles, 70,000 doves and balloons: the numbers around China’s ‘victory over Japan’ parade were impressive. It should have been a perfect day for president Xi Jinping as he showed off his nation’s might.
But shortly after the last DF-21D ‘carrier killer’ missile was wheeled out of Tiananmen Square, the last J-15 fighter jet was put back in the hangar and the last white dove of peace was thrown in a hutong hotpot, there was a reminder that overwhelming numbers do not always equal easy victory.
Xi is a huge soccer fan. Though presumably too busy entertaining the world’s top leaders (minus EU, US), to watch China vs Hong Kong after the parade, surely aides updated him: “Hang on Vladimir, I can’t wait to hear about the time you choked a Kamchatka brown bear to death, but I’m getting a message … Still 0-0?! We hit the crossbar AGAIN?! … that’s it, send in the Caihong-5 drones.”
MORE: Read all our World Cup 2018 qualifying coverage here
1.3 billion people to 7 million; at least 70 pro football clubs to nine; world ranking of 84 to 151; 10 times the fans in the stadium: sometimes overwhelming firepower doesn’t matter. China hit the woodwork four times, had 41 efforts on goal to four and 72 per cent possession, might have had a penalty, and would have hammered HK 99 times out of 100, but occasionally the numbers don’t add up.
Yet again, Hong Kong didn’t behave. With the derby coinciding with the ‘Victory over Japanese Aggression’ one-off holiday, a victory over Xianggangese dissension was expected after HK fans booed China’s national anthem recently (not to mention Occupy Central). The date coincidence was just that, we are assured, even if it won’t convince conspiracy theorists who claimed Bao’an was picked as the venue because Hong Kong was in Bao’an County in the good old, pre-Treaty of Nanking days.
MORE: Relive the match with our minute-by-minute blog
Thankfully the 2,200-odd Hong Kong fans who crossed the border, and drove down Shenzhen’s eight-lane boulevards festooned with thousands of China flags, treated the national anthem with respect. Anybody tempted not to was surely dissuaded by the intimidating security presence in and around the stadium.
Walking to the media access gate, you passed somewhere between 50-100 police and paramilitary vehicles and troop carriers; personnel estimates ranged from 1,000 to 5,000 and Hong Kong fans might well have been outnumbered.
In the stadium, supporters were surrounded by phalanxes three or four deep. Other stewards sat dotted around the running track filming the crowd. And on the concourse, piles of neatly arranged riot gear were laid out, one officer smoking a fag and another disconsolately bashing his boot with his truncheon, perhaps annoyed that he wasn’t going to get to use it. Who knows what was feared, but authorities seemed prepared for anything short of air-to-ground assault.
MORE: Why HK fans need to respect China national anthem
It was another reminder of China’s might – and fear of ‘disharmony’: the Apple Daily said some of its employees were detained for a few hours for “illegal reporting” before the match. And it underlined why relevant officials in Hong Kong will be anxious ahead of the November 17 rematch. They still have not decided whether that match will be held in Hong Kong Stadium, which can hold 40,000 potential anti-China protesters to embarrass HK politicians live on mainland television, or Mong Kok (6,664).
Mega-rich and desperate to improve their team in time to compete in the World Cup they bought, Qatar have a squad packed with foreign mercenaries and annihilated Bhutan 15-0 on Thursday. You fear Hong Kong, likely mentally drained from their effort against China and without the added incentive of putting one over on the motherland, might get the battering they deserved in Shenzhen – but just as might is not always right, nor is cash always king.
