Over the past six months, masterminded, financed and instigated by the anti-China forces in some Western countries led by the US, violent criminals in Hong Kong, putting on masks in disguise and upholding the national flags of the US and UK, have kept escalating violence in protest.
They blatantly attacked the HK Legislature Council and government office buildings, threw petrol bombs into subway carriages, paralyzed public transportation such as airports, subways and roads, engaged in such activities as smashing, looting and burning and occupied the campus to assault ordinary students.
They attacked the police with such lethal weapons as knives, bows and arrows, Molotov cocktail, and corrosive chemical liquid, threatened the families of the police, and beat or even threw gasoline to burn the people who oppose their wrong actions. One cleaner was hit to death by a rioter on the head with a brick. The violent criminals wantonly and cruelly assaulted the police and even attempted to assassinate members of the Legislative Council.
Such cruelty is really shocking and appalling.
The illegal and violent acts of brutal killing and arson are typical acts of terrorism and have overstepped the universally recognized bottom line of the rule of laws, morality and human civilization. It won’t be tolerated and allowed in any civilized country or region under the rule of law.
Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity have been seriously undermined by the lasting large-scale aggressive violence and crimes.
In 2019, Hong Kong’s economic growth continued to decline, with its GDP growth rate falling to -2.9% in the third quarter and the economic growth expectation for the whole year dropping to -1.3%.
Plagued by rampant violence and chaos, Hong Kong’s international ratings have been downgraded and its international image and business environment severely impacted.
Hong Kong, once crowned as the open, stable and proposer “Pearl of the Orient” under the rule of law, has become the violent and lawless
“Sorrow of the Orient” and a laughing stock of the international community.
As we all know, illegal acts of violence and terrorism are the common enemies of the international community and mankind, and won’t be tolerated by the internationally recognized principles of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
Any country and people with justice, conscience and humanity in the world will put into perspective and strongly condemn the atrocities committed by the violent criminals in Hong Kong and show deep sympathy to the HK people.
Unfortunately, in order to make itself great again and maintain its hegemony, the US authorities ignore the facts, call black white, flagrantly whitewash the heinous terrorist and criminal acts of the Hong Kong rioters as “peaceful assembly”, “freedom of speech”, and “fighting for human rights and democracy”, and distort Hong Kong police’s restraint in law enforcement as “violent repression”, which fully exposes its hypocritical and selfish double standards and ugly logic of power politics.
Since the outbreak of the protests in Hong Kong, the US President, Vice President, House Speaker and other political dignitaries have met with the key figures who disrupted Hong Kong and offered them scholarships to study in the US.
Such NGOs as the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute, Human Rights Watch and Freedom House stationed in HK provided funding, logistic and training support to anti-China rioters who intend to disrupt Hong Kong, incited and masterminded violent activities.
Not long ago, the US Congress even passed the so-called “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act”, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump, providing an “umbrella” for violent criminals in Hong Kong to do whatever they want.
The United States, under the cloak of “human rights” and “democracy” and in the form of domestic legislation, wantonly meddles in HK affairs, grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs, and openly tramples on the international law and norms governing international relations.
Their evil agenda is clear for all to see, that is to disrupt Hong Kong to contain the rise of China, which will be firmly opposed by the Chinese people both at home and abroad, including the HK people, and condemned by countries and people around the world who uphold justice and conscience.
The root cause of the lasting violence and chaos in Hong Kong lies in the legacy of Western colonialism and hegemonic interference.
The Western countries have always pursued the “divide-and-rule” strategy. Before the western colonizers left, they always set up judicial and governance systems and institutions for the colonized countries or regions to follow and support their agent, so as to safeguard their vested interests there.
It is well known that under the cloak of “human rights” and “democracy”, the US has created countless human rights disasters in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and other countries and regions, depriving millions of people of democracy and human rights.
May we ask: Is there any success of a single country in the world realizing national stability, social harmony and people’s happiness under the intervention of the United States? The answer is definitely None!
China has 1.4 billion population , accounting nearly one fifth of the world’s total. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China,
the Chinese people have created two miracles of long-term political and social stability and rapid economic development (with an average annual
growth rate of 9.5% in the past four decades), lifting 850 million Chinese people out of poverty, ensuring the 1.4 billion Chinese people’s five basic rights to work, to food, to housing, to school and to hospital, and contributing more than 70% of global poverty reduction. By the end of 2020, all the 1.4 billion Chinese people will be lifted out of poverty with no one left behind.
This is China’s unique contribution to the world’s human rights cause and a great feat that the US will never achieve!
The United States pursues unilateralism and manipulates hegemonic acts. It has no moral sense, nor does it abide by international justice and norms. What is even more shameful is that the US glorified the heinous illegal acts of violence and terrorism in HK as democracy and human rights, which only reveals that the US now has no justice, fairness, morality or conscience.
A big power should behave like a big power.
It is our sincere hope that people and visionary figures in the US will wake up and recognize the new development of China and new changes of the world, and speak out against the hegemonic thinking of their authorities, so as to rebuild America’s morality, conscience and credibility,
and contribute to maintaining world peace and promoting common development.
The key to addressing the chaos in HK is stopping violence and restoring the rule of law.
Only when the Hong Kong people wake up and see through the evil intention of the US and some other Western countries, and loudly and bravely say “NO” to violence and terrorism, Western colonialism and the brutal intervention of the US, can the rule of law and social order in HK
be restored at an early date, the well-being of the HK people be safeguarded, and the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong be regained.
* H.E. Lin Songtian is Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Republic of South Africa.