Note: The following article is taken from the Chinese-language “Commentaries on International Affairs”.
The latest statement of the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Eliot Engel, on the situation in Hong Kong provides new evidence that certain politicians in some Western countries such as the United States and Britain are adopting double standards regarding protestor violence in their own country as compared to overseas.
In a statement made on Friday, Engel said “allegations of police violence over the past weeks have tarnished Hong Kong’s international reputation for good governance and the fair administration of justice.” This accusation gives a false account of the facts, and constitutes severe interference in China’s internal affairs.
The chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Eliot Engel, prepares to lead the committee hearing on “NATO at 70: An Indispensable Alliance” on March 13, 2019. [Photo: IC]
In the eyes of politicians like Engel, police in Western countries have every right to crack down on violence committed by protestors, such as attacks on police and civilians. But they refer to similar scenes in Hong Kong as peaceful protests. These politicians unreasonably demand that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government lift charges against the so-called peaceful demonstrators. In this narrative, thugs become human rights defenders and freedom fighters. Could they be any more hypocritical?
In the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement, police in New York City used pepper spray and rubber bullets on demonstrators. That same year, British police used high-pressure water guns to disperse rioters in London and other cities. Those operations barely encountered any criticism from Western politicians. But when similar actions were taken in Hong Kong, Western politicians immediately and unscrupulously criticized the right of the police to exercise rightful law enforcement procedures, taking no account of the great restraint that the Hong Kong police have exercised in the face of violence and provocation by protestors.
During British colonial rule of Hong Kong, the governors were appointed by London, and Western politicians didn’t care about the city’s autonomy, human rights, and freedom. Their only concern was how to rake in profit from this Pearl of the Orient. In the 22 years since China resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong, the Chinese central government has always adhered to the “One Country, Two Systems” policy and the principle of “Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong”. This has given the people in Hong Kong autonomy, rights, and freedoms never granted by the British colonialists. Hong Kong’s rule of law ranking has risen from below 60th place in 1996 to 16th in 2019, four places ahead of the United States. Western politicians should open their eyes to these facts.
And when it comes to media coverage, some members of the Western media, who brand themselves as objective and fair, have deliberately underplayed the extreme provocations of the mobs. Take the riots that happened on June 12 in Admiralty, where the Hong Kong government building and the Legislative Council complex are located. A British media outlet heavily reported on the police firing rubber bullets and using tear gas at the mobs while mentioning none of the facts that the mobs attacked police line of defense and used lethal weapons. On July 14, a Hong Kong police officer’s finger was bitten off by a protestor, but Western media deliberately played it down. A week later, the behavior of some mobs who defaced the national emblem of China, which is not tolerated within any sovereign country, was again played down by some Western media. How could these media outlets talk about objectivity and justice?
Interfering in the internal affairs of other countries violates international law and the basic norms of international relations. Using double standards to make irresponsible remarks about the affairs of other countries is a customary tactic used by some politicians and media in the West. The latest remarks made by those politicians and the media on the recent protests in Hong Kong aimed to cause chaos in the city and contain China’s overall development. The Hong Kong government, the police, and the people should never tolerate any behavior by external forces that seek to wreck the foundation of rule of law in Hong Kong. And Beijing will never tolerate chaos that undermines China’s sovereignty and Hong Hong’s prosperity and stability.
