Another hypocritical farce was played out when US President Joe Biden announced on Jan 26 an extension by two years of the Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for eligible Hong Kong residents program, which is claimed to protect Hong Kong residents in the United States from deportation.
In the Memorandum on Extending and Expanding Eligibility for DED for Certain Hong Kong Residents, Biden wrote to the US secretary of state and secretary of homeland security, stating that the US supports the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Hong Kong — which indeed are guaranteed by Hong Kong’s Basic Law and richly enjoyed by the city’s residents.
Biden accused Beijing of undermining “the enjoyment of rights and freedoms” in Hong Kong by enacting the National Security Law for Hong Kong in June 2020. He asserted that it is a matter of the US’ foreign policy interests to defer for two years the removal of Hong Kong residents who are in the US and who are “fearful of” returning to the city.
Biden first authorized in August 2021 this politically motivated program, which was set to expire on Feb 5. Under the program, qualified individuals were allowed to live and work in the US for 18 months even if their visas had expired.
Some of those Hong Kong residents who are now staying in the US have been charged with criminal offenses committed in the 2019-20 riots in Hong Kong, and the US’ decision to extend deferral in the deportation of overstaying Hong Kong residents in the US is therefore dubious
This politically motivated move drew an immediate rebuke from the Chinese embassy in the US, which said that Washington’s drastic measure was intended to plunge Hong Kong back into chaos. Meanwhile, the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region castigated the US, stating the move was an attempt to provide a safe haven for anti-China forces who fled Hong Kong.
This disruptive act of the US authorities likewise provoked criticism from the HKSAR government, which found the US political tactics wholly objectionable. In a separate statement, the HKSAR government said it “strongly disapproves and firmly opposes” the actions mounted by the White House under the memorandum in question, and it urged Washington to cease acts against the basic norms governing the conduct of international relations, and to immediately halt its interference in Hong Kong affairs.
If Biden cares so much about the well-being of Hong Kong people, why would he have supported the restrictions imposed by the US on the city’s exports to the country, which are the economic lifeblood of Hong Kong residents? If he imagines Hong Kong has become so hopeless, why not offer all Hong Kong people permanent residency in the US, with the full provisions of employment and social security required for a decent living in the country? Instead, he is only willing — after numerous calculations, and after seeing the city heading to prosperity through effective governance — to renew the DED for a handful of Hong Kong residents staying temporarily in the US.
Despite the fact that both Beijing and the HKSAR authorities exercise extreme caution in running the special administrative region in accordance with the “one country, two systems” principle, some politicians in the US and its allied countries have not hesitated in viciously smearing Hong Kong’s governance.
Last week, such politicians in the US ventured to stir up an international outcry over the ongoing trial by the HKSAR Judiciary of 47 individuals charged with involvement in a scheme involving an unofficial “primary election” in 2020 — allegedly designed to seize a majority of seats (35-plus) in the Hong Kong legislature in order to paralyze the HKSAR government’s ability to function and to oust Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, then-chief executive of Hong Kong.
These overseas politicians, including parliamentarians, attempted to achieve their ill-intentioned aims by defiling the reputation of the Hong Kong Judiciary and demonizing the city’s rule of law, thus corroding public faith in these institutions.
Some of those Hong Kong residents who are now staying in the US have been charged with criminal offenses committed in the 2019-20 riots in Hong Kong, and the US’ decision to extend deferral in the deportation of overstaying Hong Kong residents in the US is therefore dubious. And, of course, Hong Kong residents have to be constantly on the alert for national security threats emanating from the Western world and led by Washington.
To the discerning observer, it came as no great surprise that Biden insisted that he had done “the right thing” by ordering the military to shoot down a Chinese civilian airship used for meteorological research, and that he was “not going to back off”, despite tough representations from Beijing.
Ironically, Biden was heard telling the US Congress in his State of Union speech recently that the US “seeks competition, not conflict with China”, emphasizing that “conflict for the sake of conflict gets us nowhere”. This is precisely the motto by which the US president should chart and develop his country’s bilateral ties with China.
The author is a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.