In schools and universities, students are invariably taught to be ethical, honest and inclusive, as well as objective and scientifically based in formulating and expressing judgments of things taking place around them and internationally. Yet when they read or watch the daily news from local and overseas media, especially in recent years, they have been and will continue to be bewildered by the words and deeds of many politicians — local and international — who are often found saying one thing and doing another.
They put up wild claims against the political leaderships of countries that do not go in with their demands, especially on the political front. Any acts of noncompliance will be retaliated against by such countries, nearly all in the Western camp led by the US, through the imposition of sanctions of immensely detrimental magnitude, under the guise of defending human rights and political freedoms, to jeopardize the political, economic and military operations of the countries, mostly in the developing world, that refuse to be manipulated under hegemonic conditions.
Around the world in recent years, developing countries like Iran and Afghanistan have suffered from sanctions or maneuverings by Western powers, particularly the US and its allies, over their foreign trade and billions of overseas financial assets. Bowing to pressure from the US, some Western countries have also excluded China from participating in the commercial development of their 5G networks, citing the so-called “espionage risks” fabricated by Washington without any solid evidence to buttress such allegations.
In a world advocating multilateralism in economic and cultural relations among countries, the US government has forced a number of Chinese tech companies to delist from its stock markets on allegations that the companies are connected to the Chinese military. Last month, US authorities were reported to be brewing another slander by starting an “investigation” into the effect of Chinese tech giant Alibaba’s cloud operation on America’s “security”.
Since mid-2021, Afghanistan has been facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis fueled by the near-total collapse of its economy following the massive withdrawal of the Western communities triggered by the abrupt evacuation of US troops from the country. Afghanistan has repeatedly appealed to the US to release the country’s $10 billion in reserves kept in American financial institutions to salvage the millions of Afghans who have been driven to the verge of subsistence. But all those appeals have fallen on deaf ears.
In the total absence of factual evidence and convincing justifications, the foreign ministers of the Group of 7, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, and the governments of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance jointly faulted the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government for “restricting” the spectrum of political views that were represented by the candidates in the Legislative Council election on Dec 19. They voiced on the day following the LegCo election “grave concern over the erosion of democratic elements” in the city. Such wild criticisms were rightly refuted forthright by the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the HKSAR.
Within hours of closing ballots for the first citywide poll under the revamped local electoral system, The Wall Street Journal published an editorial titled “Democracy Boycott in HK”, which described the election as a “sham poll”. The newspaper fouled the LegCo elections as a mechanism in which “democratic candidates were blocked from running” through the candidacy-vetting committee led by the SAR’s chief secretary for administration, which the newspaper said ensured that hopefuls were patriotic and not anti-China disrupters. It must, however, be asked: If a significant number of the LegCo members are subversive, secessionist and collusive with hostile foreign forces, what else can be imagined by the territory’s rational residents, who cherish the city’s stability and prosperity, apart from the near-anarchy fueled by the 2019 riots?
The Western critics also railed at the Dec 19 election over the absence of “pan-democrats” from opposition parties, which happened for the first time in Hong Kong since China resumed the exercise of its sovereignty over Hong Kong in July 1997. This indeed has proved one thing — that is, the central authorities in Beijing have never interfered with prospective candidates’ entry into LegCo races. Different political groups have their own calculations in deciding if they should field their members for the contest. And for those from the “pan-democratic” camp who signed up to compete for the directly elected Geographical Constituency and Functional Constituency seats, green lights were not denied. In consequence, one of the centrists — Tik Chi-yuen — emerged as the victor in the Social Welfare Functional Constituency.
The voluntary closure of media outlets — Apple Daily, Stand News and Citizen News — since late last year was described groundlessly by Western news outlets as a “crackdown” on freedoms of press and expression. Such irresponsible remarks have, however, ignored the fact that these are all private media outlets that can decide for themselves whether or not to continue operating in consideration of their own interests. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor already dismissed links of the National Security Law for Hong Kong to the news outlets’ discontinuation, stressing that if the journalists were concerned they could not comply with the law, they would “have to make up their minds and take the necessary decisions”. Meanwhile, if the US is so determined to uphold freedom of expression, why should it not have released the leader of the Oath Keepers militia and the over 700 people arrested on suspicion of overthrowing the government by force in the Capitol Hill riot on Jan 6, 2021? The same speaks for the three lawyers in former US president Donald Trump’s camp who were subpoenaed earlier over the Capitol insurrection. Precisely, this was the excuse Washington politicians took to support Hong Kong’s subversive riots in 2019.
Last month, China reported an enviable GDP growth of 8.1 percent in 2021. While engaged significantly in hosting the Beijing Winter Olympics from Feb 4 and a speedy recovery from the coronavirus pandemic which will benefit the whole world, the US and some European nations have not ceased harassing and embarrassing China by orchestrating boycotts over baseless claims of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. If human rights are so endeared by the Western powers, Canada should have reconciled with truth over the discovery last May of the remains of 215 indigenous children in its largest government-funded residential school, which was part of an official policy aimed at assimilating indigenous children and destroying indigenous languages and cultures!
It is truly tragic to the world that some of the leading nations are justifying their ends in politics with ruthless means that ruin ethics in international relations and escalate tensions among countries. In the current context, such misdeeds preclude unity in the fight for a global recovery from the pandemic.
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.