The new Biden administration should be reminded that China is not an aggressor, and any sanctions imposed against US officials were made in retaliation to sanctions the US had imposed on Chinese-mainland and Hong Kong officials. Actions taken by China during the past four years of the Trump administration were all in retaliation to actions made by Trump and his henchman Mike Pompeo.
Both left the White House on January 20 in disgrace, much to the relief of the international community. As world leaders congratulated President Joe Biden at his inauguration, they also condemned Donald Trump for his lack of leadership at home and abroad. All were looking for normalization and a close working relationship with the US.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a press conference, “America has stood for some very important things — an idea of freedom and an idea of democracy. And … so far as he (Trump) encouraged people to storm the Capitol and insofar as the president has consistently cast doubt on the outcome of a free and fair election, I believe that that was completely wrong.”
China’s President Xi Jinping sent a message to President Biden saying he hoped that China and the US will “uphold the spirit of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation” as well as focus on advancing “healthy and stable development of China-US ties”.
“Trump and his supporters should finally accept the decision of American voters and stop trampling on democracy,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas tweeted. “The enemies of democracy will be pleased to see these incredible images from Washington DC; inflammatory words turn into violent actions.”
Trump, with the help of his obsequious Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, was engaged in a one-sided (in most cases) cold war, using sanctions as the weapons of choice. Iran was his main target, but he also had his sights on Cuba, China (and its Hong Kong SAR in particular), and many South African countries.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney went further by directly rebuking Mr Trump: “Shocking and deeply sad scenes in Washington DC — we must call this out for what it is: a deliberate assault on Democracy by a sitting President and his supporters, attempting to overturn a free and fair election!”
Ever since the November election, Trump took the US to the bowels of hell. He incited supporters to storm and wreck the Capitol Building and completely divided the nation. He cried like a baby after losing the election. But his cries fell on deaf ears in the international community and appeased only his supporters.
Driving the US further into hell in his final days in power, Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of 143 of his friends who had been jailed or prosecuted for numerous crimes ranging from perjury to fraud. Steve Bannon, Trump’s former strategy advisor, was accused of misusing the US$25 million of public donations solicited to build the Mexican wall, which was eventually paid for by the taxpayers.
Trump spent the last four years at war with the world. He name-called and disrespected practically every world leader except fellow tyrants and those willing to do his bidding, withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord, the WHO, TPP, NATO and the NAFTA, and renegotiated the NAFTA. In fact, Trump isolated the US from the rest of the world. His departure drew a sigh of relief from everyone.
Trump, with the help of his obsequious Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, was engaged in a one-sided (in most cases) cold war, using sanctions as the weapons of choice. Iran was his main target, but he also had his sights on Cuba, China (and its Hong Kong SAR in particular), and many South African countries.
Without any evidence whatsoever, spymaster Pompeo (he was head of the CIA 2017-18) continued his attack on China’s human rights activities in Xinjiang, which were fervently denied by the central government with detailed documentaries. But Pompeo imposed sanctions anyway on Chinese officials. And then he went on to impose further sanctions on Hong Kong and mainland officials over the arrest of 55 individuals on charges of subversion. Many of those arrested had forged close relationships with UK or US anti-China politicians as a form of insurance against arrest. They had spun stories of a mainland crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong when no such crackdown existed; democracy was and is still alive in Hong Kong where citizens regularly take senior government officials to task for real and imagined wrongdoings. In fact, elections for the territory’s entire legislature will be held in September. Their arrest was not about democracy but their advocacy for civil unrest which led to the bloody 2019 riots in Hong Kong that lasted nine months. On June 12, 2019, they had set up a 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund worth HK$32.3 million (US$4.17 million) to pay the legal fees and expenses of rioters and at the same time colluded with Pompeo, then-US vice-president Mike Pence and Speaker Nancy Pelosi to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese mainland officials. This, Trump willingly agreed to. No country, including the US and UK, would be so perverse to allow its citizens to do so.
The arrests also provided Pompeo, who was snubbed by Europe in his final days in office, with an excuse to further his disinformation about Hong Kong and China as a whole to an ignorant sector of the world already indoctrinated with the US’ poisonous rhetoric about the “evils” of China and its handling of Hong Kong.
The author is a former chief information officer of Hong Kong government, a veteran journalist and media and PR consultant.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.