Wanghai Lou: Any attempt to interfere in Hong Kong affairs is doomed to failure

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

Recently, the British Foreign Office, together with some members of the "Media Freedom Alliance," issued a so-called statement to wantonly slander hong Kong's press freedom and smear the SAR government for enforcing the law according to law. Their meddling in Hong Kong affairs and interfering in China's internal affairs is nothing more than a grandstanding political show. On Hong Kong-related issues, some foreign politicians have been clamoring around in a variety of ways, essentially in the name of grandeur, intervening and exerting pressure.

Understanding the Hong Kong issue, we cannot avoid two ironclad facts: After Hong Kong's return to the motherland, the constitutional legal basis for the Chinese government's governance of Hong Kong is the Chinese Constitution and the Hong Kong Basic Law; Hong Kong affairs are purely China's internal affairs, and no external forces have the right to interfere. However, a small number of foreign politicians often ignore the facts and frequently use the "Sino-British Joint Declaration" and other means to interfere in Hong Kong affairs. Not only that, but they also had repeated attacks of being shy as teachers. In addition to the gimmick of "press freedom," they also insisted on slandering troubles under the guise of "democracy" and "human rights," arbitrarily discussed Hong Kong affairs, and often interfered in China's internal affairs through their own legislation and so-called unilateral sanctions, smeared the SAR Government, the Hong Kong police, and the new election system, and staged a clumsy political farce.

Do a few foreign politicians really care about Hong Kong? It's strange to really care. When the "black rioters" clamored for "speculation" to wantonly undermine Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, these Western politicians actually called it a "beautiful landscape." They secretly instigated the "color revolution" first, and in turn asked the UNITED Nations Security Council to discuss the Hong Kong-related national security legislation, but after being rejected, they had to end it hastily. They have made irresponsible remarks about the legislation of the Hong Kong National Security Law and the election of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, stigmatizing "one country, two systems" into "one country, one system." After being refuted, they are still forceful and selectively blind. And so on. These acts are not only wanton trampling on international law and norms governing international relations, but also deliberate distortions of the successful practice of "one country, two systems", and even more gross interference and sabotage of Hong Kong's democratic development. They talk about "democracy," "human rights," and "press freedom" in their mouths, but their hearts are filled with an outdated colonial mentality and hegemonic thinking.

Clear-eyed people see it very thoroughly: These Western politicians are "tirelessly enjoying this" interference in Hong Kong affairs and supporting and cheering up anti-China and chaotic Elements in Hong Kong, which is an attempt to play the "Hong Kong card" to curb China's development. Hong Kong is stable, but they are anxious. Because these politicians have found it more and more difficult to extend the "black hand" of disaster to Hong Kong, it is more and more difficult to realize the "big plan" of obstructing China's development through the chaos of Hong Kong. Unwilling to accept the fate of defeat, they always try to provoke trouble, take the opportunity to release so-called statements and inverted statements of right and wrong, and continue to disrupt Hong Kong affairs. However, no matter how unwilling they are, their finger-pointing can only be reduced to futile muttering, which cannot shake the general trend of Hong Kong society from chaos to governance, from governance to prosperity.

Hong Kong is China's Hong Kong. China's determination to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests is unswerving, and its determination to comprehensively and accurately implement the principle of "one country, two systems" is unswerving. The general trend of Hong Kong's transformation from chaos to governance, rule by law and prosperity is irreversible. Relevant countries, organizations and a small number of politicians should have a clear understanding of the facts, respect the general situation, and abide by international law and the basic norms governing international relations. It's time to change tricks and find excuses to interfere with Hong Kong's old problems.

After repeatedly hitting a wall, relevant politicians should have understood a truth: Any attempt to play the "Hong Kong card" to curb China's development is tantamount to a fool's dream and is doomed to failure.

(The author is Ren Chengqi, a commentator of this newspaper)

People's Daily Overseas Edition ( 2022-02-11 Issue 01)