Hong Kong is open, not beholden to foreigners

Editor's note: As the deliberation on "patriot administering Hong Kong" and improvements to the city's electoral system is underway, conflicting views, criticisms and different characterizations of the issue fills the public discourse. CGTN First Voice presents a three-part series, offering Chinese perspectives on the subject.Part two focuses on foreign interference in HKSAR's politics.

Hong Kong holds an unparalleled position in China's system. It used to be a gateway for foreigners onto the Chinese mainland and for Chinese to the international community. Its exposure to foreign influence runs deeper than the vast majority of China – just look at the frequency English is spoken in the city.

Hong Kong welcomes foreigners, but not so much if its political agenda became beholden to them. Lau Siu-Kai, vice president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, published an article in Ta Kung Pao in late February. It claimed that during elections in Hong Kong, foreign forces "continuously challenged the country's sovereignty over Hong Kong" and "overtly challenged the central powers and the authority of the Basic Law."

After what transpired over the past couple of years, any denial of foreign interference in the city's political process is either ignorance or a lie. Prominent figures in the city's unrest have included Jimmy Lai, Joshua Wong, as well as former legislators Alvin Yeung, Kwok Ka-ki and Dennis Kwok of the Civic Party and Kenneth Leung. These people are all particularly known for their ties to senior U.S politicians and officials. The U.S., through direct engagement and indirect funding by organizations like the National Endowment of Democracy, used these links to push American influence into the city's affairs and lobby for measures against HKSAR and China as a whole.

Lai had meetings with former Vice President Mike Pence and infamous China-hawk Mike Pompeo. Joshua Wong shook hands with Nancy Pelosi and Marco Rubio, not mentioning appearing before the U.S. Congress, asking the U.S. to intervene. They've done so at the same time when these politicians pushed for sanctions against Hong Kong.

"Hong Kong independence" activist Joshua Wong (2nd L) meets with Julie Eadeh, political unit chief of the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong & Macao. /CGTN

Is it acceptable for influential figures to collude with a foreign power against their own country? Especially those who were already in positions of power? It should be worth noting that in the British Parliament, the opposition is described as "Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition" – and every MP who enters that institution must swear loyalty to the British Crown. They may disagree with the government and its policies, but the key factor here is that they do not challenge the existence of the state as a whole.

There's a specific name for actions that do: Treason.

At the UN Human Rights Council meeting on March 5, a representative from the

Republic of Belarus voiced support

for China's stance and measures on affairs related to HKSAR and opposed foreign interference in China's internal affairs. He made the statement on behalf of 70 countries.

Back in June 2020, during a UN Human Rights Council meeting, Cuba voiced support for the national security law on behalf of 52 countries. In October, at another UN meeting, 57 countries stated their support for China's Hong Kong policies. Now, the number has risen to 70. More and more countries are now supporting China's stance on Hong Kong and rejecting foreign interference.

Radical protesters outside the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, November 16, 2019. /Reuters

Western media may talk about "democracy." It is never that simple. Stoking up unrest with the underlying hope of a "color revolution" is not democratic. Just think: Were lives under constant threats from rioters and mobs tenable? Is that kind of chaos really preferred by the people? Was near-anarchy how democracy functions? If local elections are persistently hijacked by individuals backed by foreign powers who seek to them as vehicles to undermine the country's sovereignty, would any country tolerate and show leniency?

Just look at Syria, a country that's been carved up by foreign powers and became a battle field for major powers' proxy conflict. Based on various accounts, 400,000 lives were lost over the ten years of conflict, millions have become refugees. No one knows the exact amount of economic damage done. BBC once referred to a statistic saying that destruction amounted to perhaps more than $600 billion.

The national security angle hasn't been taken seriously by commentary and politicians in the West, but it is the reality that Hong Kong is facing. The loopholes in its electoral systems needs to be fixed so that it wouldn't be weaponized by others to prop up proxy and push political agenda against China. The presence of "non-loyal opposition" who are linked to "hostile forces," like Kai said in the article, must be taken out of the political equation in order to preserve China's sovereignty as a whole.

Part I:

Stripping the disgraced and treasonous of their power in Hong Kong

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