Editor's note: Tom Fowdy, who graduated from Oxford University's China Studies Program and majored in politics at Durham University, writes about international relations focusing on China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Yesterday, Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong and singer Denise Ho traveled to Washington D.C. to attend a congressional hearing on the matter of Hong Kong. 

During the hearing, Joshua called upon American authorities to pass the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act" and take measures against the city's special status for the perceived violation of its autonomy on behalf of Beijing. The hearing was weaponized to demonize China and set out exaggerated caricatures of police brutality.

Later, Wong publicly met with the Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi at a press conference, who offered him her support. The meeting indicates that Washington is prepared to openly pass this law and, in turn, explicitly interfere with an issue pertaining to Chinese sovereignty. Even pro-American voices do not believe this is a good idea. China has constantly observed that the protests are enabled by foreign interference, these events and the proposition of the law itself are the evidence that now the interference is out in the open.

Washington wants to perpetuate disruption in Hong Kong as part of its newly found "bipartisan consensus" in trying to weaken China. Its support for "democracy" and "human rights" has always been selective and fallacious at best. Rather than resolving the crisis that has rocked the Special Administrative Region and restoring law and order, explicit U.S. support for violent activists is designed to serve as an enabler and justification for their behavior, thus allowing them to continuously render the city into a state of chaos and then claim persecution when authorities respond. Such is an open and explicit collaboration to weaken, divide, and interfere in China's internal affairs.

The United States is known for repeatedly weaponizing the discourse of "democracy and human rights" as a political means to an end. The country depicts itself as an enlightened liberator who has a divinely inspired mission to help oppressed peoples. 

However, for the most of the country's history, talks of such have always been a selective justification for its broader geopolitical and strategic goals. When America has an agenda against a country, it utilizes this sort of rhetoric in order to build public support for external action against it, be war, sanctions, or something else.

The idea that Hong Kong people are somehow oppressed and in need of American support is truly ridiculous. First of all, Hong Kong is one of the world's most prosperous cities. Its residents continue to enjoy a wide range of privileges. These activists have a marked tendency to both exaggerate and utilize deception to push their agenda. 

Going to America, where police actually kill people on a regular basis, and claiming Hong Kong police are brutal, who have never killed anybody, is laughable. Yet the mantra of American exceptionalism and the desire to take action against a perceived "foreign adversary" allows these claims to be taken seriously and given blanket support.

In this case, American politicians are happy to back Hong Kong activists because it serves as a part of their game in pursuing confrontation against China. In doing so, they want to empower the city as a separatist political force, empower its differentiation from the mainland, stir up "Hong Kong exceptionalism" and in turn weaken China's unity.

If Hong Kong can be secured as something permanently opposed to the mainland, then they have achieved their goal. It is not an act of moral support or solidarity, it is an act of geopolitics and an open assault on a country's national sovereignty in the pursuit of broader regional and global objectives. The passing of the act would give violent activists the political capital and momentum to continue cause chaos, and draw more escalatory actions from the local authorities. Thus, in turn, draw in more foreign countries' assistance and blanket support from the international media.

In this case, China's claim that Joshua Wong is anything other than an open collaborator with the United States holds a lot of truth to it. He is campaigning for Washington to take action against his own city and country, aspiring to ruin Hong Kong as a global financial hub famed for its prosperity and opportunities. On America's behalf, his actions are also about hurting and dividing China. Beijing will surely be ready to bear any costs to protect its own national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and identity.

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