Editor's Note: Liu Lulu is an opinion editor with CGTN Digital. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
Not long after U.S. Republican Senator Ted Cruz's provocative Hong Kong trip, crowds of "activists" rallied in the city's commercial district on Monday, urging the U.S. Congress to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.
Introduced in June, the bill requires an annual review of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's autonomy and would strip the city of its special economic status if it is found not autonomous enough. Urging U.S. lawmakers to greenlight the bill, rioters are using the "deprivation of the privilege" as a leverage to pressure the Chinese central government to accede to their irrational demands.
Before appealing for Washington to "liberate" Hong Kong, the naïve "activists" must beware that even if the bill is passed, it is impossible to impact China's Hong Kong policy. Against a history of foreign aggression, China's determination to defend its national sovereignty should never be underestimated. The bill, together with Cruz's trip, is a blatant intervention into China's domestic affairs. Beijing cannot tolerate any provocation to its core interests, let alone trading its national sovereignty for U.S.-granted special economic status.
The Chinese central government firmly supports the Hong Kong authority's efforts in eliminating violence. Its intolerance to violence is determined by the country's resolve to safeguard its national interests, and the passage of the bill, if it is the case, will not pressure Beijing to shift its stance on rioters.
Moreover, history suggests that Washington-advocated "democracy" and "freedom" are always the synonyms for "aggression" and "suppression." Hong Kong citizens have the wisdom to tell.
As a superpower on the global geopolitical arena, the United States has habituated itself in its role as the "world judge" and "world police," indiscreetly finding fault with other countries and wantonly interfering in their domestic affairs.
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After dragging Iraq, Ukraine, Syria and a slew of countries and regions into an abyss of misery for so-called "democracy" and "freedom," the United States is now diverting its attention to Hong Kong. Since its return to the motherland, Hong Kong has been exercising a high degree of autonomy under the Basic Law and, thanks to the "One Country, Two Systems" principle, it was gradually evolving into a global financial and innovative hub that could rival the Silicon Valley.
However, what Hong Kong people have been proud of – prosperity, vitality, civilization and so forth – are increasingly crippled following months of violent protests. A wide range of economic sectors are embracing a chilly winter as demonstrations continue: exports fell 6.3 percent year-on-year in August; retail sales tumbled 23 percent from last year in the same month; the dropping of visitors has been widening since July, according to Xinhua reports.
These are not the worst. As all Chinese were happy to see violent protests gradually losing steam in the 19th week, an U.S. Senator flew to Hong Kong dressed in black – the color of rioters – to support the "activists' fight for democracy." Under the guise of "supporting non-violence," Cruz's real intent was to fuel the fire in the city and gear up for intensified intervention into China's domestic affairs.
For decades, the world's superpower has an illusion that its political path was the only right track to development, and its values must be accepted and adopted across the globe. Against this backdrop, the United States cannot and is unwilling to accept China's rise that is totally different from what it presumes. This is why Washington diverted its attention to China from the Middle East, trying to revive "democracy" in Hong Kong.
Washington's intervention in Hong Kong is not for the so-called democracy. Instead, its ultimate purpose is to safeguard the U.S.-centric value system at the cost of the wellbeing of ordinary citizens. Hong Kong "activists" may have behaved differently if they were mature enough to see through U.S.' calculations and realize that U.S.-backed violence was to turn the previously prosperous and highly-civilized city into another Syria.
Such schemes will never succeed in China. The world's second-largest economy has the capability and determination to move forward against all sorts of disturbances. Hong Kong's future relies on China's development, which the U.S. bill has no impact on.
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