US Senators shame themselves passing legislation on Hong Kong: China Daily editorial

The US Senate passed the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 on Tuesday. The legislation claims to be aimed at "protecting human rights in Hong Kong amid China's crackdown on a pro-democracy protest movement that has gripped the vital financial center for months".

Such legislation, if it is really in support of human rights and democracy in Hong Kong, would show concern for how the city has been almost paralyzed by the actions of the rioters and how the rioters have intimidated innocent people and damaged the social order.

If the US senators had any real understanding of human rights they would have empathy for innocent Hong Kong residents whose normal lives have been seriously disrupted, they would understand that what the Hong Kong police has done is no different from what its Western counterparts would do in such circumstances. Instead, the US senators ignore the intimidation of ordinary residents and describe the police actions as a "crackdown", a word which they have never used to describe similar actions by the police in the United States.

That explains why it is ridiculous and irrational for the US Senate to pass, also unanimously, a second bill, that would ban exports of tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and stun guns, to the Hong Kong police.

By passing such legislation, the US senators have made clear that vandalizing public facilities and even attacking innocent people is acceptable as long as they can justify it as being in the name of freedom and democracy.

Human rights, freedom and democracy are convenient labels US politicians pick up whenever they wish to point their accusing fingers at other countries. But in their hands, these are malleable concepts that can be employed to justify any intervention in another country's affairs.

By passing such legislation, they have not only brazenly interfered in the domestic affairs of China, they have also contaminated the ideas of human rights and democracy.

By pointing accusing fingers at Hong Kong with such labels to whitewash and support the criminals in Hong Kong, the "malicious and evil intentions" of the US senators are obvious, as China's top political advisory body said on Wednesday.

But the attempts by the anti-China elements in the US and elsewhere to destabilize Hong Kong will be to no avail, and their hopes that the unrest will spread to other parts of the country will not come to fruition. The nation is united in its support of the SAR government's efforts to bring the rioters to justice and in opposition to those who are trying to use the unrest to put pressure on the country in a bid to contain its development.

The Chinese people know it is they who hold the future of the country in their hands, not the US senators.