US politicians blind to their hypocrisy: China Daily editorial

The latest stunt of Washington politicians to smear and embarrass China demonstrates both self-deceiving arrogance and a contempt for decency, reason and the fundamental principles governing international relations.

The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the so-called Hong Kong People's Freedom and Choice Act that allows Hong Kong residents to live and work in the United States as a form of "humanitarian relief".

US military interventions in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, under different pretexts, have resulted in the outflow of millions of refugees from those countries. Thousands of them have died fleeing their war-torn homelands, while others, after enduring unimaginable suffering, are waiting in refugee camps for a transition to a suitable place to settle down.

Washington politicians see no moral obligation at all to pass a bill extending "humanitarian relief" to help these people. How can the indifference toward these genuine refugees tally with the consideration Washington politicians are extending to Hong Kong residents?

Washington politicians claim the Act will allow Hong Kong residents who have been "targeted for exercising their democratic freedoms" to seek refuge in the US. Yet the fact is, no government action or law has targeted ordinary Hong Kong residents, only subversives and traitors who collude with their foreign sponsors in pursuing political agendas undermining China's interests, including those of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The promulgation of a national security law in Hong Kong criminalizing acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with external forces and the recent disqualification of four Hong Kong lawmakers who had openly lobbied for and succeeded in securing foreign interference in Hong Kong affairs, including "sanctions" on Hong Kong SAR and government officials, are legitimate actions to safeguard Hong Kong's stability and the implementation of "one country, two systems".

The "black-shirt" rioters turned Hong Kong upside down in the second half of last year; going on the rampages, trampling on the civil rights of those residents who do not agree with them, challenging China's sovereignty over the special administrative region and undermining its national interests. The introduction of a national security law was imperative to safeguard China's national interests and Hong Kong people's well-being by stopping such insanity.

Washington politicians have demonstrated their hypocrisy in their hysterical attacks on the new law. The US has enacted numerous such laws to protect its own interests, especially after the terrorist attacks on Sept 11, 2001.

Washington politicians' obsession with interfering in Hong Kong affairs has nothing to do with democracy, freedom or civil rights, but rather their ideological bigotry as well as their unwarranted fear that a stronger China might rob the US of its global hegemony.