The US Senate introduced the bipartisan Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act on Thursday, while the House of Representatives' bill is expected to be approved on Friday. The act requires the US government to reaffirm Hong Kong's autonomy, human rights and democracy every year, and re-evaluate whether Hong Kong warrants a special status as a separate customs territory by Washington.
In other words, the current China-US tariff war has no direct impact on Hong Kong unless the region is stripped of separate customs territory treatment.
The US Congress' insidious act is to turn Hong Kong into a new tool to add pressure on the Chinese mainland. Meanwhile, the US is trying to incite complaints among Hong Kong residents against the mainland and create a fake impression that Beijing is threatening Hong Kong's special status. Washington is inflaming Hong Kong's situation.
Some Western politicians have never really thought of Hong Kong's welfare since its return to the motherland. As a child of China, Hong Kong was like being forced to be adopted, or abducted, by others. When the child was returned to its birth parents, what should people do if they really care about the child?
First, give the child good conditions. The UK may have had such an intention during its negotiations with China over the return of Hong Kong, although what it really cared about was maintaining its interests in Hong Kong. To some extent, the "one country, two systems" policy considered Hong Kong's experience of being adopted, and the Basic Law endowed Hong Kong with much better democratic conditions than the so-called democracy during British rule. Hong Kong's British governors were sent by the UK, but today Hong Kong's chief executive is elected according to the law.
Second, if Western countries regard themselves as Hong Kong's then adoptive parents, they should tell the child to get along well with its birth parents and adapt to the new environment, if they really love the child.
But the UK had been trying to sabotage Hong Kong's relations with its motherland. The last British governor of Hong Kong Christopher Patten created a series of incidents to incite Hong Kong's confrontation with the mainland when he left the region. After Hong Kong's return, the US continued to interfere in Hong Kong's affairs. This shows their dark mindset: If Hong Kong does not belong to the West, turn it into China's problem.
The US Congress has created a systematic threat to cancel Hong Kong's separate customs territory status, and this is like using a baby to threaten the parent: Promise me my conditions or I'll drop the baby. The US is ruining Hong Kong and is trying to make the mainland look cold-hearted.
Hong Kong's interests are tied to the mainland. We expect Hong Kong's promising future and feel hurt to see the disturbance. But US politicians will do anything to worsen Hong Kong's condition.
The global situation is changing profoundly. The US now regards China as its major strategic rival, so how can it be in the mood to care about Hong Kong's welfare? It only wants to use the region to restrain China. If people of Hong Kong are not vigilant against this, they will fall into the US trap as pawns.
It's time for Hong Kong and the mainland to unite in opposition to US strategic plots and manipulation. We should together maintain Hong Kong's prosperity, which concerns the interests of Hongkongers as well as the whole country.
Hong Kong compatriots, please do not fall in Western elites' trap and be abducted by the few radical opposition forces. The mainland and Hong Kong are family. Facing international upheavals, we have no choice but to unite like a fortress.
