Photo: VCG/Xinhua

There is a group of academic elites in the US who have kept a close watch on the situation in Hong Kong. These so-called scholars insist on the supremacy of their Western values and refuse to acknowledge the fact that China's system is more suitable to its current situation - particularly after China repeatedly dismissed their conspiracy theories on it. They feel discomfort and try to vent their anger. 

Since US President Donald Trump had threatened to veto the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights Democracy Act, they came out to voice their support for the bill and condemned their democratically elected president for failing the city. 

Christian Whiton, a senior fellow at the Center for the National Interest and former adviser to the Trump administration, said on Friday that it would be foolish if Trump does not sign the bill. 

This shows people coming from behind the scene to the stage. In the 1920s, Edward Bernays, who is widely regarded as father of public relations and propaganda, outlined how to control what people think. His theory was believed to be the origin of the "color revolution" concept. Some American scholars may have followed Bernays' theory and played an important role in the current Hong Kong unrest. 

These people have taken Hong Kong and Taiwan as "fortresses" and "experiment fields" of democracy. Together with Washington, they use the two places as leverage to contain China, and infiltrate education and social groups of Hong Kong with their thinking and values. 

Some US academic institutions and foundations, such as the Washington DC-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED), regard Hong Kong as a laboratory and have done so-called experiments, in addition to funding local organizations to preserve so-called democratic rights - in line with the protests - and help organize training seminars for scholars, lawyers and civil servants.

For instance, the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions - the city's second-largest labor group that supported the "umbrella movement" in 2014 - has reportedly received donations from the NED worth about $2 million in the past two decades.

According to a conference paper issued by the Boston-based think tank National Bureau of Economic Research in June, some researchers have "indirectly incentivized" Hong Kong university students to participate in the July 1 marches in 2017 and 2018 for "scientific purposes," and paid them up to HK$ 350 ($45) for individual surveys. Nearly 850 subjects completed all four study waves.

The escalating violence in the city excited these US elites and also worried them. They were excited to see their anticipated so-called democratic movement taking place in Hong Kong. 

In the meantime, however, they were worried they would miss the precious chance to advocate their political ideas and actively support the US government while violating international norms by intervening in China's domestic affairs. 

As the unrest escalates in Hong Kong, they have completely removed their academic veneer and showed their true anti-China intentions. We have become clearer about what they are really up to. But as it had happened several times in the past, their evil intentions will eventually collapse amid China's steady pace forward.