Pro-Trump supporters storm the US Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Trump supporters gathered in the nation's capital to protest the ratification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory over President Trump in the 2020 election. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images/VCG

Some US elites have a shameless double standard when dealing with forces threatening national security. They condemn and even sentence those who incite violence in the US to long prison terms, but when it comes to anti-China disruptors, they spare no effort to defend them.

A US federal jury on Tuesday found two members of the far-right organization Oath Keepers, including founder Stewart Rhodes, guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The two are expected to face the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

According to The New York Times, seditious conspiracy is the most serious charge leveled against January 6 rioters. Experts told the Global Times that the verdict confirms for the first time that there was a conspiracy to undermine or even subvert the regime in the Capitol riots. The sedition convictions have a positive effect on maintaining US national security and social stability, intending to deter and curb the violent impulses of extreme right-wing forces that tend to turn to violence to express their political demands.

The Capitol riots have severely traumatized the already unstable US politics and society, making Americans distinctly feel the dangers of violent confrontation and realize the importance of national stability. However, when talking about the recent high-profile trial of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, an instigator of the Hong Kong riots in 2019, some US forces have portrayed Lai as a "fighter for democracy." For example, a Washington Post editorial on Tuesday said Hong Kong's right to freedom of expression and association will be "in the dock" with Lai. 

All governments, including that of China and the US, firmly oppose inciting riots and violence in their country. But when it comes to China, some forces in the US suddenly lose common sense. Waving the banner of human rights, they turn a blind eye to the secessionist behavior of these "fighters."

This reveals the hypocrisy of some US elites regarding internal and external affairs. When there is an attack on the US Capitol, it is a seditious conspiracy and a danger to US national security. However, when a similar situation occurs in Hong Kong, it is about democratic expression and protecting freedom of speech.

Such hypocritical behavior originates from the hysteria in Washington's strategy toward Beijing. The US political elites have positioned China as the strategic competitor that poses the greatest threat to their country. Now all they can think about is how to engage in a confrontation with China and win it.

This means they support all voices and forces that could smear and undermine China's development. In their eyes, anything that could create unrest in China should be encouraged. They wish for more opposition forces in China that the country's rule of law cannot constrain. Therefore, these elites try to rationalize all the behaviors of the Hong Kong rioters.

Some US elites fantasize about making Hong Kong a model for promoting "color revolutions" in other parts of China, weakening the power of the central government and ultimately achieving the Westernization, or to be more specific, Americanization, of the Chinese system.

But with the strong implementation of the National Security Law for Hong Kong, the fantasy of these US forces was shattered. They should now realize that they cannot fight against justice, nor can they change the destiny of Lai, who incited secession and violence to destabilize Hong Kong. He deserves whatever conviction to come. Every time they speak out in support of Lai, these forces only further expose their hypocrisy on the issue of protecting national security and reveal how ugly their true colors are.