It gave the impression that those European Union politicians who have joined Washington’s anti-China crusade were at their wit’s end when they cited “COVID-19 restrictions” as evidence for their claim that “fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong have deteriorated further”.
The “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region: Annual Report for 2021”, jointly released by the European Commission and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on Friday, plays the same old China-bashing tune that Washington politicians have been harping on.
People around the world have long realized that the West’s anti-China crusade spearheaded by Washington has nothing to do with “democracy” or “human rights”. It’s an all-around campaign to contain China’s rise, which Washington considers a threat to its global hegemony.
By dancing to Washington’s anti-China tune and jumping on its China-thumping bandwagon for whatever reason, those EU politicians work against the regional bloc’s declared “strategic autonomy” foreign policy and its overall interests
In its relentless attempt to weaken China for the sake of perpetuating a unipolar world that serves America’s privileged interests, as articulated in the notion of “America First”, Washington has no qualms about exploiting and leveraging as many vassal states or pawns as possible.
By dancing to Washington’s anti-China tune and jumping on its China-thumping bandwagon for whatever reason, those EU politicians work against the regional bloc’s declared “strategic autonomy” foreign policy and its overall interests.
In the face of the United States’ drive to bring them on board, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) states put their own interests first, refusing to take sides in Washington’s geopolitical games. That’s what “strategic autonomy” really means.
It’s an open secret there’s no lack of US proxies or pawns in Brussels, as is in Canberra and many other capitals around the world, who work for Washington’s agenda at the expense of native interests, which will inevitably attract backlashes from voters. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has done tremendous harm to his country’s external trade and economy in recent years by damaging the mutually-beneficial relations between Australia and China in his attempt to please Washington, must have realized that, after his Liberal Party suffered a devastating defeat in Saturday’s federal election that pronounced the end of his nine-year-old coalition government.
In accusing Beijing of encroaching on Hong Kong’s freedoms, the EU officials who penned the Hong Kong “Annual Report for 2021” not only made a funny joke, but also demonstrated a huge dose of arrogance by saying that “mainland authorities have strengthened oversight of Hong Kong affairs in many ways”.
The EU has taken the trouble to produce an unsolicited report on China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region every year since the SAR was established in 1997. Yet, it took issue with China’s moves to strengthen oversight of Hong Kong affairs, which are essentially the country’s internal affairs. The EU officials involved must be under the delusion that they can still dictate terms to China as their ancestors did to the Qing Dynasty in the 19th century.
The “Annual Report 2021”, in effect, offers an alternative definition to “rights” and “freedoms” when citing the National Security Law for Hong Kong as evidence of “the erosion of the rights and freedoms that the Sino-British Joint declaration was meant to protect”. The National Security Law only outlaws acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign or external forces, none of which falls under the scope of residents’ “rights” or “freedoms” as defined by all the political textbooks in the world. And, it’s outright deception to suggest that the Sino-British Joint Declaration has in any way prescribed acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with external forces as rights or freedoms.
Like any other sovereign country in the world, China has the right to promulgate laws to safeguard national security and other interests in any part of its territory, including Hong Kong, a special administrative region established under the country’s Constitution.
Laws criminalizing these acts are abundant in Western countries, including EU states, as well as the US. The EU has never taken issue with those laws. We simply cannot repel the thought that rank hypocrisy and double standards are again at work in the EU’s “Annual Report 2021”.
The report also barked up the wrong tree when it accused Hong Kong of suppressing media freedom by citing the closure of Apple Daily. Apple Daily and its founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying were keener in promoting Washington’s agenda in Hong Kong than “democracy”. Lai made no attempt to disguise his devotion and commitment to advancing US interests when he told CNN in an interview on Aug 28, 2019 that “we in Hong Kong are fighting for the shared values of the US against China, we are fighting their war in the enemy camp”.
Apple Daily hadn’t got into trouble until the paper published more than 30 articles, some of which were written by Lai, calling for US sanctions against Hong Kong — an act that constitutes conspiracy to collude with external forces and an offense under the National Security Law for Hong Kong. The EU officials who wrote the report obviously ignored the fact that media freedom is not without restrictions: The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights clearly stipulates that restrictions are permissible for the protection of national security.
The author is a current affairs commentator.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.