Travel warnings display US hypocrisy: China Daily editorial

The United States issued an advisory on Wednesday warning US citizens traveling to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region about their personal safety in view of the ongoing demonstrations, which have turned increasingly nasty.

The move is not only an attempt to inflict further damage on the city's economy already seriously troubled by the disturbances. It is also a blatant example of US hypocrisy, since the trouble makers have been receiving leadership and support from it.

The US diplomatic corps in the SAR has not even bothered to conceal its attempts to meddle in the SAR's affairs. The Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the SAR complained to senior officials of the US Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macao on Thursday about their contacting Hong Kong separatist leaders.

More important, US leaders such as Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have given their blessings more than once to the demonstrators over the past two months, and congressional leaders obsessed with demonizing and antagonizing China have been pushing for politically motivated legislation to encourage the insurrectionists in Hong Kong.

That the US knows the demonstrators are acting illegally is clearly revealed in the advisory, which states the protests and confrontations have spilled over into neighborhoods other than those where the police have permitted marches or rallies.

For US politicians to be endorsing and advocating unlawful and violent behavior in another country is unfortunately now the norm, but that does not make it any less nefarious in design and nature.

Since the storming of the Legislative Council Complex in June, acts of violence have taken place in almost all popular tourist spots and busy shopping districts, scaring away foreign visitors and local consumers alike. The latest figures show a marked drop in the number of visitors, hotel occupancy and retail business spraying salt on the SAR's faltering economy.

The demonstrators are certainly aware of the consequences of their lawbreaking as they have been handing out pamphlets to tourists ahead of planned demonstrations at the airport, requesting they be excused for creating "a broken, torn-apart city".

No doubt an economic and governance crisis in the city is what the masterminds have hoped to cause as a result of the violent protests and the US-China trade conflict.

However, the central government has reiterated its determination to help the SAR government restore law and order in the city. It will not allow the unrest to continue.