The Chinese people will never succumb to any external threat

Editor's Note: The following article is taken from the Chinese-language "Commentaries on International Affairs." The article does not necessarily reflect the views of CGTN.

China will not yield to any external threat and is ready to counteract US intervention in Hong Kong affairs.

Over the past five months in Hong Kong, what began as peaceful protests rapidly escalated into wide-scale violence. Masked protesters have smashed up private businesses, erected roadblocks to paralyze traffic, set fire to subway stations, and attacked police with bricks, petrol bombs, knives, and even bows and arrows.

In the past three weeks alone, a man was left fighting for his life after he was doused in flammable liquid and set on fire by protesters, and a 70-year-old died after being hit in the head by a brick thrown by a protester. It is into this chaos that the United States has tried to impose itself by passing the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019.

This legislation undermines Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, interferes with the successful implementation of the "One country, Two systems" principle, and acts as a roadblock to the restoration of peace on the city's streets.

The United States has a history of trying to bend the affairs of Hong Kong to its advantage. In the 30 years from 1984 to 2014, the U.S. Congress proposed more than 60 bills involving Hong Kong. In 2011, WikiLeaks disclosed a message from the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong showing that the United States had repeatedly tried to sway opinions about Hong Kong's affairs and that it had frequently met with local opposition figures.

There's evidence that suggests the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy provided funding in support of the 2014 Occupy Central demonstrations. And as fires burned in the streets of Hong Kong in recent months, politicians in Washington met with people well-known as voices calling for Hong Kong to be split off from China.

In the 22 years since Hong Kong returned to China, with the support of the central government and the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong has successfully resisted external shocks such as the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2008 global recession. The city has maintained its prosperity and stability through these storms, and it will weather the challenges Washington throws its way using the Hong Kong legislation that was signed this week.

The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the central government in Beijing will continue to safeguard China's sovereignty and security in the face of Washington's attempts to interfere in Hong Kong's affairs. And the Chinese people remain determined to ensure that Hong Kong can continue to enjoy growing prosperity and opportunity.