HK still in Washington's crosshair: China Daily editorial

The so-called 2024 Hong Kong Policy Act Report released by the State Department of the United States on Friday is the latest testimony to the extent to which the US government is willing to call white black regarding Hong Kong affairs.

The series of actions the US has taken regarding Hong Kong, including passing Hong Kong-related bills and carrying out baseless sanctions on the city and related individuals, expose the US government's disrespect to international laws, and constitute grave infringements on China's sovereignty, territorial integrity and core interests.

The affairs of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region are China's internal affairs that no foreign country has any legal ground to interfere with. The claim to be protecting Hong Kong's "freedom" and "human rights" is only a disguise for the US to cover up the true purpose of its interventions. The US has never stopped seeking to take advantage of the loopholes in the law and electoral and educational regulations to develop its own proxies in the SAR and help them infiltrate into the legislative, administrative and educational systems of the city turning it into a bridgehead to facilitate the US' China-containment strategy.

However, the social chaos that the US has orchestrated in 2019 in the SAR, a climax of the US' underhand actions for that purpose, proved only to be a disaster for the freedom and human rights conditions of local residents. The orchestrated turmoil served to awaken the Hong Kong people to the ulterior motives of the US when it comes to their hometown, prompting them to take concrete actions to plug the aforementioned loopholes so as to better safeguard the peace and stability of the city.

These actions, be it the making and enforcement of the law on safeguarding national security in the SAR or the reform of Hong Kong's electoral, administrative and educational systems, achieved instant results, thanks to the strong support of the Hong Kong people and the central authorities. The introduction of the national security law has effectively deterred the US proxies from sabotaging public order in the SAR. The reforms that center on implementing the principle of "only patriots govern Hong Kong" have made it theoretically impossible for the US-controlled puppets to infiltrate into the SAR's legislative bodies, government departments and schools at various levels.

That explains why the 2024 Hong Kong Policy Act Report points a blaming finger at the law and these reforms, exposing the fact that the US' interest related to Hong Kong goes against that of the Hong Kong people. The report highlights that the US government's attention on Hong Kong is purely motivated by what it hopes to achieve by meddling in Hong Kong's affairs, which is nothing but a "color revolution". The report therefore serves to reinforce the necessity of the moves by the central and Hong Kong authorities.

Take the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance that just came into force last month for example. The ordinance balances the maintenance of national security with the protection of rights, freedoms and economic development. It draws on the legislative experience of other countries, respects and protects human rights, and clearly defines the criteria of crimes. It effectively protects normal business activities and foreign institutions from becoming embroiled in the US' schemes.

The US' double standard is evident in the report's criticism of Hong Kong using "'national security' as a broad and vague basis to undermine the rule of law and protected rights and freedoms", while the US' own national security system can only be described as giving the authorities a free hand to do as they please, with a large number of laws that are applied extraterritorially.

Despite the smearing and sanctions of the US, as the report itself indicates, an estimated 84,000 US citizens lived in Hong Kong last year. The number has "rebounded to approximately the same number" as before the COVID-19 pandemic. That shows the SAR has not lost its appeal to US citizens and businesses.