Dirty hands, hypocrisy US specialties: China Daily editorial

Despite its claims that it is playing no part in the ongoing chaos in Hong Kong, the United States continues to reveal its dirty hands.

In a joint statement eulogizing the violence, US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel and Lead Republican Michael McCaul on Saturday, urged the government of the special administrative region "to act swiftly to stop the use of excessive force against protesters" and "to immediately release those who have been detained on politically motivated charges".

Turning a blind eye to the violence and vandalism of the protestors, they praised the rioters for their "admirable resolve to express their concerns". It sounds as if they are trying to instigate more violence in Hong Kong.

No wonder the spokesperson for the Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Sunday said such remarks had "malicious intent". And that those without any ulterior motive would despise the "double standards and the shameless logic of bandits" displayed by US politicians such as Engel and McCaul.

Their biased perspective was evident over the weekend, as protesters once again hurled gasoline bombs at government buildings and assaulted police officers with bricks and iron poles. And despite the court injunction to prevent people from hindering the operations of the airport and mass transit railway, rioters blocked the roads and set fires in the vicinity of the airport, causing the cancellation of many flights, and vandalized MTR stations, leading to the suspension of services on several lines.

In any civilized society ruled by law, such extreme violence will draw condemnation in the strongest terms. It is deceitful of some US politicians to continue to cheer the extremists while pretending their country does not have "black hands" stirring up the trouble in the SAR. Their judgment is based on a blind desire to do harm to Beijing than any exercising of reason.

As Hong Kong is facing a critical moment between restoring the rule of law — the very foundation of the city's stability and prosperity — and the risk of being plunged into the abyss of chaos, any attempt to condone violence is conniving with perpetrators.

The baseness of those US politicians inciting criminal acts in the SAR is degrading. The extreme violence has lasted for almost three months, causing serious damage to the economy, Hong Kong society and people's livelihoods, yet still these supposed supporters of freedom of expression and democracy applaud the extremists and rioters for using violence to deny these to the majority of residents in Hong Kong.