Washington, thy other name is hypocrisy: China Daily editorial

The United States always has its hands full trying to force its laws and values upon other countries and, if resisted, to impose sanctions on them. But as usual, it has failed with its filthy trick in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by openly supporting the violent demonstrators and introducing the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act" in Congress.

So now it is trying to extend its dirty hands into the Tibet autonomous region, by unveiling a new bill that would prohibit Beijing from opening any new consulates on US soil until Washington is permitted to establish its own diplomatic office in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet autonomous region. And all in the name of human rights protection.

As is its wont, Washington cannot bear to see peace and stability anywhere, except within its borders, for it has mastered the art of fishing in troubled waters. No wonder the bill also has provisions for the US taking punitive action against any Chinese officials who "interfere" in the Dalai Lama's succession. Which should make it clear the real purpose of the bill is to prevent the Chinese central government from using its authority to approve the successor to the octogenarian Dalai Lama after he dies.

Perhaps US lawmakers, especially Massachusetts Democrat James McGovern who introduced the bill in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, and Florida Republican Marco Rubio who has been screaming his head off in support of the Hong Kong demonstrators, have forgotten that Tibet is an inseparable part of China, a fact the US, too, recognizes. As such, any attempt to interfere in Tibet's affairs would be a violation of China's sovereignty.

More important, supporting the Dalai Lama is like mollycoddling a separatist, for his activities over the past decades to split Tibet from China make him exactly that. The economic development and social progress Tibetans have been enjoying fly in the face of the US congressmen, who without any knowledge about the region, have been beating their democracy and human rights drum.

In keeping up with the US' practice of poking its nose into other countries' matters, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi welcomed Hong Kong protesters on Wednesday. She even thanked them for unleashing violence and holding the city to ransom, and warned the US administration not to allow commercial interests to drive foreign policy in the region.

The double standard resorted to by the self-proclaimed guardians of human rights becomes even more evident when they applaud rioters in other countries and deal with protesters in their own country with an iron hand.

Have American values also come to mean hypocrisy?