Devaluing HK election outrightly hypocritical: China Daily editorial

It will have surprised few that the United States and its Five Eyes allies expressed "concern" over the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's first legislative election held on Sunday under its revamped electoral system given Hong Kong has assumed a prominent position in Washington's China-bashing campaign.

Having decided to treat China as its major strategic rival, the US has sought to bring dishonor on China's policies in Hong Kong, as well as Xinjiang, Taiwan and South China Sea, by continually debasing them for being "authoritarian", "repressive" and "undemocratic".

While it is to be expected that the other Five Eyes members would be willing to sing the same song as Washington in its crusade to portray Beijing as being unprincipled. It is disappointing and bewildering that other members of the G7 group have lent their names to such an unseemly and unjust cause. It reflects badly on the G7 members that they should take issue with Hong Kong's new Legislative Council election process claiming an "erosion of democracy" in the SAR, when in fact the reverse is true.

The fact is, democracy has advanced by leaps and bounds in Hong Kong since its return to China in 1997, and the latest amendments further advance the SAR's democratic progress under the framework of "one country, two systems".

Hong Kong's revamped electoral system has not only kept the subversives at bay; but enhanced inclusive governance in the SAR, as evidenced by the diverse mix of Sunday's election winners who represent a broader social strata than ever before. It is a crass and calculated move by those subversives lamenting the closing of the loopholes that allowed them an entry into the SAR's legislative body to denigrate the new election process.

Even by the West's standards, the Five Eyes' mentioning of "our shared wish to see Hong Kong succeed" in their joint statement is startlingly hypocritical. They did not utter a single word to condemn the black-clad rioters when the latter attacked civilians, police officers, the mass transit system, businesses, the legislature chamber, court buildings and even the Central People's Government's liaison office in the HKSAR with petrol bombs and other weapons during the 2019 riots. Rather, the riot scenes were hailed as "a beautiful sight to behold".

Hong Kong's revamped electoral system, which has ensured the new legislature has said farewell to the dysfunction caused by subversive members and can now play its intended role, should be garnering praise from any who claim to care about Hong Kong people's well-being.

But as Washington's newly announced "sanction" measures against five Hong Kong-based Chinese officials shows, the US and its fellow travelers care not a jot about Hong Kong and its residents.