Even subversion is a rights issue for Western media

Also, he assigned his accomplices to participate in conventions and training programs of exiled separatists from the Xinjiang and Tibet autonomous regions, as well as some Western countries to ensure the "smooth reorganization" of the country in the future through "a color revolution".

Still, most Western media outlets describe Hu and his colleagues as "government critics" and "people who dared to challenge the Party".

No, Hu's moves were not about human rights, they were about compromising state security and stability. China has many government critics, and the government has never stopped learning from their constructive criticisms. That's an important reason why China has solved one problem after another during its peaceful rise.

In contrast, the countries that experienced or were forced to undergo "color revolutions" a few years ago－a phenomenon the West zealously praised－are suffering from public unrest and chaos today.

Like any other country, China has every reason to deal with the grave crime of subversion in accordance with the law. And it is China's internal matter which no outside force has the right to interfere in.

A Western news agency even said, "Zhai (an accomplice of Hu) was on Tuesday handed a three-year suspended sentence ... for crimes that included waving banners and shouting slogans." Such out-of-context reporting is irresponsible, because they deliberately focused on things like "waving banners and shouting slogans" without considering the case in its entirety.

In fact, some Western reporters didn't even bother to go to the news center in the hotel near the court, because they assumed they would not get any "valuable information" there. They sent their Chinese assistants, instead, to follow the live broadcast while they were chatting leisurely in the lobby. Only after the assistants told them that information in plenty was available there did they go to the news center.

Given that they had to travel to Tianjin to cover the case, it is not difficult to imagine how much more imagination and assumption they would have inserted in their reports had their assistants not warned them about the facts.

The author is a writer with China Daily. liyang@chinadaily.com.cn