How the mighty US is a bully on the back of little Hong Kong

South China Morning Post

Washington’s plan to ban Hong Kong’s leader from the Apec summit is a textbook case of bullying by the US under the pretext of human rights, argues Post managing editor Yonden Lhatoo.

Transcript

00:00 So, the US government intends to ban Hong Kong's leader from the APEC summit in San

00:04 Francisco.

00:05 Let me put this nonsense into perspective for you.

00:13 This ridiculous farce harks back to 2020, when the US government put John Lee and several

00:18 other Hong Kong officials on its sanctimonious sanctions list.

00:21 The self-appointed sheriff of the world and supreme authority on what laws any country

00:25 can and can't have wanted to make a show of punishing these individuals over whom it has

00:31 zero authority or jurisdiction.

00:33 They were singled out for their role in implementing and enforcing the national security law that

00:38 Beijing imposed on Hong Kong following the anti-government, anti-China protest chaos

00:43 that consumed the city in 2019.

00:45 Lee, now Hong Kong's chief executive, was the top official in charge of security back

00:50 then and thus identified by the high priests of hypocrisy in Washington as a human rights

00:55 violator in need of American frontier justice for his brutal crackdown on the protest movement.

01:01 Fun fact, not a single person was killed by police despite well over a year of rioting,

01:07 mob violence and anarchy on the streets in the name of democracy.

01:11 How many Americans died in protests and political unrest the same year they sanctioned Lee?

01:15 Just google it.

01:17 Fast forward to the present day and now, in a fit of infantile pettiness and sheer spite,

01:22 the US government wants to shut Lee out of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum

01:26 to be held in San Francisco in November.

01:29 The utterly false narrative that Washington and its ever-compliant Anglo-Saxon vassal

01:33 states are peddling is that John Lee is some kind of tin-pot tyrant running a bloodthirsty

01:38 regime here.

01:40 All of us poor natives are hiding in our homes, living in terror of police batons and bullets

01:45 apparently.

01:46 Seriously, have you been to Hong Kong lately?

01:48 Let's compare John Lee's murderous track record with those of American leaders and

01:52 may the best man win.

01:54 According to the latest research by Brown University, a hallowed US institution, the

01:59 wars waged by Washington and fueled by its interventionist policies over the past two

02:03 decades alone have left at least 4.5 million people dead.

02:09 Think about that number.

02:10 4.5 million dead across Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen.

02:16 And we're still counting the cost today.

02:19 According to the same research, 7.6 million children aged below 5 in these countries are

02:24 starving as we speak.

02:27 Is anyone holding American leaders to account?

02:29 Anyone sanctioning them for this modern-day genocide?

02:32 You know what's happening here, right?

02:34 Hong Kong is collateral damage, an easy target for the US as it seeks to undermine China

02:39 in every way it can.

02:41 So Hong Kong is being bullied.

02:43 That's why the US consulate here, instead of engaging in diplomacy and making rather

02:48 than breaking local connections, feels entitled to abuse the city's hospitality.

02:53 One example of that is how the consulate lights candles at its windows every year on the anniversary

02:58 of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

03:00 This blatant departure from diplomatic protocol could perhaps be justified if it were driven

03:05 by genuine mourning for the victims or concern that many Hong Kongers can no longer hold

03:10 their annual candlelight vigils as a consequence of 2019.

03:13 But no, it's just pure American theatre, as if they care a hoot up in Washington about

03:19 Chinese lives when they're like, whatever, about the blood of 4.5 million people on their

03:24 hands.

03:25 You know what's the best way to get a bully off your back?

03:27 By standing up to them.

03:29 Or, better still, giving them a taste of their own medicine.

03:33 For starters, Hong Kong authorities should hold tit-for-tat candlelight vigils for every

03:37 major atrocity the US government has perpetrated since 1989.

03:41 No need to be petty and go back any further in modern history, but I'll bet we have so

03:45 many anniversaries that we run out of candles.

03:48 Let's see how they like them apples.

03:50 [Music]

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