Whom do US politicians stand with?
On Tuesday, the US Senate passed the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019. The US politicians who proposed the bill said the move was to tell the so-called "Hong Kongers fighting for their long-cherished freedom" that "we continue to stand with you."
On the same day, more than 2 million yuan (US$284,135) was donated in the Chinese mainland to families of a 70-year-old sanitation worker killed by a brick thrown by these "freedom fighters," and a man who was critically injured after being doused in flammable liquid and set on fire.
The US politicians, who claimed to be concerned with Hong Kong people, did not utter a word of sympathy to the victims, nor did they openly condemn the perpetrators. Therefore, whom are they standing with?
The 70-year-old sanitation worker, surnamed Lo, was killed on his lunch break by brick-hurling rioters. Online footage showed him standing and facing the black-clad mob before being hit and falling to the ground.
The other victim, surnamed Lee, was set ablaze by rioters for simply having a different political view. He is still in critical condition with second-degree burns on half of his body. His chance of survival stands at about 30 percent.
Their right to subsistence, the most basic of rights, was deprived, not to mention other rights guaranteed to Hong Kong residents -- their rights to work, to go to school, to voice their opinions, especially different opinions, and to feel secure in a place that had always been one of the safest in the world.
Hong Kong people demand their rights and freedom from the rioters who, for five months, have vandalized shops, attacked police officers, blocked roads, torched mass transit railway stations, turned universities into strongholds and forced school classes to be suspended.
Even some Western media are beginning to change their attitude toward the rioters.
Broadsheet newspaper The Australian carried a front page article on Tuesday stating that "at any other time in Hong Kong, or in any other place, these people would be condemned as brutal thugs."
"The protesters are Hong Kong's enemy right now," it said.
However, the China hawks in Washington ignored and even distorted the fact that ordinary Hong Kong people's lives have been greatly endangered by the rioters, and portrayed the rioters as "heroic freedom fighters," even as the bloodthirsty rioters used sheer violence and celebrated the death of their victim.
In this way, these US politicians are standing against the Hong Kong people.
They are standing against the Hong Kong people because they fail to acknowledge their suffering. When many locals lost their jobs, and some were beaten with clubs and hammers, the US politicians turned a blind eye to their misery.
They are standing against the Hong Kong people because they embolden the rioters to be more violent. From meeting the separatist leaders and condemning the law-enforcing police officers to advocating the new bill, every move and gesture by those US politicians have been interpreted by the rioters as a sign of support, making them increasingly reckless.
They are standing against the Hong Kong people because they are using them as bargaining chips for their own purposes. It is no secret that some US politicians have always seen China as a threat and tried to "contain" its development. It is shameful that they, along with the rioters, have taken Hong Kong residents as their "hostages."
It is time for these US politicians to stop lying and pretending, and view Hong Kong realistically and objectively and not for their political gain and manipulation.
It is also time that the people of Hong Kong see through these US politicians' facades and realize who is really standing with them.
A number of people who donated for Lo and Lee left messages. "Hopefully peace will be restored soon in Hong Kong and no one will get hurt any more," one said. Another who donated with colleagues a total of 10,000 yuan said: "I want you to know that you are my compatriots, and we will always be with you."
