By Tian Feilong
The ongoing illegal protests in Hong Kong have challenged the bottom line of the "one country, two systems" principle, harmed the city's rule of law, business environment, international financial center status, and the city's ties with the mainland.
However, some people are trying to ratchet up the pressure to force Hong Kong police to give up protecting the rule of law and Hongkongers.
For example, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Senator Marco Rubio have constantly voiced their support for the Hong Kong protesters, tried to interfere with China's domestic affairs. On June 10, the US State Department even threatened to revoke Hong Kong's separate customs territory status. It is such interference that is the source of chaos in Hong Kong.
US politicians have suspected the legitimacy of the Hong Kong police's actions. As always, they have applied double standards. Compared with the police forces in New York and London during the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy London movements in 2011, Hong Kong police have used minimal force. Their response was guided by law and aimed at protecting the people.
The violence by protesters cannot be justified on legal grounds. US politicians have been talking through their hats to meet their agenda and are completely ignorant of the law. They avoid discussing the force that US police have used in previous protests and they know nothing about the Basic Law and the Public Order Ordinance of Hong Kong.
Such interference has not only been limited to rhetoric. The US has been trying to trigger a color revolution in Hong Kong. The interference is systematic.
First, the US has been trying to replace international law with its domestic laws, such as the Hong Kong Policy Act that the US enacted in 1992, in an attempt to interfere with Hong Kong.
Second, the US has been exporting its values and ideology to the city, infiltrating Hong Kong's general education, media system, elite networks, and young people's spirit.
Third, the US has been training and helping key members of Hong Kong's social movement.
Fourth, the US has been interacting with activists who support Hong Kong independence, Taiwan independence, Tibet independence, and Xinjiang independence to form an anti-China front.
Fifth, the US has been attacking the authority and popularity of the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), so as to foster populism and paralyze Hong Kong's rule of law.
Continued interference from the US has harmed Hong Kong society and young people's mental state.
Many young people do not have a clear understanding of Hong Kong's politics and law and tend to misread social problems and their own condition. Such a phenomenon is rooted in how the US misleads others on the idea of democracy.
The US has been abusing its soft democratic power and global influence while creating turmoil in many countries and regions. Now, it is trying to mess up Hong Kong, promote a color revolution, and sabotage China's sovereignty and development interests.
However, such political interference is doomed to fail. A color revolution can never succeed in Hong Kong. The city is only a special administrative region of China. It has no sovereignty or any condition to be independent. China has maintained its sovereignty under the "one country, two systems" principle. The recent chaos could weigh down China's national development and rejuvenation, but it will never end the "one country, two systems" principle.
The author is associate professor at Beihang University in Beijing and member of Beijing-based Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies.
