HK 'freedom' smearers double down: China Daily editorial

Whenever the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region authorities make moves to plug any legal and institutional loopholes, its remedial efforts are smeared by those in the SAR hoping to exploit them, as well as their foreign backers, as attacks on "freedom".

The latest example is the smearing of the HKSAR government's proposed package of legislation to update or create new laws to prohibit treason, sabotage, sedition, the theft of State secrets and espionage. An editorial The Washington Post published on Sunday, which accused the HKSAR government of doubling down on repression after it tabled the draft national security bill, being a case in point.

But as the open letter the spokesperson for the Commissioner's Office of the Foreign Ministry of China in the HKSAR addressed to the Editorial Board of The Washington Post on Tuesday said, it is the "ignorance and double standard on Hong Kong" the Washington Post has displayed in the editorial, rather than its well-pretended care for the SAR, that impress readers.

The Safeguarding National Security Bill, the long-awaited Article 23 of the Basic Law of the HKSAR, proposes tough sentences for acts of treason, insurrection, sabotage and mutiny, and "illegally disclosing State secrets", which accords with international practice and reflects the need for better tools to deal with espionage and the activities of foreign agents in the SAR.

Only those that find they will face harsher legal punishments for acts that threaten national security will lament the lost space for such activities.

The National Security Law, which has helped restore peace and stability in the SAR since its introduction in mid-2020, has made it extremely difficult for them to take advantage of social media and other platforms and channels to spread misinformation to mislead the public. It is understandable that they decry the fact that they will no longer be able to rely on their foreign patrons to be their mouthpieces as there are provisions in the proposed Article 23 legislation defining external forces and outlawing external interference.

That the punishments for those threatening national security in the SAR, the criteria of which will be clearly defined, will become more draconian is aimed at deterring prohibited activities. This reflects the fact that the previous penalties were too lenient to deter such wrongdoings. The short detainment and easy bail became badges of pride, if not tokens of merit, during the anti-government unrest in 2019, which the perpetrators then used to demand more from their overseas backers.

The US media outlets and rights groups, many of which are funded by the US government, that are decrying the passing of Article 23 as "a dangerous moment" for human rights were also those that echoed the sentiment of Nancy Pelosi, then speaker of the US House of Representatives, who praised the violence and chaos that the US and its allies orchestrated in the SAR before the central authorities introduced the National Security Law, as "a beautiful sight to behold".

And when the US imposed unilateral and politicized sanctions on Hong Kong, which still harm the SAR's interests and were widely opposed by the people in Hong Kong, these institutions, and their Hong Kong proxies, kept silent or even praised the move with Apple Daily's owner Jimmy Lai being portrayed as a martyr to their cause. Their hypocrisy on Hong Kong and whose interests they stand for are both self-evident.

The Washington Post barked up the wrong tree in pitying China "crushing" one of its greatest assets in connecting it with the world. What China is seeking to crush with the legislation work in Hong Kong is the "freedom" for anti-China forces in the HKSAR to engage in anti-China activities on Chinese soil.