China’s state-run Global Times went to bat for the heavy-handed “national security law” Beijing is preparing to impose on Hong Kong with a …
China’s state-run Global Times went to bat for the heavy-handed “national security law” Beijing is preparing to impose on Hong Kong with a slew of editorials on Monday and Tuesday, denouncing criticism as fear-mongering and predicting Hong Kong would welcome the stability provided by a massive crackdown on protesters.
On Monday, the Global Times declared that critics of the law are a pack of hysterical fearmongers and probably on the payroll of hostile foreign governments like the United States to boot:
The Global Times asserted that a wide range of foreign entrepreneurs with interests in Hong Kong was absolutely thrilled that Beijing is preparing to silence and criminalize dissent, returning order to the streets.
For good measure, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) paper quoted former Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa delivering the most elementary defense of every authoritarian regime by insisting “there is no reason to be afraid of this new law if people are not taking part in acts such as splitting up the country, treason and subversion, organizing terrorist activities and colluding with foreign forces to interfere in the internal affairs.”
As for those businesses and governments who plan to leave Hong Kong or scuttle the special trade status it has long enjoyed as a semi-autonomous entity, managing director Hong Hao of BOCOM International cavalierly dismissed their concerns: “Those who are leaving are the ones you don’t want to keep.”
Another Global Times op-ed expanded on the theme that only “separatists” are worried about a law meant to ensure Hong Kong’s integrity as part of China, and what the “separatists” are really worried about is losing the support of their sinister foreign patrons, such as those troublemakers in Taiwan:
The useful “analysts” quoted by the Global Times hastened to assure Hong Kongers that Taiwan will abandon them as soon as their usefulness to President Tsai’s DPP party is ended.
