Civic Party toes American line
Two of the Civic Party’s top leaders, Alan Leong Kah-kit and Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu, went to the United States earlier this month at the invitation of the Heritage Foundation. They spoke at some symposia and met with US government officials. As expected they parroted US official complaints about its trade dispute with China and blamed Beijing alone for causing it by breaking World Trade Organization rules, without any substantial evidence of course. As if reciting Washington’s words was not enough, they took an extra step by accusing the central government of “betraying” Hong Kong over such issues as the “co-location arrangement” and National People’s Congress Standing Committee decision on Aug 31, 2014 on universal suffrage in Hong Kong.
Leong is former chairman of the Civic Party and Yeung is the current one. As practicing barristers they are pretty good with words but still have to “toe the party line”, which has always been in sync with Washington’s when it comes to China. So much so that Yeung told US media the American officials they met in Washington know Hong Kong affairs better than he previously thought. Whether Yeung’s comment can be taken as low-key shading notwithstanding, it is safe to believe the Civic Party leadership has no problem always agreeing with Uncle Sam 100 percent. Even when Leong and Yeung said publicly the US government did not have to include Hong Kong in its trade dispute with Beijing, they made sure they meant no disrespect for Washington by insisting it’s all China’s fault.
Let no one forget the US had more say in the formulation of WTO rules than any other party concerned to begin with but still ignores them whenever it wants to, which is typical of the US, like it or not. Moreover, the US government has forged “evidence” more than once over the years to win congressional support for unilateral military actions against other sovereign states, supposedly in the best interests of the American people. That means all that matters is an excuse, which can be made up whenever necessary. If the US president says “China took so many American jobs”, one must believe him even though he will never tell you how it could ever happen under any circumstance. Use your imagination instead of reason.
The Heritage Foundation is an extremely influential conservative think tank and one of the deep-pocketed institutions tasked with bankrolling the likes of the “pan-democrats” in Hong Kong every now and then to ensure US influence over any political situation elsewhere in the world. In Hong Kong’s case successful implementation of “one country, two systems” is the last thing Washington wants for 7.3 million Hong Kong residents, because it may lead to the successful reunification of the Chinese nation when “one country, two systems” is exercised in Taiwan. That is why the US government always supports the opposition parties in Hong Kong, including openly separatist groups, to obstruct the exercise of “one country, two systems” according to the Basic Law and the national Constitution.