Lawmakers behind ridiculous bills seeking to acquire attention, political capital: experts
Behind US congressional bills interfering in other countries’ internal affairs are lawmakers who play an anti-China card and propose sensational bills to acquire attention and gain political capital.
Analysts noted such meaningless bills reflected the hubris of a declining hegemonic power and that the traditional anti-China card is played more frequently in the election year.
Republican lawmaker Scott Perry, who introduced the bill in the Congress to recognize Tibet Autonomous Region as an “independent nation” and a similar bill regarding Hong Kong, showed an overt double standard on his social media when talking about protests and riots in Hong Kong last year and the ongoing protests in the US.
Perry referred to the riots in Hong Kong, where black-clad rioters burned innocent passers-by in addition to committing arson and vandalism, as “pro-democracy” while dismissing domestic protests against police brutality as riots and violence.
Perry, a Republican, also voiced support for US President Donald Trump’s decision to terminate funding for the WHO, which was widely criticized by the international community as an irresponsible unilateral move. Perry claimed the decision was made due to the WHO’s “failure in COVID-19 response.”
Ted Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas, who ran for president in 2016, introduced a bill asking to restrict federal government assistance for studios that alter their movies to enter the Chinese market. Analysts said that the bill was actually a political declaration rather than of any real impact on the industry.
Cruz had earlier called US news outlet NBC a subsidiary of Chinese government after a reporter said China is doing better than the US in cooperating internationally amid the pandemic.
Such attack on a reporter’s words only further exposed the Republican clique were ashamed over the US’ total failure in handling the pandemic, analysts said.
Cruz, similar to Perry, maintains double standards on Hong Kong affairs and the anti-racism protests in the US as he referred to protesters in Minnesota as the “American Taliban” and urged rigid actions against them despite calling Hong Kong protesters freedom fighters in disregard to the last year’s rioters that smashed shops, beat passers-by and set fire to public facilities and private properties.
Yuan Zheng, a research fellow with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that US congress members bring about a large amount of domestic “rubbish bills” attacking China.
Such anti-China proposals showed congress members, Democratic or Republican, tend to display their harsh attitude towards China ahead of elections to grab attention and gain political interests.
The trend is heightened due to bilateral rows over the past months and the upcoming election, Yuan said, noting they would rather draft eye-catching bills than solve real social problems at home.
Yuan noted these bills have no actual effect on China as few of them will obtain enough attention or get discussed at the congress. But this phenomenon reflected some congressmen’s arrogance and ignorance of China and how the US, a hegemonic power, is so used to pointing fingers at other countries’ internal affairs when its influence is in decline.