Lam slams the double standards of West

HONG Kong’s leader yesterday criticized the “double standards” of foreign governments regarding national security, pointing to the current unrest in the United States as an example of how attitudes differ when protests hit home.

“We have recently seen these kind of double standards most clearly with the riots in the United States,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam said. “We can see how local authorities have reacted. But then last year when we had similar riots in Hong Kong, what was their position?”

The US, Britain and some other Western countries sharply criticized police crackdowns on riots in Hong Kong last year. Lam pointed to more recent criticism of China central government’s plans to impose national security laws on the city.

“They take their own country’s national security very seriously, but for the security of our country, especially the situation in Hong Kong, they are looking at it through tinted glasses,” she said.

Lam will lead a delegation of senior Hong Kong officials to Beijing today to present her views on the planned national security laws. The top officials for the justice and security departments, secretaries Teresa Cheng and John Lee, and police chief Chris Tang will join her.

“There is simply no justification whatsoever for any government, any economy, to impose sanctions on Hong Kong as a result of a very legitimate process of the central government,” she said, referencing US threats to restrict trade privileges.

(Agencies)