Uphold the rule of law, implement ‘One Country, Two Systems’
Recently, many Kuwaiti friends have asked me what happened in Hong Kong. For many Kuwaitis, Hong Kong is one of the most familiar cities in China, for it is well known as “the Pearl of the Orient” with good social order and economic freedom, a fashion capital and a shopping paradise. However, the recent riots in Hong Kong have shocked and worried many people. What happened in Hong Kong? I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the current situation to my Kuwaiti friends.
The incident stemmed from a simple criminal case. A Hong Kong resident was suspected of murder in Taiwan, and fleeing back to Hong Kong. Since the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government has no jurisdiction over the case, and it has no effective legal arrangement for juridical assistance regarding fugitive transfers or criminal matters with jurisdictions in the mainland, Macau and Taiwan, in order to transfer the murder suspect to Taiwan for trial, the HKSAR government proposed to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance, allowing it to cooperate with the mainland, Macau and Taiwan on extraditing criminal suspects and fugitives in individual cases through a special arrangement. This would be helpful in handling the aforementioned case, and would close an existing legal loophole to jointly combat crime, and uphold law and justice.
Unfortunately, due to insufficient knowledge about the mainland’s situation and its legal and judicial systems, some Hong Kong residents had doubts about the HKSAR government’s decision on amending the ordinances, and
some individuals organized various protests over the amendments. As to the peaceful protests, the HKSAR government exercised law-based governance and postponed work on the amendments, and the HKSAR police have granted approval and provided protection in accordance with the law. However, some Hong Kong opposition parties and radical violent elements, under the pretext of anti-amendment, misled good citizens, deliberately created violent incidents, blocked the building of the Liaison Office, defaced the national emblem, besieged police stations, beat police officers, insulted the national flag, and even shouted the slogan of “Hong Kong independence” during the illegal protests. These numerous crimes have totally gone far beyond the proper scope of peaceful demonstrations, severely sabotaged Hong Kong’s overall situation of prosperity and stability, challenged Hong Kong’s rule of law and social order, threatened the safety of Hong Kong residents’ life and property, disproportionately affected Hong Kong’s rule of law, social order, economic livelihood and its international image, and crossed the bottom line of the “One Country, Two Systems”, which are absolutely intolerable.
Regarding the principle of “One Country, Two Systems”, I would like to make clear that this is a complete concept and an integrated set of guidelines and policies. “One Country” is like the roots of a tree. Implementing the principle in Hong Kong and Macau, we should never hit the three bottom lines: Any attempt to endanger national sovereignty and security is absolutely impermissible, any attempt to challenge the power of the central government and the authority of the Basic Law of the HKSAR is absolutely impermissible, and any attempt to use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland is absolutely impermissible.
Recently, some politicians in the United States, Britain and other Western countries deliberately confused peaceful demonstrations and violent crimes, adopted double standards and “selective blindness”, turned a blind eye to the criminal acts of the mob, confounded right and wrong, blamed the police for their law enforcement; there are even signs of manipulation behind the scene. Their ulterior motives are to disrupt Hong Kong, change Hong Kong into a troublesome sore for China and in turn constrain China’s development. These attempts will get them nowhere. The ill-intentioned forces have overlooked a fact, that is, Hong Kong is part of China, and its affairs are of domestic concern alone. The Chinese government will never allow any foreign forces to interfere in Hong Kong’s affairs, nor will allow them to mess up Hong Kong.
The rule of law is the core value that Hong Kong people take pride in, a foundation for a favorable business environment, and an important cornerstone for prosperity and stability. Once the rule of law is undermined, Hong Kong cannot retain its prosperity and stability. On 10th August 2019, more than 700 prominent individuals from various sectors in Hong Kong called upon: “Hong Kong cannot be in chaos anymore!” through a jointly-signed open letter, reflecting sincere aspirations of Hong Kong residents to combat violence, uphold the rule of law and ensure the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong.
The central government will continue unswervingly stick to and implement the policy of “One Country, Two Systems”, firmly support the HKSAR government to exercise law-based governance, and firmly support the HKSAR police in meting out punishment to violent criminals according to the law, in order to maintain peace, security and stability in Hong Kong. We believe that with the full support of the central government and the mainland, and under the leadership of HKSAR government, Hong Kong compatriots will surely be able to administer, develop and manage Hong Kong well. Hong Kong will assuredly overcome all difficulties and challenges on its way forward. The ship of “One Country, Two Systems” will sail far and steady despite winds and storms.
China and Kuwait have established strategic partnership, and the peoples of our two countries are close friends and dear brothers. We believe that the Kuwaiti people can feel the same way, and will continuingly adhere to the objective and fair position, identify the facts and truth, understand and support China’s determination and efforts to preserve its sovereignty and dignity, and uphold the principle of “One Country, Two Systems” and the rule of law.