Thursday 10 October 2019

US passing Hong Kong human rights and democracy act will only ‘punish the wrong people’: ex-Trump envoy Susan Thornton

Many of us have been saying that this US Bill is misguided and would harm the very people it's supposed to help — the people of Hong Kong. It will only speed up the demise of One country Two systems, by eroding the difference between China and Hong Kong. It's totally "the road to hell…".
Here is Susan Thornton making it very clear what its problems are. 
A US bill that could strip Hong Kong of its special trading status by subjecting the city to an annual review of democratic freedoms would hurt Hongkongers and play into the hands of Beijing, according to a former top envoy for Asia in the Trump administration.
In a wide-ranging interview, Susan Thornton, who served as acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said passing the bipartisan Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act would be a "huge mistake" that would end up "punishing exactly the wrong people".
"To me, Beijing would like nothing more than the US to remove Hong Kong's special status. I don't really get it. I don't understand what game they think they are playing," said Thornton, who retired from the Department of State in July after more than 25 years of service, referring to US lawmakers pushing the bill.
The career diplomat, who has held overseas postings in China, Central Asia, Russia and the Caucasus, said the proposed legislation reflected a misinformed political conversation in the United States about China and Hong Kong.
"I don't think they think about it much, but they just have this one bill that has Hong Kong in it, and they're wielding it like a club, and they don't seem to understand that the club is basically going to whack the Hongkongers upside the head, and the Beijingers will be dancing in the streets."
She's so right that "they don't think about it much". It's all devolved down to a simple duality: the good freedom fighters vs the nasty regime. 
The freedom fighters have devolved into random vandals and the nasty regime, at least the government here in Hong Kong, is more incompetent than it is nasty.