[Global Times Special Correspondent in the United States Zheng Kelinri] From inciting support for illegal and violent demonstrations to pointing fingers at Hong Kong’s national security laws, some US politicians and organizations have played a very disgraceful role on the Hong Kong issue and concocted various anti-China scripts. On August 10, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it would impose sanctions on six U.S. congressmen and the heads of five agencies who performed badly on Hong Kong-related issues. What is the origin of these 11 people? Some of them are already familiar to the Chinese people for their outstanding anti-China actions, and others are relatively unfamiliar, but they have in common that they interfere in China's internal affairs and act as "anti-China vanguards", especially on Hong Kong-related issues. Spotty.
The embarrassment of 6 members on Hong Kong-related issues
Among the six U.S. congressmen named, Rubio, Cruz, Smith and Cotton can be called "anti-China regular customers."
A month ago, due to the Xinjiang issue, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced corresponding sanctions against Rubio, Cruz and Smith: Republican Senator Rubio, who has never visited China, was rated by the Washington Post as the “noisiest among American politicians” One of the critics of China"; Cruz made a special trip to Hong Kong in October last year to express his support for the mob in a black suit; Congressman Smith was the chairman of the "China Committee of the US Congress and Administration" and was known as a "model worker" among anti-Chinese politicians. He has presided over dozens of hearings on issues related to Hong Kong and Xinjiang. In June last year, Smith and Rubio re-proposed the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act" in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
As for the Republican Senator Cotton, since February of this year, he has widely declared that the new crown virus may come from the Wuhan laboratory. Facing the Hong Kong police to stop violence and chaos, he declared that it was "unacceptable." When anti-racism protests broke out in the United States, he called for the use of active military forces. Not long ago, Cotton was criticized by public opinion for claiming that enslaving millions of Africans is a "necessary evil" for the founding of the United States.
In addition to the above four people, Josh Holly, as a Republican anti-China senator, has also been deeply intervening in the affairs of Hong Kong, China. Last fall, Holly and the Hong Kong rioters clamored for the resignation of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam. He is also one of the initiators of the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act" in the United States. According to media reports, Holly once appeared at the scene of the riots in Mong Kok, Hong Kong, and then made false reports that “beautify the riots” and returned to the United States to report to Congress. In the NBA "Morey Incident", Holly took the opportunity to "touch porcelain" the Hong Kong issue and posted a photo of the jersey with the slogan "Chaotic Hong Kong" on Twitter, claiming to be a "tribute" to Morey.
Holly, 40, is the youngest member of the Senate, but he did not focus his work enthusiasm on the development of the United States itself. The most important "achievement" during his tenure was the introduction of the US National Security and Personal Data Protection Act, which recognized the United States It is illegal for companies to store user data or encryption keys in China. Another of his "brilliant deeds" is to attack social applications such as TikTok, claiming that these applications pose a threat to US national security. Holly was also one of the initiators of the American ban on TikTok. He baselessly accused TikTok of collecting user data for the Chinese Communist Party.
Holly was the Attorney General of the State of Missouri in the United States. In April this year, his successor Schmidt filed a civil lawsuit in the Federal Court to demand compensation from China for the state’s economic losses. He became the first U.S. to sue China on the grounds of the epidemic. State. There are reports that Holly is a supporter of Schmidt's move.
Holly is also a staunch supporter of Trump's trade war. In September 2018, he turned black and white, claiming that the trade war was initiated by China, "If we are in a war, I want to win this war." In May of this year, he published an article in the "New York Times" calling for the abolition of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the grounds that it is not conducive to the interests of the United States, but "promotes the rise of China." Later, he proposed that the United States withdraw from the WTO.
Together with Holley and others to fight against China's insurrection in Hong Kong, there is also Republican Senator Pat Tumi. Toumi is a major supporter of the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act". He also proposed the initial version of the "Hong Kong Autonomy Act" in May this year, which authorizes the US federal government to use financial sanctions and other means to punish China for implementing the Hong Kong National Security Act. Government officials and Hong Kong policemen who "suppress" Hong Kong demonstrators and entities that have business dealings with sanctioned targets. The bill was signed into force by the President of the United States in July.
After learning that he was sanctioned by the Chinese government, Tumi continued to slander that the Chinese government wanted to eliminate Hong Kong’s democracy and fundamental freedoms. "My reaction to the sanctions is simple: I stand with the people of Hong Kong." Toumi claimed.
In addition to the Hong Kong issue, Tumi also criticized China on the Xinjiang issue. While making groundless accusations against China, Tumi himself ignores the fact that he discriminates against Muslims. In 2017, Trump issued a ban on the entry of citizens from many countries with Muslims as the main population, and Tumi strongly supports it. Previously, Toumi had described these countries as "a safe haven for terrorists." After the new crown pneumonia epidemic swept the United States, Toumi initiated a legislation requiring that foreign officials who cover up and distort the international public health crisis be held accountable. It can be said that Trump is an important political fighter for China to "snap the pot".
On his website, Tumi made many statements accusing China, ranging from tariffs to the fentanyl ban.
Behind the two organizations, the shadow of the CIA
Also believe that the Chinese people are living in "deep waters," and the so-called non-governmental organization "Human Rights Watch"-the organization's executive chairman Kenneth Ross is on the sanctions list. In fact, in January of this year, Rose became "famous" for being barred from entering Hong Kong for the first time.
"Human Rights Watch" was originally called "Helsinki Watch". When it was established in 1978, it was to encourage democratic movements in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and to monitor whether the Soviet Union had fulfilled the Helsinki Agreement. The organization has more than 200 employees worldwide and an annual budget of approximately US$26 million. It is considered to have inextricable links with the US government.
In 2014, two Nobel Peace Prize winners sent a letter to Human Rights Watch. This letter of protest titled "Close the revolving door of the US government" was co-signed by 131 experts and scholars who criticized that many members of the organization were former US officials And CIA agents, when commenting on the human rights situation in various countries, they often align with the foreign policy and interests of the US government.
"Human Rights Watch" publishes the so-called "Annual Report on the Situation of Global Human Rights" every year. This year's report directly declared that "China poses a threat to global human rights" and accused China of subverting the UN's human rights standards. The report that discredited China was originally planned to be released in Hong Kong on January 15th. He stated that the report criticizing China should be released in Beijing, but the Chinese government could not allow it, so he chose Hong Kong. However, after he flew to Hong Kong, he could not enter the country and had to run back to the United States in a desperate manner.
Ross often makes a fuss about the epidemic, blatantly criticizes China, and also encourages European countries to punish China together. Ross's articles are full of distorting China's Internet governance actions and claiming that China is stealing personal privacy around the world. Even Robert Bernstein, the founder of Human Rights Watch, has repeatedly criticized Ross for his bias in seeing issues.
The notorious "Freedom House" also likes to intervene in the Hong Kong issue. As a non-governmental organization, "Freedom House" blatantly receives US government funds. According to reports, the organization’s behavior was brought to the UN for discussion, and the Cuban representative to the UN pointed out that the "Freedom House" was the CIA's eyeliner. The Russian representative directly asked: “Why would a human rights NGO oppose the establishment of the International Criminal Court?” The US representative defended that the funding for “Freedom House” was not from the CIA, but from the US Agency for International Development. Confirm the organization’s ties with the US government.
"Freedom House" is known as the endorsement of democracy and freedom in the world, but 66% of the organization's budget comes from the US government. The organization has repeatedly publicly supported the chaos in Hong Kong. At the beginning of last year, the "Freedom House" scored 59 points on Hong Kong's degree of freedom on the grounds that the membership of the Hong Kong Legislative Council was "deprived" and Beijing's intervention has increased. This is the lowest score since it was included in the report in 2002. As China celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, “Freedom House” also posted on Facebook to insult China, saying it “marked a gloomy moment”.
When "Freedom House" was founded in 1941, it was an organization of the United States to respond to European Nazism and Hitler, and later became a tool for interfering in other countries' internal affairs. Just like intervening in the Hong Kong issue, "Freedom House" has repeatedly exported US government funds and ideology in the name of supporting democracy in Eastern Europe and other places, subverting regimes that are not recognized by the United States. It can be said that "Freedom House" is an invisible foreign warfare organization under the cloak of non-governmental organizations.
Michael Abramowitz, the president of Freedom House, who was on the sanctions list this time, was a reporter for the Washington Post. After taking charge of the organization in 2017, he has made a lot of criticisms of the United States itself. There is no relaxation in interfering in China's internal affairs. Last year, Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen visited the United States, and Abramowitz attended a welcome dinner specially prepared for her, during which he tried his best to provoke cross-strait relations. Abramowitz also slandered China's export of network surveillance models to other countries to control information at home and abroad, saying that this action jeopardized the openness of the Internet and the prospect of global democracy. Regarding being included on China's sanctions list, Abramowitz declared that he would stand with Hong Kong protesters. He also said that he was very happy to "touch China's sensitive nerves."
Export "democracy" and manipulate the opposition
The remaining three of the 11 people are Gershman, president of the National Foundation for Democracy (NED), Midway, president of the National Institute for Democracy in International Affairs (NDI), and Twining, president of the International Republican Institute (IRI). The three institutions were established during the Reagan administration in 1983. Among them, the NED, known as the "Second CIA," is the most famous. It under the banner of providing democracy and financial support, is engaged in subversion of other countries' regimes. Its president Gershman once Served as the U.S. representative to the UN Human Rights Council.
As for Mi Dewei, he worked as a text editor for Taiwan's "China Post" in the late 1980s and learned Chinese. He studied briefly at Nanjing University in 1990 and was a visiting scholar at Peking University in 2007. Midi's wife is Taiwanese. Midway worked at NDI and later joined the Pentagon and the Center for Research on American Strategy and International Issues. He served as the ambassador to Myanmar under Obama and returned to NDI as president in 2018.
Last year, Hong Kong was caught in a vortex of violent demonstrations. After the district council elections, Midway suddenly rushed to Hong Kong, openly supporting the mob and clamoring to continue to be a "strong backstage." Midway's public event was to be a guest speaker at the luncheon of the Hong Kong Foreign Press Conference. After the meeting, he hurriedly reported to the US Consulate in Hong Kong. The British Consul General in Hong Kong, He Ende, took the opportunity to meet with Midway, and Chen Fang Ansheng, a member of the Gang of Four, also met with him. On the third day after Midway came to Hong Kong, Trump signed the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act."
NDI's funding mainly comes from NED, U.S. Agency for International Development, and U.S. State Department. According to its official website, NDI operates in 156 countries and regions around the world, has more than 50 offices overseas, and is committed to strengthening and supporting democracy globally. In fact, exporting American values is the mission of the organization. Because of this, NDI's offices in Egypt, Russia and other places were closed for violating local laws.
It is reported that the NDI began to deploy activities in Hong Kong long before the return of Hong Kong to support the leaders of the chaos faction. A large amount of evidence shows that the criminals behind the illegal "Occupy Central" and "Regulation Amendment Disturbance" in 2014 were the NED and NDI. According to surveys, since 1995, NDI has invested more than 30 million Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong to manipulate the opposition, infiltrate universities and colleges, and fund so-called "research" and "youth" projects. NDI publishes a "Hong Kong Democratization Commitment" report every four years to "evaluate Hong Kong's democratization prospects."
IRI President Twining’s resume is equally rich: he worked as a policy planning assistant to the Secretary of State, worked in the Office of the United States Trade Representative, worked as a foreign policy adviser to Senator John McCain, and taught at Georgetown University and the Naval Graduate School. ...Before becoming the president of IRI in September 2017, Twining was the consultant and director of the Asian project of the German Marshall Foundation, leading a 15-person team to study the rise of Asia and its impact on the West.
The funding source of IRI is the same as that of NDI. According to information on its official website, IRI has carried out projects in more than 100 countries around the world, and currently has project branches in 85 countries. For more than 30 years, IRI has been helping "strengthen democracy" with the help of workshops organized by volunteer experts from all over the world.
IRI also has projects in China. It started in 1993 and is considered the first foreign NGO to intervene in the election of Chinese villagers. In recent years, IRI has been keen to pay attention to topics such as US-China strategic competition and resisting Chinese ideological invasions. It has repeatedly published reports "Exposing that China uses economic interests as bait to infiltrate fragile democracies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America." Jointly threaten American interests and so on.
When searching for IRI projects in other countries, the most important theme is to inspect other countries before and after the election, arbitrarily rate the quality of democracy in other countries, and instigate opinion leaders of relevant countries to promote so-called reforms. For example, at the end of September and early October last year, a delegation formed by IRI and NDI conducted a pre-election assessment on Sri Lanka's presidential election to be held in November. The delegation met with representatives from various parties in Sri Lanka.
After being included in the sanctions list this time, Twining continued to promote the so-called general concerns of the international community about Hong Kong and the CCP’s non-compliance with the agreement. IRI also issued a statement stating that China’s sanctions are in retaliation for their support for "political freedom" in Hong Kong.