It is becoming rather tiresome to try to debunk Western media’s account of Hong Kong’s legal system, which is totally legit by any world standard. They prefer to take the word of “political activists”, who have an axe to grind, rather than that of authorities who have to account for the people they serve. After all, the former provide better sound bites and quotes and are not accountable to anyone.
Predictably, when three High Court judges found 14 people guilty of subversion charges, the Western mainstream media rushed to their defense, calling the hearing a “sham trial”. Two other defendants were acquitted, but the Department of Justice said it will appeal their acquittals. The judges gave a summary of their verdict on Thursday and released the full 319-page verdict on the internet.
One of the acquitted, Lawrence Lau Wai-Chung, a barrister who represented himself during the trial, said after the verdict: “If there is any star in this case, this judgment should be the star. It shows the jurisprudence, reasoning, logic, and perspectives of our judges. Please study it. It is more important than any single individual in this case. It is part of our rule of law (RTHK).” This part was not covered in the reports of Western mainstream media outlets, including CNN, BBC, The Guardian and many others, of the case. The Australian national newspaper quoted him only saying that people should look after the remaining defendants.
The West continually refers to the riots and similar illegal activities in Hong Kong as “pro-democracy” and insists they should support all who were arrested for subversion. But there is a vast difference between democracy and anarchy. The current court case centers around the July 2020 “primary elections” organized by then-associate law professor at the University of Hong Kong, Benny Tai Yiu-ting, in preparation for the Legislative Council (LegCo) election originally slated for September 2020. The successful candidates would veto the government’s budget and other crucial bills after gaining control of the LegCo, thus forcing the chief executive to step down, making the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government inoperable, and thus causing a constitutional crisis. That is subversion, an attempt to overthrow the government, the epitome of anarchy.
The BBC led the charge with a live broadcast of the trial by saying that defendants who ran for the illegal “primary elections” in 2020 had a right to run for public office. But it failed to mention that they had pledged to overthrow the HKSAR government by vetoing all government bills, including the budget, thus rendering the administration inoperable, as their ultimate purpose for organizing or participating in the “primary elections”.
It interviewed fugitives or anti-China activists in exile, including Nathan Law Kwun-chung in the United Kingdom, who said Hong Kong’s national security cases have a 100-percent conviction rate, which is untrue as two of the 16 defendants who pleaded not guilty were acquitted. He also said that holding “primary elections” was the norm throughout the world, but he failed to mention that making a pledge to overthrow the HKSAR government was a requirement for successful candidates. The judges, he said, were “handpicked by Beijing”. This was an outright lie, again.
The fact is the chief executive designates judges at each level of court to handle cases related to national security after consultation with the Court of Final Appeal chief justice. The designated judges can only comprise judges who have been appointed pursuant to the requirements of the Basic Law and who come only from the existing ranks of the Judiciary. And the listing and handling of cases, as well as the assignment of which judge or judges to handle which cases or appeals, will be determined by the court leader of the relevant level of court. All those false statements or lies by Law went unchallenged by the BBC.
German-based Deutsche Welle TV, which is normally critical of Hong Kong and China as a whole, took a more conservative coverage of the verdict, even though it made the lead evening news item over other world conflicts. Correspondent Pheobe Kwong cited in her report that 6,000 people turned out to vote in the “primary elections”, citing an unsubstantiated figure provided by the organizer Benny Tai. The network also straplined its report that the National Security Law for Hong Kong was “imposed” by Beijing as if that was something sinister. So what! Beijing is the capital of China, of which Hong Kong is part; Washington is the federal capital of the US; Westminster is the capital of the United Kingdom; and Canberra is the federal capital of Australia. There is nothing sinister about China’s capital imposing laws in Hong Kong, which is part of China. But the West has made a big deal of such a central government action.
The American broadcaster CNN said the goal of the “primary elections” was to narrow down their best chances for candidates to try and win a majority, much like similar polls found in other democracies around the world. Wrong, CNN. It was not like similar polls in other democracies. This was a calculated plan to overthrow the HKSAR government – a thinly disguised subversion.
The problem is that the Western media has dug itself into such a deep hole that it cannot get out without making a fool of itself, and its only survival is to live with lies. So, we can expect more Hong Kong-bashing, or China-bashing, for some time yet.
The author is a former chief information officer of the Hong Kong government, a PR and media consultant and a veteran journalist.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
