The despicable act of former Democratic Party chairman Martin Lee has served as a footnote to President Hu Jintao's recent speech which voiced opposition against foreign interference in Hong Kong and Macao affairs.

Only two days after the president delivered his speech, Lee wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal, urging US President George W. Bush to take the opportunity of the Beijing Olympics to pressurize China for an improved human rights situation.

It's this far Lee has gone to invite foreign interference in China's internal affairs.

And then, speaking in the Legislative Council yesterday, he labelled the central government liaison office in Hong Kong as the "external force" that is meddling in Hong Kong affairs. Immediately he came under fire from patriotic legislators.

What he did this time - fawning on foreign powers and making unfounded accusations against the mainland - laid bare his political stance.

Over the years, Lee has made numerous trips abroad, badmouthing his own country to foreign governments and asking them to exert pressure on the Chinese government. As a result, he was taught a lesson in the 2004 debate of "what constitutes a patriot". The conclusion we can draw from all these past events is that we can never expect Lee to change.

Hong Kong's constitutional development is China's internal affair over which the central government holds the ultimate power of decision. Right from the beginning, Lee had felt uncomfortable with Beijing's execution of this constitutional power, and now he has gone as far as blatantly inviting foreign forces to step in. All these have inevitably raised skepticism over the real intention behind his campaigning for universal suffrage.

As a matter of fact, the country's hosting of the Olympic Games is something in which all Chinese people take great pride. It serves as a testimony to the rise of the Chinese nation. And the holding of the equestrian events in Hong Kong next year gives the local community a chance to co-host the great sporting event.

By attempting to politicize the Games, Lee is working against the will of the entire Chinese nation and is doing an outright damage to national interest.

In fact, Lee's remarks have not only infuriated his fellow citizens in Hong Kong, they have also sent a shock wave through the opposition camp.

It is interesting to see whether Anson Chan - the Legislative Council by-election candidate who had joined the race because of Lee's encouragement and had made universal suffrage the centre piece of her election platform - would be placed in an embarrassing situation this time.

(HK Edition 10/26/2007 page6)