Violent protesters who stormed the Legislative Council have undoubtedly trampled on Hong Kong's rule of law and undermined the city's social order. Disgustingly, foreign forces such as the United States and Britain, who have been practicing double standards in politics, glamorized such aggression on the pretext of pursuing freedom and human rights. Despite their irresponsible remarks, the nature of the riots and rioters cannot be disguised or distorted. Rioters certainly cannot evade justice, and like the opposition figures who planned the revolt, they will eventually be abandoned by foreign forces.

Discussing the violent attacks on Legislative Council, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang stressed that they constitute serious violations of the rule of law and have endangered the social order of Hong Kong. He made the point that if similar attacks targeting legislatures in the US or Europe, would the governments there sit back and allow the perpetrators to continue with their atrocious behavior? He described the biased remarks by US and UK politicians as "double-standards", "ill-favored" and "hypocritical".

Any citizen who is clear-headed enough will see that the violent protests are orchestrated, well-organized and premeditated movements. On the surface, there was no united and identifiable command behind the violent protests; in reality, there was an "invisible hand" giving commands. The violent protests are not simply targeting the extradition law amendment bill, but also aiming to throw Hong Kong into disarray, to drag down the special administrative region government.

Everyone knows there's no end in sight to the Sino-US trade war. The US is playing the "Hong Kong card"; it is exploiting tensions in the city to exert pressure on the Chinese mainland in a bid to gain greater concessions in trade negotiations. The opposition camp in Hong Kong is willing to be at the disposal of those external forces, as they attempt to leverage these forces to exert pressure on the central and the SAR governments, so they can gain some concessions since the humiliating failure of the "Occupy Central" campaign and the Mong Kok riot.

During the G20 Summit held earlier in Osaka, Japan, members of the opposition camp launched a large-scale propaganda campaign mainly by advertising their anti-extradition movement on the front pages of several international newspapers, purportedly with money raised via crowdfunding.

This was global information warfare. When it comes to advertising in international newspapers, it involves advance notice, planning, and publishing; this cannot be done overnight. Nevertheless, it only took a few days from crowdfunding for the anti-extradition messages to them being published. The incredibly smooth and speedy process suggests a mighty "invisible hand" was behind the whole process. Had there not been a "big boss" involved, the students would not have been able to do this by themselves.

However, evil cannot prevail over justice. For all its inclusiveness and openness, modern China is also a symbol of righteousness and progress. The consensus reached at the G20 Summit between the leaders of China and the US was better than expected. The opposition camp in Hong Kong can hardly benefit from begging for support from foreign forces; violent protesters who have an appetite for rioting can't count on public support.

Nowadays, many visionary people in the US and UK have been adamant about supporting collaboration with China as they understand it is in the best interest of their countries. The rioters and their behind-the-scenes accomplices might be celebrating their "victory" now but it will not take long for them to regret their actions.

The author is a senior current affairs commentator. This is an excerpt translation of his Chinese article published earlier in Wen Wei Po.

(HK Edition 07/15/2019 page8)