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Andy Chan, founder of the Hong Kong National Party, speaks at the Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) in Central on August 14. Days after Chan’s controversial speech, he wrote an open letter calling on US President Donald Trump to extend US trade restrictions on China to Hong Kong, arguing that both China and the “present regime” in Hong Kong needed to pay a price in order for a “genuinely autonomous Hong Kong to flourish”. Photo: Bloomberg

Chinese have risen in the world thanks to the rise of China: Andy Chan’s call for WTO ouster is misguided

Mr Andy Chan Ho-tin, in openly begging US President Donald Trump to revoke the World Trade Organisation membership of China and Hong Kong, is sadly mistaken (“Andy Chan rebuked after asking Trump to have China kicked out of WTO”, August 19). The WTO is an intergovernmental organisation dealing in trade issues and disputes. And the US, much less Donald Trump, has no right to the management of the WTO.
It is impossible to fathom what could be the motive behind such a move by Mr Chan, the convenor of the Hong Kong National Party. Most probably, he mistakenly believes that such a move would help Trump win the trade war with China. Should that be the case, Mr Chan has prima facie committed an act of high treason.

Activist Andy Chan delivers FCC talk despite protests

Second, a lot of Hong Kong people harbour an irrational and ignorant dislike of the Chinese government, ignoring the fact that the Chinese can now be on an equal footing with peoples of developed countries because of the outstanding economic achievements of China.

Third, it is never a system of government that determines the well-being of the governed. It is the character traits of the government officials and of the leader that carry the pre-eminent weight. Consequently, people living under a democracy might not necessarily be as comfortable as people under a dictatorship. That said, even for a democracy to function satisfactorily, there are preconditions.

Alex Ng, Sham Shui Po

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