US visit by pair risks further damage to Wonderland
- Tweedledee and Tweedledum of the Civic Party say they will be ‘objective’ in presenting facts to American ‘friends’ about Hong Kong’s social unrest, but they must tread carefully for city’s sake
The Tweedledee and Tweedledum of the Civic Party will again fly to Washington to meet their American “friends”, but as they put it, “not to badmouth Hong Kong”.
Pan-democratic lawmakers Dennis Kwok and Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu said they would be “objective” in presenting the facts about the ongoing unrest in the city. But just how productive or counterproductive will such a trip be? Many issues are involved but the biggest one is surely the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which was reintroduced in June and which the United States Congress is expected to debate next month.
Their goal is self-contradictory: they cannot be seen as advocating for this Act (which could undermine the Hong Kong economy) or advising against it (which would make them sound like the Hong Kong government). Why?
It’s now practically a bipartisan consensus that Beijing is committed to destroying Hong Kong’s freedoms and autonomy guaranteed under “one country, two systems”.
I won’t argue here whether that’s right or wrong, only that it’s a joint-party position.