West’s criticism of national security law exposes its own flawed system of ‘liberal democracy’

US leaders have been quick to bash China rather than cure their own ills, from record numbers of Covid-19 infections to high unemployment and fiscal profligacy. The national security law has now become a convenient scapegoat

Dabing Li

Published: 1:00am, 2 Jul 2020

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When Tang dynasty poet Liu Yuxi returned home after 23 long years, he wrote: “A thousand sails pass by a sunken ship. Spring wakes in full bloom in spite of a lone sick tree.”

On June 30, China enacted the national security law for Hong Kong. On the eve of the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China, a new chapter began.

For the West and the world of “liberal democracies,” this seems a pivotal event in the annals of history. Their reaction has been pessimistic and negative. The oft-repeated “death of Hong Kong” is recycled again, just like 23 years ago when Hong Kong returned to the motherland.

The West was wrong then, and it is wrong now. This knee-jerk reaction is a symptom of the West’s own long decline.

Take the United States, for example. Covid-19 is still ravaging the country, even as it is being tamed elsewhere. Racial and cultural tensions are tearing American society apart. Politicians traffic in fear, division and grandstanding. Unemployment is high. Money is being printed on overdrive to prop up a stock market that is increasingly divorced from economic reality.

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Yet, US leaders take to China-bashing more enthusiastically than they try to cure their own nation’s many ills. Hong Kong and China’s national security law has become a convenient scapegoat to deflect their own failures.

I believe the American ills are all self-inflicted. The disease is deeply rooted in its “liberal democracy” system.

Political power in that system is bestowed by votes. That turns the game into a perpetual popularity contest. It’s a race to the bottom in every sense. To maximise votes, politicians compete to pander to voters.

The pandering does not stop at handing out money to win votes. It also indulges in what’s popular in education, culture and entertainment. US politicians try to sound like the voters they hope to woo.

American democracy is far from broken, although its politicians are

In 2016, Hillary Clinton drank beer while imitating a Southern drawl. She was no match for Donald Trump, though, whose campaign rally rambling often resembled a drunken uncle in the blue-collar South and Midwest.

The result is often a spoiled and shallow populace, steeped in a narrative of entitlements and grievance. Pushed to material consumption, many buy and waste more than they need and spend beyond their means, an addiction Pope Francis called a “throwaway culture”.

This “me and now” ethos is pandered to, stoked and glorified in liberal democracies. During the US lockdowns to stem Covid-19, that impulse fed right into the entitlement and grievance life story of so many.

Armed and violent protests have ensued, not for racial justice but for “freedoms” of bar hopping, beach partying and merrymaking that cannot wait. Some politicians pandered to this and states were reopened prematurely, causing the worst virus resurgence anywhere in the world.

Defenders of democracy say they can vote out bad politicians and self-correct. This is wilfully superficial and in denial of the worsening polarisation and societal dysfunction.

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Self-correction takes honesty and long-term thinking. Neither is possible given the imperative to pander to votes. In fact, self-righteousness appears more prevalent in the US with talk of American exceptionalism and claims that their values are “universal”.

Racial and cultural intolerance is rising in the West while China moves towards a different but successful governing model. In their zealous sanctimony, the self-righteous ones are even driving just struggles into the realm of soap opera. Witness the campaign to topple statues instead of saving lives.

Bringing in new politicians who are part of the same culture is akin to putting new laces in old shoes. Nothing really changes. On this new dawn in Hong Kong, one wonders how the arc of history will bend next.

Dabing Li worked in China, the US and Hong Kong as a textile salesman, a trade official, banker, consultant and entrepreneur. Now retired, he resides in Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong