China propaganda organs slam Anson Chan, Martin Lee over America trip
Propaganda mouthpieces say pair's recent trip to North America 'invites foreign intervention' and reflects 'fetish for Western authority'
Beijing's propaganda mouthpieces are taking turns to lambast two of the elder statesmen of Hong Kong's democracy movement, saying their visit to North America was "inviting foreign intervention" and reflected a "fetish for Western authority".
Global Times and the overseas edition of People's Daily yesterday ran caustic editorials condemning Anson Chan Fang On-sang and Martin Lee Chu-ming for their two-week visit to Canada and the United States, where they met Vice-President Joe Biden.
Accusing Chan, a former chief secretary, and Lee, the founding chairman of the Democratic Party, of making themselves the political "opposition" for "all of China", the opinion piece in the Global Times' Chinese-language edition largely repeated rhetoric used a day earlier by Xinhua.
Western powers have long lost their influence in shaping Hong Kong's politics
"Inviting foreign intervention has become a political choice, as historically foreign power has outweighed that of the Chinese," the newspaper said. "It is normal for some in Hong Kong, which was a colony for more than a century, to have a fetish for Western authority."
Responding to Lee's statement that the US Congress was likely to resume its annual reports on the city's political development, the paper said it was unrealistic to believe the West could influence Hong Kong's political development.
"Western powers have long lost their influence in shaping Hong Kong's politics," it added. "The vigorous reaction of Chan and Lee's supporters to the pair's meeting with Biden shows they are … unrealistic."
In a front-page opinion article, People's Daily overseas edition accused the pair of "staging a farce" which would "lead the city's democratisation astray".