Nathan Law Photo: on.cc
Nathan Law, the absconding Hong Kong secessionist, participated in a hearing before the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, where he made a political pitch for foreign interference in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) lawmaker Eunice Yung criticized Law's propaganda, saying no one will "take him seriously."
"He [Law] was brought up and cultivated in Hong Kong, yet he bad-mouths his motherland! I have never seen a person as lousy." Yung expressed disappointment in Law's behavior, local media outlet on.cc reported on Wednesday.
Yung, one of the renowned members of Hong Kong Legislation Council (LegCo), also said that Law's begging for foreign intervention over Hong Kong affairs is impractical, as he no longer holds a legit status to speak on Hong Kong, and "others will not take him seriously."
Law made the speech before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, talking about "the state of democracy in the world." Law called on a number of Western countries to work together on Hong Kong affairs, "to avoid being divided and conquered by China."
Law, 27, one of the founding members of the disbanded secessionist social group Demosisto and one of the head secessionists behind Hong Kong's yearlong social turmoil in 2019, left Hong Kong in June 2020, on the eve of the national security law for Hong Kong, saying later in December that he had applied for asylum in the UK. Law has repeatedly asked the US government to step in and help rioters, and has long been wanted by Hong Kong police.
"Law attached himself to foreign powers, and not at all hoped for Hong Kong's stability and prosperity," Yung said. "His views in no way represent the voice of Hong Kong people."
Ted Hui, another absconding Hong Kong secessionist, also came under fire for his latest anti-China propaganda.
The absconding secessionist, who is being sought by Hong Kong police and suspected of violating the national security law in Hong Kong, said on Facebook that he had left the UK with his family and arrived in Australia, vowing that he will carry on his political struggle in a new continent.
It has been less than three months since Hui absconded from Hong Kong to the UK. Chan Wan-Sang, a political commentator and former Hong Kong lawmaker, believes that Hui's relocating to Australia is only based on personal concerns, as Australia is less expensive to live in.
"His life in the UK was clearly not going well," Chan said. "Traveling around the world stigmatizing Hong Kong will make his future political struggle in Australia unpleasant as well."
These absconding Hong Kong secessionists once attracted a lot of attention, but their political voices have been significantly reduced, and their influence will continue to decline, Li Xiaobing, an expert on Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan studies at Nankai University in Tianjin, told the Global Times on Thursday.
"Their smear campaign against China has only given Western politicians a chance to hype Hong Kong," Li said. "But no country will make any substantive moves. Their lobbying will not bear fruit."
There were reports that they had applied for political asylum in a few Western countries. Until now, no country has granted them political asylum.
This proves that they are only pawns for the West to hold China in check, Li noted. "Very soon, they will be abandoned by both Western politicians and their hometown Hong Kong. Their political ambitions will never be realized."
Global Times