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Wednesday, August 12, 2020, 01:06
Trump, Pompeo tragically hypocritical in criticizing HK election deferral
By Wilson Lee Flores
Wednesday, August 12, 2020, 01:06 By Wilson Lee Flores

It is the height of hypocrisy, myopic strategic folly and tragicomic irony that the administration of United States President Donald Trump, through his White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, told a press conference on Aug 1: “We condemn the Hong Kong government’s decision to postpone (its election) for one year.” This criticism is so callous and hilarious in unmitigated hypocrisy, because Trump himself on the night of July 30 had tweeted his suggestion to postpone the Nov 3 elections in his own country. 

Also undiplomatic, pompous and unfortunate was US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo immediately parroting the White House criticism. He denounced China, saying: “The United States condemns the Hong Kong government’s decision to postpone by one year upcoming Legislative Council elections.” Why this animosity, and barrage of uncivil acts and public statements?

Based on international norms of independent countries respecting each other’s sovereignty, these unprovoked attacks smack of flagrant meddling in the domestic political affairs of China’s sovereign territory of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 

These anti-Hong Kong and viciously racist anti-China attacks are in large measure caused by the political exigencies of Trump’s desperate need to win reelection in an increasingly lopsided race with his plummeting poll numbers. Many Asians in the US and worldwide are angered by this evil, racist demagoguery.  

The Trump administration’s reckless approach toward once-vibrant US-China diplomatic, economic and strategic relations — including Hong Kong — is part of his sinister plan to demonize China to cover up his gargantuan self-inflicted pandemic and economic failures. Trump’s repulsive attempts to also make scapegoats of former president Barack Obama, his rival ex-vice-president Joe Biden, Democratic governors and mayors, the World Health Organization, and even his own government’s epidemic experts like Dr Anthony Fauci and now China, are all outrageous lies.

The anti-Hong Kong and viciously racist anti-China attacks are in large measure caused by the political exigencies of Trump’s desperate need to win reelection in an increasingly lopsided race with his plummeting poll numbers

On April 18, The New York Times journalists Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman wrote: “The strategy could not be clearer: From the Republican lawmakers blanketing Fox News to new ads from President Trump’s super PAC to the biting criticism on Donald Trump Jr.’s Twitter feed, the GOP is attempting to divert attention from the administration’s heavily criticized response to the coronavirus by pinning the blame on China.”

Trump and his officials like Pompeo and McEnany are mistaken and hypocritical in criticizing Hong Kong. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor made a sound decision when she postponed the Sept 6 election for the city’s legislature for a year, because of a spike in COVID-19 cases. The postponement will protect people’s lives by preventing the spread of the pandemic, and by providing social and economic stability.

It is not only Asians like me who are scandalized by the hypocrisy of bellicose politicians like Trump and Pompeo who criticize Hong Kong’s election postponement but want to postpone their own polls. Below are some examples of rational voices in American society and their comments on Trump’s hypocrisy:

The Washington Post reported this news with an article by John Wagner headlined “A day after Trump floats an election delay, the White House denounces a postponement in Hong Kong”.

USA Today also published a news report by John Fritze, headlined “White House ‘condemns’ election delay in Hong Kong after Trump raised idea of postponing US vote”.

ABC News reported the news written by Ben Gittleson on its online site with this headline: “As Trump suggests delaying election, White House condemns Hong Kong for postponing its own vote. A day before, Trump suggested the vote in the United States should be postponed.”

Newsweek magazine reported this with an article by Jocelyn Grzeszczak headlined “Trump admin condemns Hong Kong election delay one day after Trump floats election delay”.

Rula Jebreal, a Palestinian foreign policy analyst, journalist, novelist and screenwriter with dual Israeli and Italian citizenship, and a commentator for MSNBC, tweeted: “Irony is dead! Yesterday Trump proposed postponing US presidential elections, attacked voter rights with surgical precision and undermined its legitimacy ...as PressSec says: ‘We condemn the Hong Kong Gov’t decision to postpone (its election) for one year’.”

On the same day of the White House criticism of the Hong Kong postponement, the influential political action committee of Trump’s disenchanted Republican Party mates called “the Lincoln Project” declared: “Irony declared dead as of today.”

The resilient business hub of Hong Kong, the innovative tech giant Huawei and the popular app TikTok have become some of the collateral damage in Trump’s desperate toxic politics of demonizing China. This is a nihilistic trap and ruinous path, which other political leaders (whether Republicans or Democrats), media and civil society groups in the US should not fall into.

As we enter a critical juncture in history confronted with an unprecedented global pandemic and complex economic uncertainties, the world’s two biggest economies, the US and China, need to cooperate in a dynamic spirit of dialogue and not engage in a so-called new Cold War of a futile, zero-sum game. 

The author is analyst and columnist of Philippine Star, winner of 15 Catholic Mass Media Awards and three Palanca literary awards.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily. 


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