After failing to stop the special administrative region government from seeking mainland assistance in coping with the raging third-wave onslaught of COVID-19, some members and supporters of the opposition camp, especially those who share separatist ambitions with the “burn together” radical faction, have resorted to harassing antics aimed at the mainland support team sent by the central government to help Hong Kong speed up COVID-19 screening, which is crucial to winning the fight to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus as soon as possible. The relentlessness they demonstrated in trying to undermine anti-pandemic cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland suggests these political fanatics have been so consumed by political bigotry that they no longer honor the most fundamental universal value that human lives prevail over anything else.

It should be noted that those who protested outside the hotel where the mainland nucleic acid test support team is staying and the sites the team visited for inspection were led by a few district councilors known for their active involvement in the illegal campaign that caused tremendous damage to public and private properties in addition to Hong Kong’s economy in the past year or so.

There is no doubt some of these political fanatics belong in the “burn together” faction, a group of extremists who would stop at nothing to achieve their political objectives. The violent campaign they and their ilk started in June last year was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and later effectively terminated by the new National Security Law. But they were not resigned to accepting a defeat. 

Like their other anti-mainland maneuvers, the unrelenting attempt to vilify mainland assistance and to undermine anti-pandemic cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland is intended to drive a wedge between people across the boundary, with the ultimate aim of fanning an anti-mainland sentiment in Hong Kong. But the politicization and sabotage of lifesaving efforts have revealed their disgusting preference for partisan interests over common good, specifically the protection of the health and lives of Hong Kong people.

Hong Kong people have never seen the true colors of those political fanatics clearer than they do now. In politicizing lifesaving efforts and prioritizing partisan interests over people’s health and lives, those fanatics have, in effect, removed all of the fig leaves they have been using to cover their ignoble political agenda.