China Takes Advantage of US Protests to Move Closer in Seizing Hong Kong, Ignoring Its Own Issues

With the surge of violent protests spread throughout the United States in the wake of George Floyd's death, China takes advantage of the chaos to showcase its authoritarian system and denounce America as hypocritical, albeit ignoring its own nation's issues and problems.

The move is made contrary to the country's history of ethnic discrimination and its actions against human rights with its decision to suppress Hong Kong's independence, as reported by The New York Times.

Taking advantage of the chaos

Several Chinese government officials are joining the protests over Floyd's death. The state-run media is accusing the US of being a hypocrite with its response to the violent protests across the country after it has supported Hong Kong in its fight against the capital.

Some commentators in China expressed their belief that American democracy is a facade as they point out the country's failed response to the coronavirus pandemic and violent protests.

A scholar at Fudan University in Shanghai, Song Guoyou, said that the current situation in the US would result in more Chinese people supporting their government in denouncing and countering the American nation. "The moral ground of the United States is indeed greatly weakened," the scholar added.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Zhao Lijian, the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry on Monday questioned the response of the US government to the method that the Chinese government took to quell Hong Kong protests when they had no issues with sending the National Guard to threaten to shoot and quell the violent protests.

Also Read: Trump Says US Will Move to Support Hong Kong: Withdraws From WHO

US President Donald Trump has ordered the increase in force that local governments and officials should use to control the demonstration across the nation. On Monday, Trump called the Washington military and law enforcement to support the defence against the protesters.

The comments of the Chinese government with the US response comes after the American nation's criticism of Beijing's decision to impose a new law that threatens Hong Kong's independence.

A history of violence

The events come ahead of Beijing's anniversary of the bloody 1989 crackdown against protesters on June 4 in Tiananmen Square. The date marked Hong Kong's third decade in holding demonstrations. This year, Hong Kong officials banned a candlelight vigil for reasons of maintaining social distancing to curb the spread of the coronavirus infection.

The rivalry between the two countries has been a longstanding feud, and power struggle as their relationship has hit its lowest in decades.

President Xi Jinping has used the number of protests in the United States to counterattack with the Communist Party's propagandists. Media videos within the Chinese nation are filled with scenes from the latest violent protests. The footage shows the National Guard patrolling the area and media hosts citing America's long history of racial discrimination.

Social media platforms are branding the United States as unruly and disorganized. "This is not Syria, this is the US!" one popular site captioned.

The editor of the Global Times tweeted a post calling out to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The latter previously shared his support with the people of Hong Kong in their fight against the government, where he asks the official to do the same with the protesters in the US.