HK Macau Affairs Office: Those who do wrong will inevitably destroy themselves — The United States' evil deeds in Hong Kong will bring shame upon itself and backfire

Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council issued a commentary by GangAoPing (港澳平) on 22 April, 2025. Details are as follows:

On 21 April, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced its decision to impose sanctions on US congressmen, officials and non-governmental organisation leaders who have behaved badly on Hong Kong issues. This is a resolute countermeasure and a strong response to the evil deeds of the United States.

Lately, the United States has, under the pretext of safeguarding the rule of law, democracy, freedom, and human rights, intensified its smear campaigns and attacks against Hong Kong, and has gone to great lengths to suppress and stifle Hong Kong's development: First, it fabricated the so-called ‘2025 Hong Kong Policy Act Report’ to slander Hong Kong's rule of law, democracy, freedom, and human rights, and imposed so-called sanctions on officials from the Chinese Central Government's Hong Kong-based institutions and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. It then imposed so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs’ on Hong Kong, a place that had never imposed tariffs on imports, and re-activated a bill to revoke the treatment of Hong Kong's economic and trade offices in the United States or even close the offices. All these actions once again expose the ugly face of its hegemonic bullying and its wolfish ambition to ‘disrupt Hong Kong and contain China,’ arousing strong indignation among all Chinese people, including Hong Kong compatriots, and allowing the world to see more clearly its despicable and shameless actions and its desperate and hysterical behaviour, which can only lead to self-humiliation and self-destruction.

The United States' smear campaign and attacks on Hong Kong's rule of law, democracy, freedom, and human rights are nothing but a blatant inversion of truth and a case of a thief yelling “stop the thief”!  Today's Hong Kong has transitioned from chaos to stability and is moving toward prosperity. The constitutional order of the Special Administrative Region, based on the Constitution and the Basic Law, is functioning steadily. The existing legal system, including the common law, has been maintained and developed. The national security system and mechanisms are continuously improving. Judges at all levels adjudicate cases in accordance with the law, and Hong Kong's “golden brand” of the rule of law is renowned worldwide. Hong Kong residents enjoy broader rights and freedoms than at any time in history. All elections are conducted in accordance with the law, in a fair, just, and open manner. The principle of ‘patriots administering Hong Kong’ has been fully implemented, and the democratic path suited to Hong Kong's actual conditions is becoming increasingly broad. Hong Kong has demonstrated to the world a safer, freer, more open, and more predictable business environment. It is precisely the United States that cannot bear to see Hong Kong thrive. It has arbitrarily slandered the Hong Kong National Security Law and the Hong Kong National Security Ordinance, blatantly interfered in Hong Kong's judicial independence, and dared to call for sanctions against Hong Kong judicial officials, demanding the ‘unconditional release’ of those already sentenced or on trial. It is the greatest destroyer of Hong Kong's rule of law! It is precisely the United States that has long nurtured those who are anti-China and disrupting Hong Kong, instigating them to challenge the bottom line of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle, interfere with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government's lawful governance, and infringe upon the democratic rights of Hong Kong residents, while cheering them on and providing them with support. It is the United States that serves as the largest ‘black umbrella’ protecting those who are  “anti-China and disrupting Hong Kong! It is precisely the United States that manipulated the ‘amendment turmoil,’ leading to the rampant spread of ‘Hong Kong independence,’ the rampant violence of ‘black riots,’ and the rampant ‘mutual destruction move,’ making it the mastermind behind the Hong Kong version of  ‘colour revolution’!

— Let me ask the U.S. government and politicians: As brutal lawbreakers who trample on the rule of law, what qualifications do you have to talk about the rule of law? In the United States, political parties control judicial appointments to divide up judicial power. Where is judicial independence? The former president signed a pardon for his son just before leaving office, and key evidence in cases involving high-power people accused of sexual assaults of underage girls mysteriously disappeared. Where is judicial fairness? You have long and frequently imposed ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ on other countries, using tariffs to exert extreme pressure and engage in economic bullying, openly declaring that you will ‘get Greenland by any means necessary,’ ‘seize the Panama Canal,’ and even threaten to make Canada the ‘51st state’ of the United States, completely abandoning international laws and order, and promoting ‘legal terrorism’ worldwide. For you, the rule of law is merely a fig leaf to safe-keep the interests of a few who are rich and powerful, and advance hegemony!

— Let me ask the U.S. government and politicians: as adherents of oligarchy and money politics, what qualifications do you have to talk about democracy? In the United States, political parties openly manipulate district boundaries to influence election outcomes, amend rules to deprive the voting rights of minority groups, low-income individuals, and young people; the 2020 presidential election sparked the ‘Capitol riot,’ resulting in multiple deaths and injuries that shocked the world; the 2022 midterm elections cost nearly 17 billion dollars, becoming the most expensive election in history, with ‘political donations’ turning elections into a wealth competition—where is the fairness and justice? You promote ‘neo-Monroe doctrine’ in Latin America and constantly instigate ‘colour revolutions’ across the Eurasian continent, leaving behind countless ruins of failed ‘democratic reforms.’ The ‘American-style democracy’ you promote is a global menace and the world's greatest source of chaos!

— Let me ask the U.S. government and politicians: As the biggest perpetrators of privacy theft and media manipulation, what right do you have to talk about freedom? You implement the ‘PRISM programme’ to conduct round-the-clock, in-depth surveillance of global communications; disregarding the wishes of 170 million American users to forcibly ban TikTok; and even put pressure on Twitter to delete 170,000 Chinese accounts and remove tens of thousands of anti-war posts. Where is the freedom of speech? You amend White House interview rules to marginalise and suppress ‘non-compliant’ media, and even have multiple journalists criminally charged for normal news reporting. Where is the freedom of the press? You violently suppress peaceful assemblies, wantonly arrest students participating in anti-war protests, unjustly persecute Chinese scientists, and invoke wartime laws to deport immigrants by force. Where is the so-called ‘freedom from fear’? The ‘beacon of freedom’ you claim to be has long been dark and collapsed!

— Let me ask the U.S. government and politicians: as the perpetrators of countless atrocities and wars, what qualifications do you have to talk about human rights? In the United States, gun violence claimed the lives of over 16,100 innocent civilians in 2024. The desperate plea of black man George Floyd, ‘I can't breathe,’ as he was being brutally restrained by police, still echoes in our ears. The Guantanamo Bay detention camp continues to be plagued by reports of torture, with some detainees held without trial for over 20 years. You have waged wars of aggression, causing the deaths of over 900,000 people and displacing countless civilians in your foreign military operations over the past 20 years. You have been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by multiple countries. Your hands are stained with blood. Yet you dare to wear the mask of ‘human rights defenders.’ This is truly shameless and a gross irony!

We solemnly warn the U.S. government and politicians that your schemes to ‘disrupt Hong Kong and contain China’ will never succeed! The Chinese government's resolve to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests is unwavering. Its commitment to implementing the ‘one country, two systems’ policy is unwavering. Its opposition to any external interference in Hong Kong's affairs is unwavering. The Chinese people have never believed in evil, feared ghosts, or been intimidated by oppression. The reckless actions of the U.S. government and politicians will only serve to unite all Chinese people even more closely together, including our compatriots in Hong Kong, and strengthen our resolve to safeguard national security and the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong. For all enemies who dare to attack, China has already ‘prepared its hunting rifles.’ The schemes to ‘disrupt Hong Kong and contain China’ are doomed to fail completely, and the death knell of hegemony is sounding ever louder!

InsightSpeak

** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **

Ng Hiuying

The conviction and sentencing of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying for conspiring to collude with foreign forces under Hong Kong’s National Security Law has drawn sustained international attention. Much of that attention has focused on Lai himself and on Apple Daily, the now-defunct newspaper he founded. Far less scrutiny, however, has been directed at the role of another media institution that has followed the case with striking persistence: The Wall Street Journal.

A review of the Journal’s coverage over the past year shows dozens of articles related to Lai, a substantial proportion of which are editorials or opinion pieces rather than straight news reporting. In both volume and continuity, this level of engagement exceeds that of most other major Western media outlets. The question, therefore, is not whether the case is newsworthy, but why this particular newspaper appears so invested in it.

The reasons become clearer when one examines the factual findings set out in the trial judgment.

An Unusually Dense Web of Personal Connections

In the court’s Reasons for Verdict, a document running to more than 800 pages, the term “Wall Street Journal” appears over 40 times. More importantly, Lai himself admitted in evidence that he had been “very close” to the Wall Street Journal people.

The judgment establishes that several key intermediaries who facilitated Lai’s contacts with senior US officials had professional ties to the Wall Street Journal. Mary Kissel and Matt Pottinger, both former editorial writers at the Wall Street Journal, later entered the highest levels of the US policy apparatus. In 2019, Kissel served as an aide to then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, while Pottinger was the Principal Deputy National Security Advisor. Another figure, David Feith —the Wall Street Journal’s former employee who later worked at the US State Department — was found to have conveyed advance information to Lai’s aide regarding Washington’s intention to revoke Hong Kong’s special status.

These connections were not incidental. They functioned as channels through which Lai gained access to figures such as Pompeo, Vice President Mike Pence, and other senior policymakers. In this sense, a shared professional background in the Journal’s opinion pages formed part of what might be described as the “lubricant” of Lai’s foreign lobbying activities.

The Journal as a Platform for Strategic Messaging

The judgment further records that in June 2019, former US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz suggested that Lai publish articles in major Western outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, to draw the attention of the White House to Hong Kong issues.

Crucially, the drafting of one such article was guided by Bill McGurn, Lai’s godfather and a member of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, who had previously served as President George W. Bush’s chief speechwriter. In an August 2019 draft sent by Lai to McGurn, Lai argued that the United States “must confront China, not appease it,” and urged measures including visa sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials’ families, international condemnation of China’s religious persecution, and the establishment of a congressional panel to “monitor Beijing’s adherence to Hong Kong’s basic law”.

This article, the court found, set the tone for Lai’s subsequent public messaging — in newspaper columns, social media posts, and online broadcasts. It functioned as a kind of manifesto. Subsequent events confirmed its impact: Lai was informed on 25 February 2020 that his Wall Street Journal article published days earlier, “China’s Facade of Stability,” had been well received by Pence and his senior aides, who were anxious to see Lai when here, and discuss, among other things, Hong Kong’s forthcoming election.

If Apple Daily served as Lai’s domestic platform, the Wall Street Journal operated as his principal international outlet — an external-facing channel aimed at Western governments and audiences. This division of labour, as the evidence suggests, was strategic rather than accidental.

After Arrest: From Reporting to Advocacy

Following Lai’s arrest and subsequent conviction, the Wall Street Journal adopted an overtly supportive editorial posture. Beyond reporting on procedural developments, it repeatedly issued editorials and opinion columns passing value judgments on Hong Kong’s judiciary and on the case itself.

These pieces rarely engaged with the detailed factual findings of the court. Instead, they tended to subsume the criminal proceedings into a broader narrative of “political persecution”, “press freedom”, and “human rights crisis”. One editorial notoriously characterised Lai’s 20-year sentence as a “death sentence”, while others employed terms such as “China abuse Jimmy Lai” and “the Communists torture Jimmy Lai” to describe the legal process.

Given McGurn’s senior role within the Journal and his personal relationship with Lai, it is not unreasonable to infer that many of these editorials were shaped, if not authored, by him. Whatever the case, the tone and framing of the coverage suggest something closer to an advocacy campaign than detached commentary. The invocation of press freedom appears less an abstract defence of principle than an effort to rally support around a long-cultivated political ally.

Understanding the Pattern

Seen in this light, the Wall Street Journal’s intense focus on the Lai case is not simply a matter of journalistic zeal or the defence of universal values. It reflects a convergence of personal networks, long-standing ideological alignment, and concrete political interests — all documented, in substantial part, in the court’s findings.

This context helps explain why the Journal has continued to publish commentary critical of the Hong Kong courts despite repeated official rebuttals from the Hong Kong Government and the Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong SAR. For readers, recognizing this background does not require agreement with the verdict. It does, however, suggest the need for caution.

To read the Journal’s editorials on the Lai case without reference to these entanglements is to risk mistaking advocacy for analysis. A more informed assessment requires looking beyond the rhetoric of freedom and examining the specific relationships and actions that the court found, on the evidence, to constitute collusion.

Only then can the debate proceed on a clearer factual footing.