An open letter to the US consulate-general in Hong Kong ,
Updated: 2015-05-09 08:38
(China Daily)
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Mr Clifford Hart
According to media reports, members of your Congress are meeting our Chief Executive to discuss constitutional reform and democratic development from May 7 to 9.
We understand the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China is particularly concerned that Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy is upheld and to ensure this, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act was tabled earlier this year, which will make Hong Kong ineligible for different treatment under US law unless your president certifies to Congress that Hong Kong is sufficiently autonomous.
But the reality is: The US should have a better idea than most about what is happening in respect of constitutional reform and democratic development, since agents of your government have been playing an active role in both these areas in Hong Kong.
Since 1997 two US government-funded NGOs, National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and its subsidiary, National Democratic Institute (NDI), have infiltrated significant sectors of Hong Kong society, including universities, think tanks, civic society organizations and the Legislative Council in a sophisticated, targeted campaign to interfere in the internal politics of Hong Kong. In fact, it would be safe to say, when the British left Hong Kong in 1997, the US moved in!
What has most alarmed Beijing can be seen at the secret meeting held on Nov 15, 2009, when Belinda Winterbourne, the NDI program manager in Hong Kong, conspired with legislators Cyd Ho Sau-lan, Gary Fan Kwok-wai and others to trigger the de facto civil referendum, which resulted in the resignation of five Legislative Council (LegCo) members in January 2010. These are the words Belinda Winterbourne used at that meeting.
"Christian raised the point that how much time do we have. Just now he mentioned you know 'til January for example, but let's say if we did want to conduct a civil referendum let's say between now and the end of the (inaudible), how long does it usually take to educate the public on civil referendum, cos I presume that you'd have to do a lot of publicity prior to the actual exercise umm and educate them why we are doing this and you know how does that vote count eventually".
This meeting was videotaped and put on YouTube. Once you view the tapes, you will understand the stark truth - agents from your country have infiltrated LegCo!
It is difficult to understand what the US's intent is from this report: whether you want to bring about constitutional reform in Hong Kong or destabilize Hong Kong, because you have certainly achieved the latter. Only the authors of these efforts can answer this question, which is why we request you to take the following actions:
1. Based on the information we have provided you, inform your president of what has happened, so that he can honestly brief Congress on the actual situation in Hong Kong;
2. Request the Office of Inspector General, USAID, to conduct a thorough enquiry into USAID's role in these activities;
3. When your president informed President Xi Jinping in November 2014 there was no US involvement in the "Occupy" protests, he possibly wasn't aware of these programs, which means he wasn't briefed or someone in the administration lied to him. We want that person or those persons to be held accountable!
4. Given the damage done to Hong Kong, we would like separate congressional enquiries into these activities, particularly in relation to the lack of government and congressional oversight on what is ostensibly being done in the name of the US;
5. Finally, we would like someone to apologize to the people of Hong Kong for the damage that has been done.
Our report can be found in full at Pages 2 to 144 of Volume 8 of Appendix II (Public Views) of the Consultation Report and Proposals on the Method for Selecting the Chief Executive by Universal Suffrage at www.2017.gov.hk.
In November 2014, USAID announced it would be reviewing some of its secret democracy-promotion programs in countries and regions hostile to their efforts. Given that neither the country nor Hong Kong welcome NED and NDI meddling in the SAR's internal affairs, we would like the NED and NDI programs in Hong Kong to be reviewed and terminated.
In a show of good faith, perhaps you could start by stopping all NED and NDI funding activities related to Hong Kong, de-register the NDI's Hong Kong company (Company Registry No: F0012606), close NDI's field office and terminate all NDI staff contracts.
Congressional and internal government enquiries may take longer, but at some stage we would like the outcome of the various enquiries to be made public. We have asked you to "name and shame" the collaborators. Until this issue is resolutely resolved, there can be no progress on the next steps of political reform in Hong Kong. Your amateur interference in Hong Kong's political scene has led to issues concerning national security. Whether this improves or not is now in your hands.
Finally, when any Hong Kong politicians, individuals or groups make statements related to Hong Kong affairs to any congressmen or appear before any committees in the US, can you ensure they make conflict of interest declarations first, so the public of Hong Kong may know who these people represent?
We thought the US was our friend. You have betrayed us, but Hong Kong is a tough city. We will get over it. It would be harder to reconcile with the politicians who have sold their souls and betrayed the people of Hong Kong.
We have copied this letter widely, because not only has someone got a lot of explaining to do, someone also have a lot of apologizing to do. Sooner or later, that someone has to tell the people of Hong Kong the truth and frankly, because the US got us into this mess, we think the US should get us out of it. We are hoping that someone is you and the sooner you do this, the better!
Kevin Law,
Hong Kong Democracy Watch.
May 4, 2015.
(China Daily 05/09/2015 page6)