Letters | The US is worried about Hong Kong protests and police action – that’s rich

With the Senate passing the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, the US is once again asserting its moral superiority. The track record of its own police force, however, leaves much to be desired

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Representative Chris Smith (left), sponsor of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, talks about the bill as visiting Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong looks on, in Washington on September 26. Photo: Handout

Published: 2:00am, 24 Nov 2019Updated: 4:08pm, 25 Nov 2019

Readers of the Post must be aware that the US Senate passed a bill supporting the “protesters” in Hong Kong and warning the Chinese government not to erode the city’s autonomy. Threats were implied – the usual sanctions and economic weapons aimed at international trade.

As ever, I find myself wondering why the United States, which likes to uphold itself as an exemplary democracy and standard-bearer for world morality, needs to interfere so provocatively and sanctimoniously in other countries’ affairs when its own domestic issues – mass shootings and gun control, drug abuse, homelessness, lawlessness, racial inequality, political corruption and exponential debt – are demonstrably out of control.

Rather than leave the handling of Hong Kong’s rioters to our local police, who must be mentally and physically exhausted – or for that matter the People’s Liberation Army, who will probably not intervene for political reasons – I’d like to suggest the US send us a detachment of their own police to help calm things down.

I’ve observed with interest the way they deal with riots, insurrections and especially “self-defence” in their own country.

Robert Smailes, Pok Fu Lam

US and UK would do well to address the mess at home

As one of the residents who helped clear up Pok Fu Lam Road last weekend – in between dodging two petrol bombs thrown at us – I started wondering about all the US and UK politicians and other do-gooders who keep airing their views on Hong Kong. Imagine if your child had not gone to school for a week, or your sick grandmother hadn’t been able to go to hospital, or you had seen a man set alight for offering his views (isn’t that part of a democracy?), a man hit by a brick while taking a photo who later died, over a 100 petrol bombs thrown at police, or a police media liaison officer shot in the leg with an arrow – would you perhaps have a different take on what is happening in Hong Kong?