The violent demonstrations have continued for over four months in Hong Kong. The atrocity of the rioters in black has been rampant as they are smashing, burning and destroying public and private properties. By October 10, more than 3/4 of Hong Kong’s railway stations have been attacked by the rioters, with 1,200 gate machines being damaged. For nearly two months, more than 100 restaurants have closed down. The unemployment has increased greatly in the catering service industry. Hong Kong’s economy has been weakest in these ten years, and its macro economy has fallen into a technical recession in the third quarter...The economy and livelihood of Hong Kong has received a heavy blow. The legal order, business environment and international image of Hong Kong have been affected seriously. If Hong Kong does not stop the rioting and disruption as soon as possible and come back to the focus of development, it is likely to suffer an unbearable loss, which will be a devastating consequence to the families of 7.50 million citizens of Hong Kong.

In the face of the predicament, the government of Special Administrative Region announced a relief measure with a worth of HKD 19.1 billion in August and another round of relief measures worth HKD 2 billion in October 22 focusing on logistics, tourism and retail sectors. All of these are “emergency treatment” to transfuse blood and cure the wound of Hong Kong, which should come sooner and faster. However, since the Legislative Council was resumed, the opposition representatives pulled different banners at the Legislative Council with an attempt to paralyze the administration. Some opposition officials directly went to the streets to “offer suggestions” and “encourage” the rioters. On one hand, they were attempting to stop the healing measures. On the other, they were inciting violence and bloodshed actions. The opposition party and the aggressive force were trying to “squeeze out” the resources accumulated by Hong Kongers for generations simply for their political interest. If they were unrestrained, the greatest victim in the end will be the ordinary citizens of Hong Kong.

In the past four months, people have been increasingly aware of a fact: Those opposition and aggressive force that are trying to drag Hong Kong into a pan-politicalization vortex have shared no interests with the majority of citizens. What they are trying to gain in the name of democracy, freedom and civic rights is no more than the political interests of a small number of people. They are “opposing simply for opposing”, inciting rampant riots and shouting aloud the so-called slogan of “recovering Hong Kong with a revolution of the times”, threatening to dissolve the Legislative Council and the police, and even establish a temporary government, constantly forcing Carrie Lam to resign or spreading rumors about “her resignation”. All of these actions have exposed their motive to make Hong Kong chaotic, overturn the government of the Special Administrative Region and come to power. They do not care about whether ordinary citizens can live in a bigger house, whether the youngsters can receive better education and the workers can increase income. Nathan Law, the “Hong Kong separatist”, posted to incite other students to hit the streets, yet he himself arrived in the US to start his master program studies. The traitors and rebels of Hong Kong such as Jimmy Lai, Martin Lee and Chan Fang On Sang often bad-mouth Hong Kong and the “One Country, Two Systems” in the United States, shamelessly begging the United States to sanction Hong Kong. They shouted crazily the slogan “making the economy worse for freedom” and did not feel guilty at all for sacrificing the future of Hong Kong. Undoubtedly, their stance and interests are on the same side with America. How can they really care about the future of Hong Kong? How can they stand together with the ordinary citizens of Hong Kong?

However, it’s more important to recognize and expose their political lies than realize the true features and purposes of the opposition politicians and radicals. They have attributed all problems of Hong Kong to the system, the government of Special Administrative Region and even the central government, calling Hong Kongers as “victims” and “sacrificial lambs” and claiming that all problems will be solved as long as the “double universal suffrage” is realized. As early as 2015, the Universal Suffrage Bill was denied by the opposition party out of private interest even though it was based on the fundamental law and related decisions of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and won the mainstream public opinion support in Hong Kong. It was self-evident that they simply intended to select a chief executive that dared to say no to Beijing. Besides, if economic development and people’s livelihood improvement can be brought to a region simply by introducing an electoral system, then there should have been no poverty and backwardness in the world. Let’s see some examples in the world. Ukraine has undergone a radical democratic reform, Tunisia has ushered in the Arab Spring, and some Latin American countries have received a “shock therapy”, yet they still cannot get rid of turmoil and recession. All these facts indicate that the opposition party and radicals simply intend to confuse the people’s minds with such a simple logic. What they care about is not real democracy or the public interests of Hong Kong.

Development is the foundation of Hong Kong as well as the correct way to solve the various problems in Hong Kong. Chan Mo-po said in introducing a new round of relief measures that Hong Kong has a solid financial strength, so the authorities will make a good use of the reserve accumulated over the years to roll out counter-cyclic measures at the right time. However strong the reserve of Hong Kong is, it still relies on a robust and lasting “source”. Once there were no supply from the source, it will dry up one day. Moreover, Hong Kong is a small export-oriented economy. The constant pan-politicalization and violence will simply worsen the harm to its endogenous power of economic development and the external confidence in its business environment and cause a permanent trauma to the people’s livelihood and well-being of all citizens. Only by getting out of the political turmoil and focusing on economic development and people’s livelihood improvement can the dust-covering Oriental pearl shine brightly again.

Who is the mastermind and accomplice behind the riot and violence, who should be responsible for the chaotic situation of Hong Kong? This has become increasingly clear to all those who love and protect Hong Kong. The “black terror” will never continue forever. The justice and conscience will definitely defeat the evil and violence.

Executive Editor: Bei Xu

Translation: Bei Xu, Wenjin Chen