According to the British academic and author Martin Jacques, the reaction of Western countries against China’s enactment of its National Security Law in the Hong Kong Special Administration Region is riddled with hypocrisy and stems from blatant disrespect for China’s sovereignty.
Jacques, a former senior fellow at Cambridge University, has commented on the current developments in China and has said that he believes that Western nations, led by UK and the US, are resisting China’s exercising of its sovereign rights in Hong Kong because they still regard Hong Kong to be party theirs.
He has said that this is an example of an affliction and psychological condition of old imperial powers such as Britain, who are unable to let go of their “golden era”. He has also suggested that criticism over the security laws in Hong Kong come down to fundamental disagreements about Chinese sovereignty over the city.
Speaking to ‘China Daily’, Jacques has said that these issues are being viewed the UK through “the prism of colonial rule and colonial responsibility” and that the West believes that it represents the norms and values of the modern world. It is because of this, Jaques says, that western nations resort to a narrative with “an underlying malicious tone questioning China’s legitimacy”.
In a final comment, Jaques explains how China may have broken Hong Kong free from colonial rule back in 1997, but the West still has yet to break free from its colonial mindset.
