The central government and the HKSAR government have objected many times to wanton and glaring interference by certain Western governments and politicians in Hong Kong affairs, which are China’s domestic affairs. But, allegedly out of their “obligation to support and safeguard freedom and democracy” everywhere, those Western governments and politicians have studiously kept their dirty hands in Hong Kong affairs in total disregard for the fundamental principles of international law and the norms governing practices in international relations as long as they saw fit.

In light of the current precarious situation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, it is necessary to remind sovereign states around the world of the real and present danger those hegemony addicts constantly pose to all nations of the world whenever an internal political turmoil happens. Those Western powers would invariably try to prop up the side they favor with covert meddling if not direct intervention, a case in point is the anti-China and anti-SAR government campaign going on in Hong Kong with the now-dead extradition bill as an excuse. That is exactly what Xie Feng, commissioner of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the HKSAR, presented in great detail at an international forum on international law held in Hong Kong on Thursday.

In a keynote speech, Xie shared his experience as a diplomat of 33 years and academic insight in the current state of international law, focusing on the principles of sovereign equality and non-interference, the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and the “one country, two systems” principle tailor-made for Hong Kong and Macao, which are absolutely relevant and eye-opening in the context of the current state of affairs in Hong Kong.

Given the fact that US and UK politicians have been most outspoken about why they must support the escalating violence used by radical protesters despite a humanitarian crisis in the making and growing public condemnation of lawlessness in Hong Kong, the world needs to know exactly who have been undermining international law to serve their own national interests all along.

It is pointless to wonder now if the US and UK governments have all but buried the existing international law, which was constructed under their leadership and dominance to begin with. Let’s just take it as another example of how they seldom if ever failed to eat their own words and paid the price of doing so one way or another. There must be more than enough such accounts kept by any number of sovereign states whose very existence has been threatened if not violated by Western powers with “freedom” and “democracy” as excuses.

All previous “political crises” caused by the opposition camp in Hong Kong with Washington and London’s blessing and generous support have backfired without exception. This time, we see no evidence they can cheat their fate, either. It’s how politics works, whether they like it or not.