Chinese Foreign Ministry Accuses British Lord Chris Patten of Incitement to Riot

May 22, 2020 (EIRNS)—Chris Patten, the last British Governor of Hong Kong, in a May 20 video conference with the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club, moved to inflame Hong Kong by stating that the “protesters,” in Hong Kong “shouldn’t lose faith, heart and dignity.... I don’t think you can kill or lock up or tear gas into submission the idea of freedom.”

The Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) issued May 21 a strong denunciation, stating that Patten had distorted the “One Country, Two Systems,” and the Basic Law, in a statement “Spokesperson of the Commissioner’s Office: Chris Patten Will Be Condemned to Everlasting Infamy.”

The spokesman called it “both ridiculous and despicable that that Chris Patten, the pathetic ‘last governor of Hong Kong,’ should still cling to colonialist mentality and overreach himself to meddle with Hong Kong affairs 23 years after the city’s return to its motherland.

“Since the unrest following the proposed amendment bill last year, Chris Patten and his ilk have eagerly twisted the truth, slung mud at the HKSAR Government’s law-based governance, and venomously attacked the Hong Kong police’s restrained law enforcement efforts, in a bid to sow social division and trample law and order. At the critical juncture when the united efforts of the Hong Kong community against COVID-19 have made initial progress, Chris Patten again anxiously thrust himself forward and applied his familiar tactic. Turning a blind eye to the well-being of the Hong Kong citizens, he instigated the youth to continue acting as willing pawns of the rioters for the latter’s political gains, and incited confrontation against the Hong Kong police who are committed to protecting people’s life and property safety. He tried to turn the HKSAR against the Central Government, endorsed the anti-China troublemakers in the city, and even fired groundless accusations at the Chinese government’s achievements in COVID-19 response. By doing so, Chris Patten has pitted himself against all Chinese people, including our Hong Kong compatriots. He has and will continue to be condemned by the international community, and will only end up as a historical notoriety.”