China Likens Zimbabwean Scenario To Hong Kong
China’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, Guo Shaochun has compared the country to the Chinese self-governing territory of Hong Kong.
Guo was speaking in the context of the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States of America, the Zimbabwe Democracy Recovery Act (ZDERA).
Guo expressed his sentiments at the Chinese Embassy in Harare on Wednesday during the handover of US$13 million to Zimbabwe to assist in Cyclone Idai recovery efforts. He said:
What happened in Hong Kong has gone far beyond the scope of freedom of assembly, procession and demonstration and these radical, violent activities that severely undermine Hong Kong’s rule of law and social order, gravely threaten the life and property of Hong Kong’s citizens.
Though China and Zimbabwe are geographically apart, what happened in Hong Kong may not be unfamiliar to Zimbabweans especially when some members of the US Congress, once again, proposed the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which cannot, but remind people of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001.
It is an old trick for the US to use sanctions to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs in furthering its own interests. The practices of some countries towards Zimbabwe and Hong Kong have once again exposed their hypocrisy and double standards.
China is a one-party state where democracy, as understood by the Greeks who invented the system, does not exist. There are numerous restrictions imposed on citizens which are considered anathema in Western countries.
