Hong Kong citizens gather to protest the US and the UK's interference in China's internal affairs. Photo: cnsphoto

Factfulness is a best-selling book about truth found in important statistics that chronicle human progress. The thoughts of this book remind me of the commitment to my own writings on China; if something is not reasonable and evidently the case, then don't write it. Don't say it. Don't publish it.  

With that in mind, today we consider (just one day after Beijing finally passed National Security Law for Hong Kong), a front page story on CNN which states, "Hong Kong was facing up to a new reality on Wednesday, after China's central government imposed a sweeping national security law late the night before that critics say stripped the city of its autonomy and precious civil and social freedoms, and cements Beijing's authoritarian rule over the territory."

Fortunately, we can see the planted intentional distortions by anti-China critics. They claim that alleged "precious freedoms" that are being taken away by an evil regime. The opposite is true. The freedom to live in a stable society is insured. The ability to offer peaceful protest remains. What should be of great concern to every thinking citizen is how these lies about so many aspects of China (the pandemic, Hong Kong and of course, the National Security Law) have already been exposed. 

In 2020, the pandemic has shown us with the finality of a chisel in granite stone that the West lies. Why would someone persist in lying only to further destroy their own image and credibility? We must ask: What do they actually want to gain in the end? What is their true end game? In answering those questions, as any good sales and persuasion course might teach us, the No.1 goal is to know what the other party wants and why they want it - their true motivation. 

In considering these matters from a longer, historical perspective, we can easily come to the conclusion that the other party wants (in simplest yet accurate terms) to cling to its deteriorating power. However, we see a much larger problem looming above this; the insidious means of attaining their goal. This means they will engage in tactics that blatantly undermine, sabotage and falsify. Even just a moderate effort to observe these affairs reveals obvious, repeated tropes; anti-China attacks are intended as a distraction from their own failures. The further saber-rattling says that the Chinese regime is an evil authoritarian regime, and why? Because China's Communist Party wants to control your freedom and control your thoughts.  

Such accusations are worn like the sole on an old shoe. Let's consider the average citizen of the world, say of Munich, Germany, or of Nashville, Tennessee in the lovely southern US. Or in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province in Northeast China. And of course, the fine citizens of Hong Kong. What do 90 percent of the mothers, fathers, grandparents and young adults of these fine cities all have in common? 

None of them plan on committing crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign powers against their country. It is so obvious, isn't it? And if they did commit such crimes, they would be arrested as expected. In fact, by comparison, the US has many national security-related laws. Along with the UK, a review of these country's national security laws reveals them to be far more draconian and severe. This makes it impossible for them to justify any objection to another civilized society (such as Hong Kong) for having similar security laws in place. Real people in the real world do not care about political gyrations. They care about daily life. 

I am glad to know that living in the security, stability and safety of a society is a right which the government of the country my family resides in takes seriously. While clearly the West has moved into a "post-truth" period adorned by a neo-liberal facade of freedom, this has proven itself again and again to only introduce increasingly pointless chaos  into the lives of people who want nothing more than to live as good citizens within a civil, stable society.

Neither propaganda nor opinion being espoused by certain personalities and press in the West can deter the factual reality of truth in China. Especially in the coming days of Hong Kong. 

The author is CEO, M Communications Group and a senior fellow, Center for China & Globalization. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn