OPINION / VIEWPOINT
UK's Hong Kong finger-pointing reveals imperialist mindset
Published: Jun 29, 2022 02:42 PM
George Galloway Photo:Sun Wei/GT

George Galloway Photo:Sun Wei/GT

Editor's Note:


"The scorpion stings because it's a scorpion," George Galloway (Galloway), six-term British parliamentarian, told the Global Times when explaining Western countries' finger-pointing at Hong Kong-related affairs. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, but some Western politicians and media outlets still don't seem to understand the principle of "one country, two systems," or do not even acknowledge the fact that Hong Kong is part of China. What caused this misunderstanding? Will Western forces continue to play the Hong Kong card to put pressure on China? Galloway shared his views in an interview with Global Times (GT) reporter Li Aixin.



GT: What do you think is the reason behind the West's misunderstanding on Hong Kong-related affairs?

Galloway: You know the famous old saw that the scorpion stings because it's a scorpion. An imperialist and colonialist mindset works the way it does because it is a colonialist imperialist mindset. The truth is, Britain has never reconciled to its loss of empire and its diminution in the world to the tail of the American dog. Nobody wants to be a tail. But we have decided that we'd rather be the tail of the American dog than nothing at all. 

Consequently, when we act and express today the interference in China's internal affairs, we do so not on our own behalf, but on behalf of the American empire as the tail of the American dog. 

The common people are much more concerned with their own lives and the complete decline in the economic position that they have. They're not thinking about Hong Kong. But the rulers are thinking about Hong Kong and continuing to interfere in its business, and indeed interfere across the board. 

I discussed the orchestra - America is the conductor and different issues are different sections of the orchestra. The conductor brings them into play according to the needs of the hour. And Britain is more than ready to play its part in, never mind Hong Kong, the whole AUKUS, the phenomenon of this white Anglo-Saxon alliance against China. Talked about by Kevin Rudd, the former Australian prime minister, in his new book, it's unashamed, it is white Anglo-Saxon empire being reconstituted in front of our eyes in the AUKUS maneuvers. 

But in Hong Kong, we are going to live with the consequences because we have given hundreds of thousands of passports to Hong Kong Chinese citizens, and many of those Hong Kong people are going to turn up here. Where are we going to put them? What are we going to do with them? How are we going to find jobs for them? How are we going to find an appointment at the doctor for them or a place in school for their children? I have no idea because we can't do any of these things for our own people. Never mind the people from Hong Kong. 

It's frankly a ridiculous idea. You can get an appointment with the doctor here some weeks hence. You can get an appointment in the hospital here, months or even years hence. You can be on a waiting list to get your kid into school or your old mother into care for years. Unemployment, prices are rapidly rising. Shortages are multiplying on all kinds of essentials. People are no longer able to drive their cars. Why any Hong Kong person would want to come here is the first mystery. What we are going to do to accommodate them is an even bigger mystery. 



GT: Do other British people also share your views in this regard?

Galloway: Definitely, with a bit of racism. Having been an empire for hundreds of years, many British people have a very unhealthy attitude to foreigners, especially foreigners that don't look like them. Ukrainian foreigners seem to be an exemption for the moment. But foreigners who don't look like them are oftentimes the bane of unpleasant racism, discrimination and bigotry in my country. I'm sorry to say that. Racism is not confined to the British. There are many European countries where racism is even worse. 



GT: What is the British government's goal in doing that, being a US dog tail in containing China? 

Galloway:
Obviously, they would like to feed on some of the droppings of the elephant that they are following like a rat, but they're ready to follow the elephant, whatever happens. 

For example, in Iraq, Britain was the co-war criminal, and received nothing in return. When Iraq had been conquered and subjugated, all of the hundreds of billions that were then extorted from Iraq, contracts, rebuilding and so on, the control over the oil resources of Iraq, all of them went to the US and US corporations. 

The British received nothing in return for their co-criminality in the invasion, occupation and destruction of Iraq. I like to think that one day they will pay the price nonetheless. But they did not actually benefit or profit from it in any way. It seems Britain is ready to act in that way whether or not there is any material interest. 

In fact, Britain is frequently acting against its own material interest. After Brexit, leaving the European Union, Britain could have been an independent country in the world of some value, and the rising tide of economic strength and human strength in what we call the East could have been our oyster. We could have been an honest broker among the BRICS countries, for example. But we've made enemies of the BRICS countries. We've made enemies, above all, of China, when we had no need to do so at all. Everyone could have been in a win-win situation. But we chose instead the path of war and preparation for war against the very people where the sun is rising, where the tide is rising, where the wealth and population is rising. We turned our face away from those. 

GT: Against the current political atmosphere in the UK, do you feel pressure when you raise voices on Hong Kong-related affairs? 

Galloway:
I'm too long in the tooth to feel pressure. I'm an independent man, a political leader of a party. I served six terms in the British parliament, I have millions or followers. I'm kind of invulnerable to pressure. But there's no doubt that people more vulnerable than me do feel pressure. We feel suppression in our social media activities. For example, they have stamped me on Twitter with the absolutely false label that I am Russian state media. 

I'm no state media, but that doesn't stop them stamping every one of my pronouncements, whether about football or my children or about high politics, with the label Russian state media. And I have millions of followers. So that falsehood is being circulated millions of times every day. 

I'm sorry to tell you even TikTok is now suppressing my work. They just banned a video of mine first time that's never happened, a video that has not been banned on either Twitter or Facebook or YouTube, a video that states an incontestable fact about Mike Pompeo, the former head of the CIA, the former secretary of state of the US under the unhinged administration of Donald Trump. 

If there is one thing that defines me, it is opposition to imperialism. I hate bigger, powerful people bullying smaller, less powerful people. I hate it on a global scale. The Hong Kong situation is as clear as day. Britain was only ever in Hong Kong because of imperial bullying. Now that it has gone and the people who were bullied have taken back that which was always rightfully theirs, then truthfully, morally, you can do no other than to side with China. 

I'm a British person fighting for my own ethos here in Britain, in the characteristics of English, in the colors of Britain. But right is right and wrong is wrong. And the attitude of my country, right or wrong, is utterly bankrupt intellectually and morally. If my country is doing wrong, who more than me has a responsibility to stand up against it. That's what I do.

GT: Do you think the US and some Western countries will continue to use the Hong Kong issue to put pressure on the Chinese government in the future? What form might it take? 

Galloway: I absolutely do. But China seems to have stabilized the situation in Hong Kong for now. And I'm sure great attention is being paid to ensuring that it stays that way. 

I talked earlier about the concept of an orchestra, a chorus. The conductor's eyes are on elsewhere at the moment. They are on Taiwan. There's the constant, dismal drill of lies about the Uygur question. Tibet is quiet for now, but they'll be back. China has to be alert every day, because the enemy never sleeps. And China has to, if I may say so, sharpen its rebuttal skills. 

The Uygur question is a very good case in point. I was once the hero of virtually 100 percent of British Muslims. Now, I'm the hero of 50 percent. Half of my strength in the British Muslim community has been lost because of my defense of China in relation to the Uygur question. I don't think that China is defending itself well enough and strongly enough on that question. I'm happy to help and to do my bit, but we need all guns firing in the same direction when we are under attack. It's untrue, it's a lie that China is engaged in a genocide, or cultural genocide and that the Uygur people are suffering. 

And it's a lie being told by the same people who told all the other lies about Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea, and about all the other things that they have lied about. The same liars are doing the lying. We have to stand up for them, even if it seems we're pushing a boulder uphill. We have no alternative, but to keep pushing it. 

China has to use whatever security is necessary to defend its national boundaries. That is obvious. It is the very definition of a state that it can defend its borders from subversion, from outside, from forces that seek to divide or weaken, or even break up China. That is not just your right. It's your responsibility. But security isn't just about force alone. Force is necessary, but not sufficient. An ideological struggle has to be maintained at home to foster a spirit of national unity and determination. And rebuttal of enemy propaganda. These are all essential weapons that China must deploy if it is to prevail. And we need a bit more of that going round in the West. And tell TiKTok to unban me.