Commentary: Western attacks on Hong Kong election make no sense

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The just-concluded election of the sixth-term chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has been widely recognized as a consolidation of the "patriots administering Hong Kong" principle and a new step toward democracy with Hong Kong characteristics.

However, a handful of politicians from a few Western countries launched an unscrupulous smear campaign, taking this opportunity to make malicious attacks on China.

Their obsolete tricks of creating a "trap of public opinion" and grossly interfering in China's internal affairs out of ideological bias again revealed the evil political agenda of some Western forces to make trouble in Hong Kong and contain China.

While issuing groundless and illogical slanders against the democracy in Hong Kong, the politicians ignored the truth that there is no one-size-fits-all democratic model in the world, and a sound democracy fits the reality of a specific region and works to solve its problems.

Over the past few months, three elections in Hong Kong -- the Election Committee election, the election of the Legislative Council, and the election of the chief executive -- have manifested the advantages of the new electoral system of the HKSAR as it ensures broad representation, political inclusiveness, balanced participation, and fair competition. The economic and social development in Hong Kong over the past year also demonstrated the obvious progressiveness and strong vitality of the new system in guaranteeing social stability, developing the economy, and improving people's well-being.

On the other hand, the so-called "electoral democracy" in the United States and some other Western countries is money-tainted votes and political shows by nature, where the interests of political parties and interest groups outweigh the public's long-term welfare.

By avoiding the shortcomings of the Western-style "election games," the new electoral system of Hong Kong has restored the election's role in selecting talented people with integrity and competence. Looking from this perspective, the groundless attacks by Western anti-China forces are, in nature, a shoddy democracy judging a sound one. It is a gross disrespect to the popular will of Hong Kong residents.

While Hong Kong's new electoral system prevents the anti-China agitators from participating in the HKSAR's governance structure, the agendas of the anti-China forces in the West have experienced a massive fiasco. The recent smear campaign exposed their frustration over the failure to install proxies in Hong Kong.

As a result of the implementation of the law on safeguarding national security in the HKSAR and the improvement of its electoral system, Hong Kong has returned to the right track, with the rule of law restored, the business environment improved, and the democratic rights and freedoms enjoyed by the people of Hong Kong in accordance with the law better protected.

This will definitely benefit the long-term stability and prosperity of Hong Kong with significant influence globally.