"Hong Kong is a member of the big family of the motherland. It is also our home." This is the common view of the 6.8 million Hong Kong people. Since Hong Kong affairs are the internal affairs of China, no foreign countries are entitled to intervene. This is the general consensus of the international community, according to a signed article released by China News Agency Wednesday night. Excerpt follows:

Recently Martin Lee "ran away from his family" to the United States and played a duet with anti-China politician Sam Brownback to sell out and harm Hong Kong people's interests.

Lee has always colluded with foreigners for political gain. Whenever a controversy arises, he cannot wait to ask foreign countries for help, discredit "One Country, Two Systems" and oppose the Basic Law. He did that before the Hong Kong handover and has continued to do so afterwards.

At the US Senate hearing, Lee claimed that he "had the obligation to explain to the international community the present situation of democratic development in Hong Kong and the demands of local people". How preposterous! Hong Kong affairs are nothing but China's internal matters and the SAR's "family affairs". Why were foreigners invited to step in and make wanton remarks?

The constitutional development in Hong Kong has to conform to the provisions of the Basic Law. It also requires the consensus of the local community and opinions from the central government. This has been recognized by all sectors of Hong Kong society.

Yet, Lee has insisted on excluding the central authorities from the exercise and bypassing the Basic Law. He has attempted to use universal suffrage to stir up political rows, divide society and cast a shadow on the SAR's political stability and economic development.

Realizing that universal suffrage was unlikely to materialize at an early date, Lee took the initiative to approach foreign forces with a view to using them to exert pressure on Beijing and wreak havoc on Hong Kong's political scene.

Lee's testimony at the US Senate went against the will of the majority of Hong Kong people, who would never agree with such a treasonous pawn of foreigners.

Who is Sam Brownback? Why did he, with no connection with Hong Kong whatsoever, scheme with Lee to interfere in Hong Kong's affairs?

For a long time, Brownback has been harboring evil motives against China, incessantly using "democracy" and "human rights" as pretexts to drive a wedge between Hong Kong people and the central government.

Back in early January, Brownback delivered a speech in Hong Kong, querying the implementation of the Basic Law and distorting the democracy and freedoms Hong Kong people enjoy. His act aroused their aversion and led to a rebuttal from the Chinese Government.

During the hearing on March 8, Brownback again made comments on the internal affairs of Hong Kong and the mainland. Next day, the Asian Wall Street Journal published his article in which he voiced support for "Hong Kong's dream-makers" - moral support for Lee. In the article, Brownback accused the Chinese Government of suppressing Hong Kong's democratization, and even claimed that Hong Kong's affairs were not purely the internal matters of China.

As a US Senator, Brownback is fond of commenting on other countries' affairs, an act that is in complete violation of international protocols. Hong Kong people neither need nor welcome such foreign intervention.

The SAR's sovereignty belongs to China and the city's affairs are China's internal matters. This is something that cannot be denied or altered.

It is for his own interests that Lee has introduced foreign intervention. Such an ugly performance was done out of his own initiative and must not be taken as the will of Hong Kong people. Nor should Brownback's open attempt to "internationalize" Hong Kong affairs be interpreted as a representation of the wish of the American people.

People like Lee and Brownback are attacking China from within and without under the pretense of "democracy", but their moves are a total misjudgment of the situation and wishful thinking.

In accordance with the Basic Law, "One Country, Two Systems" will be practised in Hong Kong for 50 years, a policy that nobody can change. Neither can anybody negate Hong Kong's democratization which is making gradual and orderly progress.

Practice has proven that it is Hong Kong people who hold the key to the solution of Hong Kong problems and to their own future rather than Lee and those of his ilk as well as their foreign masters who consider themselves "saviors".

(China Daily HK Edition March 18, 2004)