Think twice before commenting on disturbances in Hong Kong

　　2019年11月19日，驻澳大利亚使馆临时代办王晰宁在《澳大利亚金融评论报》发表署名文章《香港事务不容说三道四》。全文如下：

　　最近，澳大利亚媒体充斥着关于香港暴力活动的画面，暴力分子毁坏公共设施和商店，封堵道路交通，焚烧列车车厢，无端袭击乘客，践踏大学校园，暴力虐待女性。一名香港七旬清洁工被砖头砸中身亡。一群暴徒因不满一名普通市民反对他们的破坏活动，竟向其浇淋易燃液体并点火焚烧，导致该市民瞬间成为“火人”。然而，西方媒体却从未将这些行凶者称为犯罪分子。

On 19 November 2019, The Australian Financial Review published a signed article Think twice before commenting on disturbances in Hong Kong by Mr. Wang Xining, Charge d'Affaires of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China to Australia. The full text is as follows:

Television news has lately been awash with violent scenes in Hong Kong. Public utilities and shops are vandalised. Public transport and streets are blocked. Train carriages are set on fire. Passengers are assaulted by masked black-shirts. University campuses are ransacked. Women are brutalised. A 70-year-old street cleaner lost his life after being hit by a brick. A man who opposed violence was badly burnt after the mob soaked him with combustible liquid.

However, Western reporters and commentators never label the perpetrators as criminals.

　　在面对雨点般袭来的石块、棍棒、汽油弹、弓箭以及可致人失明的激光照射和致命砍打时，香港警方保持了最大限度的克制。然而，他们家人的信息遭曝光，人身安全受到威胁。一名警员向试图抢夺其配枪的暴徒开枪后，竟有人扬言要把他10岁的女儿从窗户扔下去。香港警方的表现受到了全球同行的赞誉，其中也包括澳大利亚警方。在近期处理“反抗灭绝”游行示威时，澳大利亚警方运用了类似的应对方式。而西方媒体和政客不断质疑和指责的是香港警方，而非暴力分子。

The Hong Kong police exercised maximum restraint under a rain of stones and sticks, Molotov cocktails, shots from catapults and arrows fired by archers, blinding laser beams, and in a number of cases, attempted lethal slashes at their bodies. Information on their families is exposed, and their safety threatened.

Someone claimed that they would throw out of a window the 10-year-old daughter of a police officer who shot someone attempting to steal his gun. The performance of the Hong Kong police was highly praised by professional police forces around the world including in Australia, where police recently handled the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations with similar skill and discipline. But they are constantly questioned and berated by Western media and politicians.

　　暴力分子企图将其恶行与捍卫民主与法治划等号。然而事实证明，他们的所作所为是在公然违背并损害香港的民主与法治。“乱港代言人”邵岚在接受德国之声主持人蒂姆·塞巴斯蒂安（Tim Sebastian）采访时表现出病态的逻辑、混乱的思维、对民主的误解以及企图凌驾于法律之上的态度，令主持人和所有观众感到震惊与失望。

Thugs in the streets try to equate their extreme tactics with peaceful protests in defence of democracy and rule of law. But their actions blatantly counteract and undermine democracy and the rule of law.

People tend to blame the incumbent government for grievances in daily life, but it was the opposition in the Hong Kong legislature that thwarted rounds of proposals by the executive to restructure the city's economy and improve its resilience against growing competition.

　　香港一些人将生活中的不满归咎于特区政府，然而，当特区政府提出有关议案，希望调整香港经济结构、提升香港竞争力，一再阻挠议案的正是香港立法会反对派。2015年，也是因为反对派议员的否决，香港特区政府根据“8·31”决定制定的普选法案未获得通过。撤回《逃犯条例》是激进分子所谓的“诉求”，殊不知，早在1998年，由李柱铭领导的反对派就曾极力主张与大陆签订引渡协议。

People believe universal suffrage would be a panacea, despite being not, but it was the opposition that in 2015 blocked legislation giving every Hong Konger a vote for their chief executive. People attribute the outbreak of conflict to the proposed amendment to extradition legal instruments, but it was the opposition headed by Martin Lee that vehemently advocated an extradition agreement with the mainland back in 1998.