Lawbreaking is beyond the realm of freedom

Ideological bigotry is so woefully powerful that Western establishments and politicians are easily tempted to criticize China for whatever it does or whatever it doesn't. For them, China - and now its Hong Kong Special Administrative Region - can do nothing right.

But their collective outburst over the arrest of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, founder of the tabloid-style Apple Daily newspaper, does nothing more than exposing hypocrisy at its finest.

Those Western establishments and politicians were so consumed by their instinctive ideological bias against China that they didn't see any need to at least glance at the incriminating evidence the police are expected to present to the court when Lai and other arrestees are formally charged for national-security-related offenses. Instead, they jumped to the conclusion that the new National Security Law implemented in the Hong Kong SAR is being used to "suppress civil freedom", and so on.

They still refuse to accept the plain reality that Hong Kong, as a special administrative region of China, is constitutionally obligated to safeguard national security and has the right to ensure the well-being of residents with the needed laws. This refusal comes despite the fact that the yearlong social unrest has shaken the city to its core, and that most jurisdictions in the world have a national security regime. They are also oblivious to the fact that the constitutions of more than 100 countries stipulate that the exercise of civil rights and freedoms must not endanger national security.

The hasty conclusion that the arrests "further stoke fears that the National Security Law is being used to stifle freedom of expression and of the media in Hong Kong" is one of an instinctive response, rather than one made after a well-thought-out process.

The Western establishments and politicians conveniently ignored the fact that Lai's Apple Daily enjoyed a great deal of freedom of expression to continue with its Beijing-bashing on the very next day after he was arrested, as all other anti-Beijing media outlets have done after the National Security Law came into force one and a half months ago.

That US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wasted no time joining the China-bashing chorus surprised no one. His remarks on Lai's arrest shouldn't have been taken seriously. After all, he has been well known as one of the modern-day Pinocchios who has told numerous lies. As a matter of fact, he openly admitted: "We lied, we cheated, we stole."

But that didn't prevent Pompeo from inadvertently telling us a truth: "Lai was nothing more than a patriot". That is truth. Lai is a patriot of the United States who holds a British passport.