It is no less unfortunate for American people than for Chinese people that Washington's alt--right politicians, who have been desperate to promote their political persuasions and ideology, have indulged in a China--bashing frenzy of late.

Last Friday's new round of Washington "sanctions" inflicted on six Chinese officials, including some from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, came hard on the heels of a new batch of Chinese companies being added to the US blacklist, including the aviation company Skyrizon, smartphone maker Xiaomi and plane maker Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China.

The escalation of the China--bashing frenzy in Washington has been widely seen by observers as the Donald Trump administration's last--ditch effort to further poison Sino--US relations in an attempt to lay as many political land mines as possible for the incoming Joe Biden administration.

But last Friday's "sanctions" against six central government and Hong Kong SAR government officials for their roles in "developing, adopting, or implementing the National Security Law" in Hong Kong, as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement, have also exposed the frustration among the anti-China hawks in Washington at their failure to maintain their proxies and foot soldiers in Hong Kong.

After Hong Kong promulgated a national security law on June 30 last year, local groups opposed to the government have scrambled to disband, with the Union for New Civil Servants being the latest. Many external anti--China forces that were operating in the SAR in the guise of NGOs have moved to other places, and known separatists and subversives have either fled Hong Kong or are facing trial.

It is conceivable that Pompeo and other anti-China politicians in Washington were operating under the delusion that their "maximum pressure" campaign would bring China to its knees, as it had some smaller nations. But such a tactic won't work with China. Rather, their China--bashing frenzy has not only exposed their contempt for political decency, international laws and the basic norms governing international relations but also their hegemonic convictions.

There is no earthly reason for the likes of Pompeo to have harbored so much animosity toward the national security law in Hong Kong other than that it has in effect stopped Hong Kong from being exploited as a bridgehead to advance their geopolitical agenda against China.

Whatever fig leaves the alt--right politicians in Washington employ to cover up their blatant interference in Hong Kong affairs, they are nothing more than self--deceiving excuses. "Democracy", "civil rights", "freedom of speech" and any other high--sounding rhetoric cannot fool the world into believing that they hold the moral high ground when they attempt to deprive a sovereign country of its legitimate right to safeguard national security by promulgating necessary laws.