China spotlights army drill amid HK protests

AN ARMY-linked newspaper in China has run photos of a week- old mi l it a r y d r i l l i n Hong Kong, a move analysts described as a warning to Beijing’s crit ics as t he cit y grapples wit h a wave of anti-government protests.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has maintained a garrison in Hong Kong since the former British colony was returned to Beijing in 1997, but its troops generally keep a low profile and are rarely seen in uniform in public.

The unit’s routine military exercises have not attracted much attention in the past.

But a PLA-affiliated newspaper posted photos of the weekold military drill on Tuesday – a day after pro-democracy protesters ransacked Hong Kong’s legislature and left anti-Beijing messages on its walls in an unprecedented show of anger.

Huge ra l l ies have sha ken t he semi-autonomous ter r itory since last month, sparked by opposit ion to a bi l l t hat would a l low ex t radit ions to the Chinese mainland.

The PLA Daily said on its verified account on the Twitterlike Weibo platform that the joint exercise last Wednesday – which involved ground forces, the navy and the air force – were aimed at “reviewing and raising the units’ combat abilities in emergency dispatches”.

The photos showed Chinese soldiers pointing automatic rifles on a boat, a PLA helicopter, and warships.

“The intention of this exercise is obvious. It is to warn the Hong Kong independence elements and to deter foreign interference in Hong Kong affairs,” said Ni Lexiong of the Shanghai National Defence Strategy Institute.

“If things develop to a more extreme level, and if the Hong Kong government isn’t able to cope with the situation, the central government may use troops.”

Zhu Yonghua, a naval commander involved in the exerc i s e, told t he Communist Pa r t y mout hpiece People’s Daily t hat t he drills will help i mprove t he Chi nese mi l it a r y ’s abi l it y to “help t he Hong Kong government protect t he lives and propert y of its cit i zens”.

Beijing on Tuesday called for a criminal investigation into the storming of the Hong Kong legislature, which it described as a “blatant challenge” to the “one countr y, t wo systems” policy that has given the city its semi-autonomous status for 22 years.

China has also lashed out against “foreign interference” in Hong Kong.

“The announcement of the PLA exercise by China’s state media is a not-so-subtle message to Hong Kong and the world that China would ultimately be willing to resort to force in order to secure its interests in Hong Kong,” said Adam Ni, a researcher on Chinese foreign and security policy at Macquarie University in Australia.

The Chinese military received official ownership of a piece of prime Hong Kong waterfront land on Saturday, which will allow its warships to berth in the city’s famed Victoria Harbour in future.