China’s warning on cost of protests in Hong Kong
The Chinese government warned yesterday that all of Hong Kong ‘‘will pay’’ if protests continue, and reiterated its support for the city’s leaders in handling the crisis.
‘‘The central government firmly supports chief executive Carrie Lam and her office to administrate in accordance with the law, and the Hong Kong police to justly execute the law,’’ said Yang Guang, a spokesman with the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, which reports to China’s cabinet.
‘‘If the turbulence continues, the whole of Hong Kong society will pay the cost,’’ he warned. Yang said protests could not be allowed to harm national security, challenge Beijing’s authority or use Hong Kong to undermine China.
While urging residents not to sup- port ‘‘violent’’ protests, he did not address accusations of police brutality during weeks of peaceful rallying – a key source of demonstrators’ anger.
In the office’s first press conference since its establishment when Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, Yang offered no olive branches to protesters who have pitched the city into political chaos in which millions have poured on to the streets for eight consecutive weekends.
In a stand-off on Sunday night, riot police fired numerous volleys of tear gas and charged from different directions to disperse crowds that had gathered without official permission.
The protests began over a proposed bill to allow extradition of Hong Kong suspects for trial in the Communist Party-controlled courts on mainland China. Although the bill was suspended, many fear it could be revived.
Protesters have now widened their demands to include more democratic freedoms, an independent inquiry into police actions, and Lam’s resignation.
Yang said that while Beijing supported continuing the ‘‘one country, two systems’’ policy, the central government’s power was paramount. He also accused the West of stirring unrest to ‘‘create trouble ... in order to contain China’s growth and development’’.
Concern is rising that Beijing might deploy the military in a move reminiscent of the Tiannanmen Square crackdown in 1989. Officials have said that the People’s Liberation Army would be deployed on request by Hong Kong. While experts still consider this a last resort, it has not been ruled out, and Beijing could defend it as procedural if Hong Kong leaders appear unable or unwilling to restore order.
– Telegraph Group
‘‘The central government firmly supports chief executive Carrie Lam and her office to administrate in accordance with the law, and the Hong Kong police to justly execute the law.’’
Yang Guang, a spokesman with the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office