China blames the West for Hong Kong protests

BEIJING: China on Monday threw its backing behind Hong Kong’s beleaguered leader and police, saying violent protesters must be swiftly punished following another weekend of running street battles in the financial hub.

While China has issued increasingly shrill condemnations of the protests in the last two weeks, it has largely left the city’s pro-beijing administration to deal with the situation.

Protesters had braced for a potential backlash from Beijing after China’s top policy body on Hong Kong affairs called a rare press briefing on Monday.

But the cabinet-level Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office merely reiterated its condemnation of the protests and Beijing’s “strong” support for Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam and the city’s police force, which has been accused of using excessive force against protesters.

“No civilised society or rule of law society will tolerate rampant violence,” Yang Guang, spokesman for the Hong Kong affairs office, told reporters.

Yang blamed the violence on a “few radicals” and said it “bumped into the bottom line” of the “one country, two systems” principle that governs the financial hub. He also accused Western politicians of making “irresponsible remarks” to “mess up Hong Kong” and contain China’s development. Another spokeswoman, Xu Luying, added: “We also believe that Hong Kong’s top priority task right now is to punish violent and unlawful acts in accordance with the law, to restore social order as soon as possible, and to maintain a good business environment.”

Last week, the defence ministry pointed to a Hong Kong garrison law under which the Chinese army could be deployed if city authorities requested support to maintain “public order”.