China’s military looms in Hong Kong
BEIJING — Warning that protests convulsing Hong Kong were crossing a line, China hinted broadly Wednesday that it is prepared to use military force in the territory if necessary to retain Beijing’s control.
“The behavior of some radical protesters challenges the central government’s authority, touching on the bottom line principle of ‘one country, two systems,’” said the chief spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, Senior Col. Wu Qian. “That absolutely cannot be tolerated.”
It was both the most explicit warning since protests began in the former British colony and a stark reminder of who has ultimate control over Hong Kong’s fate.
Wu made the comments in an appearance at a Beijing briefing on a government document outlining China’s defense strategy. Citing protests Sunday outside the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong, which protesters splattered with paint and defaced with graffiti, he made clear that the vandalism strained Beijing’s patience.
Responding to a question, Wu pointedly cited the specific article of a law detailing relations between Hong Kong and the People’s Liberation Army. It allows the military to intervene, when requested by Hong Kong’s leaders, to maintain order or assist in the event of a natural disaster.
The People’s Liberation Army has, in fact, for years maintained a garrison of 6,000 soldiers in several bases around Hong Kong. China has never ordered them to intervene in the territory’s affairs, although several hundred did help clear trees and other debris after Typhoon Mangkhut battered the city in 2018.
Some analysts who study Hong Kong expressed skepticism that Beijing would send its military, which could have devastating consequences.
But Chinese officials and media are stoking nationalist anger with rhetoric that has been used in the past to pave the way for crackdowns, specifically with accusations of foreign intervention and condemnations of “chaos” and “disorder.”
Sunday night after the protests, organized proBeijing thugs rampaged through a mass transit station in the northern rural area of Yuen Long, beating civilians with metal rods and wooden sticks.
Public fury has swelled against Hong Kong’s police force, which didn’t arrive until an hour after
the attacks began and then disappeared before the mob returned to continue attacking people.
Lynette Ong, a University of Toronto political scientist who has researched the employment of “thugs for hire” in mainland China, said this is a common practice and was used against protesters during the 2014 Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong.
“Governments outsource violence to third-party agents for ‘plausible deniability,’” Ong said, adding that the thugs in this case could also have been hired by business interests who want protests to end.
During a pro-beijing rally on Saturday, Hong Kong newspaper executive Arthur Shek gave a speech encouraging crowds to “discipline” pro-democracy protesters with canes and PVC pipes. “Caning the kids is teaching them, not violence,” he said.
Shek has since resigned, after staff of his paper signed a petition condemning his remarks. • China imposed a tariff on U.S. soybeans in retaliation for tariffs that the Trump administration placed on Chinese imports. Because of a reporter’s error, a story on Page A3 of Tuesday’s Dispatch mischaracterized the origin of the tariffs.