China backs Hong Kong chief, slams protest for violence
HONG KONG >> China’s government strongly backed Hong Kong’s embattled administration Tuesday, saying pro-democracy protesters who occupied and vandalized the city’s legislature committed “serious illegal acts” that endangered the social order.
Chinese state media broadcast video of police in Hong Kong clearing protesters from the streets earlier in the day in a break with their silence over days of demonstrations that have challenged Beijing’s authority over the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing condemned the acts that saw several hundred demonstrators smash through glass and steel barriers to enter the building on Monday night, defacing portraits of lawmakers and spray-painting pro-democracy slogans in the chamber.
China’s central government voiced support for Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam and the city’s police force in dealing with the incident in accordance with law, Geng said.
“The violent attacks ... are serious illegal acts that trample on the rule of law and endanger social order. We strongly condemn it,” Geng told reporters at a daily briefing.
He also reiterated China’s rejection of any foreign nation commenting on or intervening in protest actions in Hong Kong, saying such matters were a purely Chinese affair and other countries “must not support any violent criminals in any form, and not send any misleading signals or take any erroneous actions.”
His comments follow the publication of an editorial by a ruling Chinese Communist Party newspaper that said the demonstrators who broke into the local legislature showed their “arrogance” and had no regard for the rule of law.
Speaking in Hong Kong, U.S. Consul General Kurt Tong criticized violence among government critics but said all should have the right to express their views peacefully, including foreign residents with longstanding ties to the Asian financial hub.
Hong Kong has been through a “tough time” over recent months, but the intentions of those seeking to effect change were good and the territory has “the right ideas and the right values,” Tong said.
The U.S. feels like “we have a legitimate voice to express our concerns about issues of politics or governance or economic policy or the like,” he said. “And so, we certainly don’t view that as an interference. Nobody has to listen to our comments if they don’t want to, but we feel like we’re within bounds by expressing ourselves.”
Beijing has largely sought to play down the demonstrations that have highlighted doubts about the validity of its “one country, two systems” formula for governing the former British colony.