BEIJING — The Chinese government on Monday laid down its firm support of Hong Kong’s embattled leader and police force but failed to offer any clear solutions after two months of rolling protests that have flared into violence and stoked opposition to Chinese rule.
Chinese officials made a strongly worded defense of the local Hong Kong authorities during a rare news conference in Beijing by the government office that oversees policy toward the city. But they failed to address the demonstrators’ demands for more accountability in the police force and a greater say in the city’s future, which could pave the way for more unrest.
“Hong Kong cannot afford to have instability,” Yang Guang, a spokesman for the Chinese government’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told reporters. “Should the chaos continue, it is the entire Hong Kong society that will suffer.”
Protest organizers quickly said the briefing could feed the momentum of the demonstrations by reinforcing the widely held perception that Beijing and the city’s leadership are oblivious to the will of Hong Kong’s residents.
The remarks by Chinese officials on Monday came days after a People’s Liberation Army spokesman hinted that military force could be used to bring to heel the antigovernment demonstrations that have become regular events in Hong Kong since June. The demonstrations have repeatedly spiraled into violent melees as smaller groups of more confrontational protesters have faced off with police officers who have used tear gas and clubs against them, including this past weekend.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Yang expressed support for the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, and the police, who have come under criticism for what protesters say is the excessive use of force against demonstrators. Later, another official at the news conference, Xu Luying, emphasized that the central government would continue to support Mrs. Lam “in governing under the law, and unifying and leading Hong Kong people from all walks of life to defend Hong Kong’s political situation of prosperity and stability.”
Mr. Yang also said the Hong Kong government should work on addressing economic issues including challenges with employment and schooling, a housing crisis, and the rising cost of living.
[Hong Kong has the world’s longest working hours and highest rents.]
The news briefing appeared aimed at dousing the wave of opposition in Hong Kong — the most sustained challenge to China’s hold over the territory since 1997, when Britain returned it to Chinese sovereignty.
By emphasizing its support for Mrs. Lam but also her responsibility in upholding the law, central government officials seemed to indicate that it was now up to Mrs. Lam, her administration and the police to put an end to the months of strife.
The news briefing also appeared aimed at signaling that the ruling Communist Party in Beijing is watching developments in the territory very closely and wants to frame the unrest as the work of the party’s enemies, as well as economic strains, and not a result of failings in its policies toward Hong Kong.
Willy Lam, an adjunct professor at the Center for China Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the officials’ emphasis on providing job and business opportunities in the mainland for the youth of Hong Kong was Beijing’s way of “throwing money at the problem.”
“There was no sign of tackling the crux of the issue, which is lack of democratic development in Hong Kong,” Mr. Lam said. “No new solutions were provided.”
The protests crystallized around opposition to proposed legislation that would have opened the way to extraditions of criminal suspects from Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland. Many Hong Kongers distrust the Chinese mainland’s courts and police, which are controlled by the Communist Party, and opposition was widespread.
After huge demonstrations in early June, Mrs. Lam, the Beijing-backed chief executive of Hong Kong, suspended the proposed law indefinitely. But the protesters have continued taking to the streets of Hong Kong every week, especially on weekends, demanding a full withdrawal of the legislation and voicing a wider array of grievances.
[“We cannot give up”: Protesters, government supporters and others spoke to us about their experiences.]
Mrs. Lam has refused to make any further concessions and her advisers have indicated that the administration is confident it can ride out further protests, despite the escalating unrest and signs that the economy could suffer. Political tensions and the worsening trade war between the United States and China have already driven down Hong Kong stocks more than 5 percent since early April, and by the end of the day Monday shares were down more than 1 percent.
China had promised to give Hong Kong wide-ranging autonomy after 1997, including maintaining its independent courts and other freedoms that set it apart from mainland China. But many Hong Kong residents say their city’s distinctive status has been sharply eroded, especially under Xi Jinping, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party since 2012.
The demonstrators are increasingly angered by the lack of democratic government, a ruling class that has become more beholden to Beijing than to Hong Kong, and what protesters and some experts have said are excessively heavy-handed methods used by the police to subdue crowds.
Government critics in Hong Kong said the comments did nothing to address the concerns of the public at large, and instead were directed at Mrs. Lam’s administration and its supporters.
“We believe this press conference was not for the Hong Kong people to watch,” said Bonnie Leung of the Civil Human Rights Front, which has organized several large marches. “It is for the government and also the pro-government camp and the police force.”
The Chinese government and its supporters in Hong Kong have focused their outrage on the demonstrators, especially those who have attacked government buildings and hurled bricks and steel poles at the phalanxes of police officers. The anger from Beijing grew after protesters vandalized the outside of the Chinese government liaison office in Hong Kong, including throwing paint on the national emblem.
The cycle of protests and forceful police response continued over the weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, the police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds of demonstrators who had come out to denounce a mob attack on protesters and what they say is a police force that acts without accountability.
On Monday, the Chinese government defended the city’s police force. “We understand the huge pressure facing the Hong Kong police and their families, and would like to salute the Hong Kong police who have been fearlessly sticking to their posts and fulfilling their duties against all odds,” Mr. Yang said.
Mr. Yang also condemned the violence of Saturday’s protest, in which demonstrators ripped off fences and moved steel barricades to form blockades, and threw hard objects at the police. But Mr. Yang did not specifically address the mob attack that had prompted that rally in the first place, deferring to earlier comments from the police. He appeared to dismiss as “unfounded” the fears some have that organized crime societies are colluding with the authorities to carry out political violence.
Reports in the Chinese state news media have also defended the Hong Kong police and even urged them to take more forceful measures.
“Hong Kong police must no longer be like gentle nannies when they’re enforcing the law,” an editorial in the overseas edition of People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s main newspaper, said on Monday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/29/world/asia/china-hong-kong.html
2019-07-29 09:33:45Z
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