Some placards and slogans at Hong Kong's latest pro-democracy protest were inappropriate and not conducive to stability and harmony, a senior Chinese official in the territory was quoted yesterday as saying.
Chanting "return power to the people," hundreds of thousands of people poured onto the streets of Hong Kong on Thursday to challenge Beijing's refusal to allow them to elect the city's chief executive and to vent their frustration at Chinese rule.
"Some protest organizers used placards and slogans that were inappropriate and not conducive to Hong Kong residents' common desire for stability, development and harmony," said an official identified only as the "person in charge" at the central government's Liaison Office in Hong Kong.
China's official Xinhua news agency did not say what the placards or slogans were, but analysts said Beijing sees the chorus to "return power to the people" as a veiled call for independence.
"We hope these people can follow the desire of a majority of Hong Kong people and play a genuinely constructive role to maintain stability and prosperity," Xinhua quoted the official as saying.
The demonstration, on the seventh anniversary of the former British colony's return to China, gave Beijing a taste of what it fears most, a mass show of public dissent.
But Hong Kong pro-democracy activists were quick to stress that what Hong Kong people wanted was more freedom under Chinese rule.
"We are here today to fight for democracy," veteran campaigner Legislator Martin Lee (
However, the Hong Kong government was warned yesterday to respond to Thursday's massive pro-democracy march or face a summer of social unrest.
Legislator David Chu (
Organizers said as many as 530,000 people joined the protest, well over the 300,000 they had expected. But final police estimates were much lower, at 200,000.
Chu said the government had to respond to people's aspirations for democracy or the stability of the former British colony would be at stake.
"If we don't accommodate for this change quickly, there will be big instability."
One of the march's organizers, Legislator Lee Cheuk-yan (
Beijing-appointed Tung held a briefing after the march to reiterate what he has said before -- that any moves toward universal suffrage in Hong Kong must be gradual and must have China's consent.
Also see story:
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central