China yesterday issued a stark reminder that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could be deployed in Hong Kong if the authorities requested support in maintaining “public order” after weeks of sometimes violent protests.
Hong Kong has been plunged into its worst crisis in recent history after millions of demonstrators took to the streets — and sporadic violent confrontations between police and pockets of hardcore protesters.
The demonstrations were triggered by a controversial bill which would have allowed extraditions to the mainland, but have evolved into a call for wider democratic reforms.
Photo: AP
Beijing has labeled the protests as “extreme illegal violence,” but has left it to the territory’s semi-autonomous government to deal with the situation.
Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Colonel Wu Qian (吳謙) said at a news conference in Beijing that the ministry has been “paying close attention” to the situation in Hong Kong.
Asked how his ministry would handle the situation in the territory, Wu said that there are “clear stipulations” in Article 14 of Hong Kong’s garrison law — without elaborating.
According to the article, the Hong Kong authorities may ask, “when necessary,” the central government for assistance from the garrison “in the maintenance of public order and in disaster relief.”
It was the first time Beijing has publicly referred to the possibility of deploying the PLA to deal with the unrest in Hong Kong.
The PLA has maintained a garrison in Hong Kong since the former British colony was returned to China in 1997, but its troops generally keep a low profile and are rarely seen in uniform in public.
The rare public reminder comes days after anti-government protesters vandalized the walls of the Chinese representative’s office in Hong Kong and defaced the national emblem — an act that left Beijing fuming.
“The actions of some radical demonstrators challenged the authority of the central government and touched upon the bottom line of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle,” Wu said. “This is absolutely intolerable.”
The Hong Kong Government on Tuesday dismissed online “rumors” that the PLA had been deployed to guard key administrative offices linked to Beijing — including the vandalized liaison’s office.
Earlier this month, an army-linked Chinese newspaper ran photographs of a military drill — by then a week old — by its garrison in Hong Kong, a move analysts described as a warning to Beijing’s critics.
‘ASSERTIVE STEPS’: The report says that the US should enable Taiwan to construct asymmetric defense capabilities that would allow it to engage China on its own terms US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday declassified a report that casts the defense of Taiwan as critical to the Indo-Pacific strategy of checking China’s ascent, Bloomberg reported yesterday. “US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific” has governed the US’ strategic response to China since Trump approved it in February 2018, Bloomberg reported, citing a statement by US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien. “Beijing is increasingly pressuring Indo-Pacific nations to subordinate their freedom and sovereignty to a ‘common destiny’ envisioned by the Chinese Communist Party [CCP],” O’Brien was cited as saying. The report assumes that China would “take increasingly assertive steps to compel unification
SECRET OUT: Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung yesterday accidentally revealed that the infections occurred at the ministry’s Taoyuan General Hospital The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the fifth COVID-19 case in a cluster infection at a Taoyuan hospital, where four other medical workers were confirmed to have been infected over the past week. The latest case is a nurse who had tested negative on Tuesday last week, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, told a news conference. However, on Thursday, she developed symptoms, such as nasal congestion and a cough, and a second test yesterday found that she was infected, Chen said. She is the head nurse of a ward where two
PILLARS OF DEMOCRACY: US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft posted online after the virtual meeting that Taiwan should be able to share its successes in global venues President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft yesterday held a virtual meeting, during which Tsai described Taiwan as a “force for good” that deserves a place on the world stage, while Craft reaffirmed Washington’s support for Taiwan’s international participation. The virtual talk was held at about 11am, after Craft’s trip to Taiwan was abruptly canceled. She had been scheduled to meet with Tsai in person at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday morning as part of a three-day visit to Taiwan. On Tuesday, the US Department of State canceled all of its planned trips, citing a need
‘CONTAINED’: The CECC is not considering locking down the hospital where the infections were detected, as their source has been found, Chen Shih-chung said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported one new domestic COVID-19 case, a doctor at a hospital in northern Taiwan where three other medical workers were confirmed to have the disease over the past week. The new case — No. 856 — is a doctor who had treated a COVID-19 patient together with case No. 838, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center. Case No. 838, confirmed as a locally infected COVID-19 case on Tuesday, was the first case in the hospital cluster, and later infected his partner, who is a nurse at the same
RSS