A surprise meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) was a “vote of confidence” in her government’s ability to tackle five months of anti-government protests that have rocked the territory, a senior official said yesterday.
Xi on Monday night met Lam on the sidelines of a trade event in Shanghai amid signals from China’s central government that it might tighten its grip on Hong Kong to quell the unrest that has at times challenged Chinese rule.
Asked if the meeting reflected Xi’s worry about Lam’s handling of the unrest, Hong Kong Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung (張建宗) said: “The reverse is true.”
hoto: Reuters
“The very fact that he is so busy, that he found time to meet, really is a vote of confidence in ourselves” and underlined the importance that Beijing attaches to Hong Kong, Cheung told a news conference.
Xi “has a high degree of confidence in the chief executive and also certainly the work of the present government and the political team, so all these are pretty reassuring to us,” Cheung added.
Pro-democracy Hong Kong Legislator Claudia Mo (毛孟靜) warned of a tougher stance by Beijing.
“They realized things in Hong Kong have reached a point of no return and there is no choice except for keeping their approval for Carrie Lam with hopes that things will die down,” Mo told reporters.
“The message to Hong Kong people is that we are with her, she has our backing and you better watch out,” Mo added.
China’s official Xinhua news agency reported that Xi expressed his government’s “high degree of trust” in Lam to stabilize the situation after she briefed him on the crisis.
However, Xi also “demanded unswerving efforts to stop and punish violent activities in accordance with the law,” as restoring order was a top priority for Hong Kong, Xinhua said.
He also called for more dialogue and efforts to improve people’s livelihoods in one of the world’s most expensive places to live, it added.
The Beijing last week indicated that it might try to find a way to enact anti-subversion laws in Hong Kong, after such measures were shelved previously due to public opposition.
The protests began in early June against an extradition bill that would have allowed suspects to be sent for trials in China, which many saw as infringing on Hong Kong’s judicial freedoms and other rights that were guaranteed when the former British colony returned to China in 1997.
Lam abandoned the bill three months into the protests, but the movement by then had grown into calls for greater democracy and police accountability, and had become one of Xi’s biggest challenges since he rose to power in 2012.
Lam has invoked emergency powers to ban the use of facial coverings at rallies, provoking further anger.
Hundreds of students yesterday defiantly wore masks — including Guy Fawkes masks, which are protest symbols worldwide — in schools to mark the one-month anniversary of the ban, local media reported.
Over the past few weeks, protests have been marked by violence as hardcore anti-government demonstrators set fires and trashed facilities in clashes with police, who used tear gas, and brawls occurred between demonstrators and pro-Chinese activists.
A university student who reportedly fell off an upper floor of a parking structure after police fired tear gas was in a critical condition, hospital officials said yesterday.
Police could not immediately provide any details.
TV footage showed riot police firing tear gas at the building early on Monday after objects were hurled down at the street at them when they chased off a mob. Minutes later, medical workers found the youth sprawled in a pool of blood on the second floor of the building.
He was believed to have plunged from the third floor, local media said.
More than 3,300 people have been arrested since the protests started.
Cheung said that the government plans to hold a second community dialogue after Nov. 24 district elections.
Lam held her first town hall meeting on Sept. 26, at which she was criticized by angry residents.
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