China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office yesterday said that the territory would never be calm unless “black-clad violent protesters” were all removed, describing them as a “political virus” that seeks independence from Beijing.
The strongly worded statement came amid mounting concerns among democracy advocates that China is tightening its grip over the former British colony, while a lockdown to prevent COVID-19 infections has largely kept their movement off the streets.
The office said that China’s central government would not sit idly by “with this recklessly demented force in place,” and that Beijing has the greatest responsibility in maintaining order and safeguarding national security.
“The scorched-earth action of the black-clad violent protesters is a political virus in Hong Kong society and a big enemy to ‘one country two systems,’” the office said in a statement.
“As long as the protesters are not removed, Hong Kong will never be calm,” it said.
The territory was rocked last year by months of massive, and sometimes violent, political protests over a now-withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial.
Many young protesters dressed in black fought running battles with Hong Kong police as the demonstrations evolved into calls for greater democracy.
Protesters said that Beijing was seeking to erode the “one country, two systems” style of governance that guarantees broad freedoms for Hong Kong since its return to Chinese rule in 1997.
Hong Kong riot police late last month dispersed a crowd of 300 pro-democracy advocates, some wearing black — the first sizeable protest since the government imposed a ban on public meetings at the end of March to curb coronavirus infections.
The arrests last month of 15 democracy advocates, including veteran politicians, a publishing tycoon and senior barristers, thrust the protest movement back into the spotlight, and drew condemnation from Washington and international rights groups.
Beijing’s top representative office in Hong Kong on Saturday condemned what it described as extreme radicals for holding illegal assemblies over the International Workers’ Day holiday and accused them of undermining the rule of law.
A war of words has intensified in the past few weeks, with Beijing’s top official in Hong Kong urging the local government to work to enact national security legislation “as soon as possible,” fueling worries over what many see as encroachment on the territory’s freedoms.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE: During the altercations, KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin at one point pulled out a flute and started to play the national anthem A massive brawl erupted between governing and opposition lawmakers in the main chamber of the legislature in Taipei yesterday over legislative reforms. President-elect William Lai (賴清德) is to be inaugurated on Monday, but his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its majority in the legislature and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has been working with the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) to promote their mutual ideas. The opposition parties said the legislative reforms would enable better oversight of the Executive Yuan, including a proposal to criminalize officials who are deemed to make false statements in the legislature. “The DPP does not want this to be
Singapore yesterday swore in Lawrence Wong (黃循財) as the city-state’s new prime minister in a ceremony broadcast live on television after Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) stepped down following two decades in office. Wong, formerly deputy prime minister, was inaugurated at the Istana government office shortly after 8pm to become the second person outside the Lee family to lead the nation. “I ... do solemnly swear that I will at all times faithfully discharge my duties as prime minister according to law, and to the best of my knowledge and ability, without fear or favor, affection or ill-will. So help me God,” the
BASIC OPERATIONS: About half a dozen navy ships from both countries took part in the days-long exercise based on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea An unpublicized joint military exercise between Taiwan and the US in the Pacific Ocean last month was carried out in accordance with an international code, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. According to a Reuters report citing four unnamed sources, the two nations’ navies last month conducted joint drills in the Western Pacific. The drills were not made public at the time, but “about half-a-dozen navy ships from both sides, including frigates and supply and support vessels, participated in the days-long exercises,” Reuters reported, citing the sources. The drills were designed to practice “basic” operations such as communications, refueling and resupplies,
‘TOO LATE’: Yu Pei-chen, a Taoyuan councilor and ex-army general, said the Chinese officials were 41 years late in imposing sanctions on him, as he enlisted in 1983 China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) yesterday announced sanctions against five Taiwanese politicians, pundits and public figures critical of Beijing, accusing them of spreading disinformation about China. The five are: Liu Bao-jie (劉寶傑), Lee Zheng-hao (李正皓), Wang Yi-chuan (王義川), Yu Pei-chen (于北辰), Huang Shih-tsung (黃世聰), TAO spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) told a routine news briefing, adding that the sanctions included their families. They were responsible for making up and spreading false information about China that “deceived some Taiwanese, sowed division ... and harmed brotherly goodwill across the Strait,” Chen said. Speech is not free from the regulations of Chinese law, which punishes manufacturing incorrect