China warned Hong Kong it would not tolerate anyone using the city to damage mainland stability, Beijing’s top official in the city said, as concerns rise over an emerging independence movement.
Tensions have flared in the semi-autonomous territory after the ousting of two pro-independence lawmakers ignited fresh concern over Beijing’s tightening controls on Hong Kong, which enjoys a separate political and legal system from the mainland.
Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997 under a deal which gives the city broad autonomy and preserves its freedoms and the rule of law for 50 years. But many warn these freedoms are being eroded by Beijing.
In an interview with state broadcaster CCTV late Sunday, the head of China’s liaison office in Hong Kong, Zhang Xiaoming, said that controlling the city’s independence movement requires strengthening „bottom-line awareness“ among its people.
„As for Hong Kong, no one is permitted to engage in any form of activity that harms national sovereignty and security, or challenges the authority of the central government or Hong Kong’s Basic Law, or uses Hong Kong to infiltrate and subvert the mainland’s social and political stability,“ Zhang said.
„These are the three bottom lines. “
China’s Communist Party authorities have viewed the emergence of openly pro-independence politicians with alarm, though only a minority of the city’s residents support such a move.
Beijing’s increasingly brazen attempts to stifle dissent in Hong Kong have prompted worries over the erosion of its identity as a rules-based business hub — its major draw over mainland rivals such as Shanghai — and a vibrant city with a free press and a distinct way of life.
The disappearance last year of five booksellers known for publishing salacious titles about Chinese political leaders earned international condemnation and realised many residents‘ worst fears when they resurfaced in detention on the mainland.
The city’s unpopular leader Leung Chun-ying, who has been vilified by critics as a puppet of Beijing, said last month he would not run again for office.
Regina Ip, a former security chief and hardliner who is loathed by Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp, has said she will run for his position, in a move opponents fear would be a further sign of tightening controls by Beijing.

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British number one Johanna Konta powered through her first match of the new season, beating Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay 6-2 6-0 in the first round of the Shenzhen Open.
Konta, the world number 10, conceded just nine points on her first serve in her 56-minute triumph.
She will play American Vania King in the second round.
Konta, 25, is the first British woman to start the season in the top 10 of the rankings since Jo Durie in 1983.
„I’m really enjoying my time in Shenzhen,“ she said.
Mon 2 Jan, 11:00, 17:55 & 23:45 GMT, BBC Red Button
Love to Dance Abbots Langley
Didcot Urban Race

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Beijing and other cities across northern and central China were shrouded in thick smog on Monday, prompting authorities to delay dozens of flights and close highways.
The Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau extended an „orange alert“ for heavy air pollution for three more days. Beijing’s smog had initially been forecast to lift by Monday.
The „orange alert“ is the third level, preceding a „red alert“, in China’s four-tiered warning system.
On Sunday, 25 cities in China issued „red alerts“ for smog, which triggers orders to close factories, schools and construction sites.
Air pollution readings in northern Chinese cities were many times above the World Health Organisation-designated safe level of 25 micrograms per cubic meter of PM 2.5, the tiny, toxic particles that damage lung tissue.
The readings exceeded 400 by Monday afternoon in several cities in the northern province of Hebei.
Expressways in Shijiazhuang, Hebei’s capital, and more than half a dozen other cities there were temporarily closed, according to notices posted on the official microblog of the province’s traffic police.
In the central city of Zhengzhou, authorities ordered students from kindergarten through high school to stay home on Tuesday because of the smog.
More than 300 flights out of the northern city of Tianjin were cancelled on Sunday due to poor visibility.
Authorities have deployed teams of inspectors to check on polluting factories, reports said.
China has long faced some of the worst air pollution in the world, blamed on its reliance of coal for energy and factory production, as well as a surplus of older, less efficient cars on its roads.
Researchers at Germany’s Max Planck institute have estimated that smog has led to 1.4 million premature deaths per year in China, while the non-profit group Berkeley Earth in California has had a higher figure, 1.6 million.
AP

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The Philippines is tilting away from its traditional ally the United States towards China in a bid to „normalise“ relations following a longstanding territorial dispute, the country’s incoming ambassador to Beijing said Monday.
Manila has been one of Washington’s most loyal allies in Asia, but Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to end the decades-long alliance after the US criticised his bloody war on drugs that has killed over 5,000 people since he took office in June.
His fiery rhetoric against the US has been followed by overtures to China as he has sought to assuage Beijing’s concerns over Manila’s competing claims to the South China Sea.
The new Philippine ambassador to China, Jose „Chito“ Sta. Romana, told AFP the move represented „a strategic shift in our foreign policy“.
„We were one-sidedly imbalanced in favour of the US,“ he said.
„We are not abandoning our alliance with the US…. We are basically trying to normalise our relations with China. “
Beijing claims most of the South China Sea despite competing claims from the Philippines and other Asian countries, but a UN-backed tribunal ruled in July that China’s claims had no legal basis in a resounding victory for Manila.
Duterte’s decision to set aside the territorial conflict in exchange for Chinese investment and aid has given Beijing a boost in its quest for more control over the strategically vital waters.
The incoming envoy, a former Beijing-based journalist, said Manila was open to working with China to access resources in the disputed region.
„The Chinese viewed the Philippines as a geopolitical pawn or Trojan horse of the US. Now they look at us as a friendly neighbour. “
He added that relations with the US plunged after Washington criticised Duterte’s crackdown on crime.
„The problem came after they began lecturing him. The president considers it an internal affair,“ he said.
„The Chinese don’t comment on your internal affairs. „

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Top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska saved three match points before edging Duan Ying-ying of China 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-5 in the first round of the Shenzhen Open on Monday.
Radwanska, the defending champion, cruised through the first set without facing a break point, but struggled in the final two sets, dropping serve five times to the 103rd-ranked wild card entry.
The Pole relied on her strong defense to close out the match in just under 2 1/2 hours, chasing down a well-placed drop shot and hitting a forehand crosscourt winner to set up match point.
In other matches, second-seeded Simona Halep, the 2015 champion, defeated Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 3-6, 6-3; third-seeded Johanna Konta routed Cagla Buyukakcay 6-2, 6-0; and Serbian qualifier Nina Stojanovic took out fifth-seeded Timea Babos 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.

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