Xi said Hong Kong should crack down on moves towards «Hong Kong independence.»
Chinese President Xi Jinping swore in Hong Kong’s new leader on Saturday with a stark warning that Beijing won’ t tolerate any challenge to its authority in the divided city as it marked the 20th anniversary of its return from Britain to China.
Police blocked roads, preventing pro-democracy protesters from getting to the harbor-front venue close to where the last colonial governor, Chris Patten, tearfully handed back Hong Kong to China in the pouring rain in 1997.
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Xi said Hong Kong should crack down on moves towards “Hong Kong independence.”
“Any attempt to endanger China’s sovereignty and security, challenge the power of the central government… or use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland is an act that crosses the red line and is absolutely impermissible, ” Xi said.
He also referred to the “humiliation and sorrow” China suffered during the first Opium War in the early 1840s that led to ceding Hong Kong to the British.
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Hong Kong has been racked by demands for full democracy and, more recently, by calls by some pockets of protesters for independence, a subject that is anathema to Beijing.
Xi’s speech was his strongest yet to the city amid concerns over what some perceive as increased meddling by Beijing, illustrated in recent years by the abduction by mainland agents of some Hong Kong booksellers and Beijing’s efforts in disqualifying two pro-independence lawmakers elected to the city legislature.
“It’s a more frank and pointed way of dealing with the problems, ” said former senior Hong Kong government adviser Lau Siu-kai on Hong Kong’s Cable Television. “The central government’s power hasn’ t been sufficiently respected… they’ re concerned about this.”
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The tightly choreographed visit was full of pro-China rhetoric amid a virtually unprecedented security lock down close to the scene of pro-democracy protests in 2014 that grabbed global headlines with clashes and tear gas rising between waterfront skyscrapers.
