Hong Kong bracing for weekend protests

Military vehicles parked on the grounds of the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center across the bay from...
Military vehicles parked on the grounds of the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center across the bay from Hong Kong. Photo: Reuters

Hong Kong braced for more mass protests over the weekend, even as China warned it could use its power to quell demonstrations.

US President Donald Trump has urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet personally with the protesters to defuse weeks of tensions.

Hundreds of China's People's Armed Police (PAP) on Thursday conducted exercises at a sports stadium in Shenzhen which borders Hong Kong after the US State Department said it was "deeply concerned" about the movements, which have prompted worries that the troops could be used to break up protests.

Ten weeks of confrontations between police and protesters have plunged Hong Kong into its worst crisis since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997 and presented the biggest popular challenge to Xi in his seven years in power.

The Civil Human Rights Front, which organised million-strong marches in June, has scheduled another protest for Sunday.

China's ambassador to London issued a stark warning, saying Beijing could use its power to quell the Hong Kong protests if the situation deteriorated further and repeating charges that some protesters had shown "signs of terrorism."

"The central government will not sit on its hands and watch," Liu Xiaoming told reporters. "We have enough solutions and enough power within the limits of (the) Basic Law to quell any unrest swiftly," Liu said, referring to Hong Kong's mini-constitution, which states that the Hong Kong government can ask the Chinese garrison in the city to help maintain order.

"The central government of China will never allow a few violent offenders to drag Hong Kong down a dangerous road, down a dangerous abyss," Liu said.

The Friday edition of China's influential state-controlled Global Times tabloid also warned that China had the option to "forcefully intervene" and lashed out at what Beijing describes as US interference in Hong Kong.

"If Hong Kong cannot restore the rule of law on its own and the riots intensify, it's imperative then for the central government to take direct actions based on the Basic Law," it said, saying the Shenzhen PAP deployment was "a clear warning".

The paper said the situation in Hong Kong "won't be a repeat of the June 4th political incident in 1989," referring to the bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square 30 years ago.

White House national security adviser John Bolton warned against a repeat of Tiananmen in an interview on Wednesday, and Trump on Thursday urged Xi to meet with the protesters, saying it would lead to an end to tensions.

"If President Xi would meet directly and personally with the protesters, there would be a happy and enlightened ending to the Hong Kong problem. I have no doubt!" Trump tweeted.

The remark came a day after Trump tied a US trade deal with China to a humane resolution of the protests.

Trump has been seeking a major deal to correct trade imbalances with China ahead of his 2020 re-election bid and has faced criticism from Congress and elsewhere for not taking a stronger public line on Hong Kong and for his characterisation of the protests earlier this month as "riots" that were a matter for China to deal with.

His tougher stance on Hong Kong followed a debate within his administration over whether Washington was looking too compliant while China appeared to be preparing for a crackdown, a source familiar with the deliberations said.

A White House aide said television reports on the possibility of a crackdown were a factor in Trump’s shift in tone.

On Thursday, China's foreign ministry said Beijing had noted Trump's comment that Beijing needed to resolve the Hong Kong crisis on its own, while Liu, the Chinese ambassador in London, accused unidentified foreign forces of fomenting the protests.

"Hong Kong is part of China. No foreign country should interfere in Hong Kong’s internal affairs," Liu said.

CALLS FOR RESTRAINT

Western governments have stepped up calls for restraint following chaotic scenes at Hong Kong's airport this week that forced cancellation of nearly 1000 flights and saw protesters set upon two men they suspected of being government sympathisers.

France called on city officials to renew talks with activists, while Canada said China should handle the protests with tact.

Two opposition lawmakers from Hong Kong visiting the United States on Thursday urged the outside world to stay focused on developments.

"For the international community to speak up for Hong Kong is extremely important, and we see that across the American political establishment," Dennis Kwok of the liberal-democratic Civic Party said at the Asia Society thinktank in New York. He and fellow party member Alvin Yeung were to meet US lawmakers.

The airport, one of the world's busiest, was returning to normal on Thursday but under tight security after thousands of protesters jammed its halls on Monday and Tuesday nights.

Late on Wednesday night, police and protesters faced off again on the streets, with riot officers quickly firing tear gas.

Seventeen people were arrested on Wednesday, bringing the total detained since June to 748, police told a news conference, adding that police stations have been surrounded and attacked 76 times during the crisis.

Despite the Shenzhen deployments, several western and Asian diplomats in Hong Kong said they believed China had little appetite for putting its forces onto Hong Kong's streets, and a US official said on Wednesday the PAP activities appeared aimed at intimidating the protesters.

 

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