'Patriots must run Hong Kong': State newspapers hit back at July 1 demonstrators
People's Daily and Global Times speak out following the biggest July 1 protests in the city in a decade
The central government should make no concessions to pro-democracy demonstrators – and Hong Kong must be run by “patriots”, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily and nationalist tabloid Global Times warned in two strongly-worded editorials on Wednesday.
The state run newspapers hit back following the biggest July 1 protests in the city in a decade.
Patriotism is a natural emotion and putting patriots in charge of the city should be “a matter of course”, the People’s Daily said in a front-page editorial.
The paper added the late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping defined a “patriot” as those "who loyally support China’s exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong, and those who do not impair Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability”.
It went on: “The central government’s reiteration that Hong Kong must be governed by the Hong Kong people with patriots as the mainstay is not an intervention [in] Hong Kong’s autonomy. It is a move to clarify Hong Kong [officials'] rights and obligations written in the Basic Law.
"It is not trying to screen or select anyone. The aim is to give all Hong Kong people a reference in their hearts.”