Hong Kong protesters are 'challenging highest state authority and will fail' - People's Daily
Party mouthpiece tears into Occupy Central movement in latest front page comment piece, accusing demonstrators of using street protests to threaten central government
The Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily on Friday condemned the organisers of the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests for challenging the state’s “highest authority”.
A front page commentary, entitled “Staunchly safeguard the decisions made by the NPC standing committee,” accused the protest leaders as having an ulterior motive of challenging the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.
“The real goal of some Hong Kong people who use illegal means such as damaging Hong Kong’s rule of law and order is not so called genuine universal suffrage, they are challenging the highest authority of the nation … they are doomed to fail,” the piece said.
It said the National People’s Congress Standing Committee had already decided on August 31 on the framework and system of how the next chief executive would be elected. The paper added the decision took into consideration Hong Kong’s views.
It said Beijing would not allow a small group of people to hijack public opinion, and “there’s no room [for] concession on matters of major principles”.
According to China’s constitution, the NPC is the highest state authority and the State Council, the Supreme Procuratorate and Supreme Court must all report to it. The NPC Standing Committee is the permanent body of the NPC, which exercises power when the NPC is not in session.