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Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong protests over Beijing's role in Hong Kong’s politics in early November. Photo: Reuters

China’s Public Security Ministry labels Hong Kong democracy activists ‘foreign proxies’

Video published on official Weibo account accuses Occupy Movement leaders Joshua Wong and Benny Tai of acting on behalf of overseas forces

China’s Ministry of Public Security has published a video that depicts Hong Kong as a base for “colour revolutions” and labels two prominent figures of the city’s universal suffrage movement, Joshua Wong Chi-fung and Benny Tai Yiu-ting, as proxies for foreign forces.

The ministry posted the video with a title “Who wants to topple China the most?” on its official Weibo microblog last Thursday. It has circulated on Youtube since at least late September although it’s unclear who made it or originally uploaded it.

The ministry’s move comes after Hong Kong’s chief executive said he would not seek a second term, triggering a guessing game over which senior officials could marshal the support of the city’s 7.2 million inhabitants and the backing of the leadership in Beijing.

The video, which runs more than seven minutes, is composed of short clips and photos along with text and an unidentified narrator. It argues that the countries and movements involved in the “Arab Spring” that swept North Africa and the Middle East beginning in 2010 ultimately led to turmoil and despair.

It warned Hong Kong was being used as an operational base to stage such a “colour revolution”, with foreign forces, particularly the United States, using universal suffrage leaders as proxies.

It shows Wong urging student protesters to charge a barricaded forecourt outside government headquarters in Admiralty on September 26, 2014. In another clip taken the following day, Tai, a legal scholar, is seen announcing the launch of “Occupy Central”, a civil-disobedience movement for universal suffrage that would later bring the city to a standstill. The movement was in response to Beijing decision that the city would not be allowed to carry out fully open elections for its chief executive in the near future.

Founders of the Occupy Movement Chan Kin-man, Benny Tai, Chu Yiu-ming and supporter Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun outside Police Headquarters in Wan Chai in January last year. Photo: Sam Tsang

The video also accuses local media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying of being the mastermind behind prominent democracy campaign leaders including Wong and Tai.

It ends by saying localist forces arose in the wake of the Occupy Movement, introducing instability into what was a peaceful city.

The reposting of the video by the ministry came a week after Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying made the shock announcement he was stepping down, due to family concerns. Two candidates have since declared their intention to run, and more are expected to join the race. Backing by Beijing is seen as crucial to any candidate’s chances, although officially, the winner is decided by the 1,194 members of the Election Committee on March 26.

On Monday, Hong Kong former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa urged residents against viewing competitive elections as the most essential aspect of democracy. The city’s election process served better as an education about consultative democracy, which had allowed mainland China to transform its economy in three decades.

Officially, the Communist Party follows the consultative democratic approach, where the party makes the final decision about candidates in an election, after rounds of consultations.

This is not the first time authorities in Beijing have released videos targeting Wong. In August the Supreme People’s Procuratorate ran a clip on its official Weibo account saying he was a pro-independence advocate backed by the US who wanted to turn China into another Syria.

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