Former justice minister defends white paper, warns city will be 'doomed' if it engages in 'colour revolution'

Beijing is concerned about the possibility of external forces at work in Hong Kong and the city would be "doomed if a 'colour revolution' takes place", a former justice minister warned yesterday.

Elsie Leung Oi-sie, now deputy director of the Basic Law Committee under the National People's Congress, defended central government against pan-democrats' criticism that it had reneged on its promise to allow the city a high level of autonomy.

Leung spoke out in the wake of controversy surrounding a white paper stressing Beijing's control over Hong Kong under the "one country, two systems" policy.

In the paper, Beijing warned that national security would be jeopardised if Hong Kong was not ruled by "patriots".

"The central government is worried about the country's situation," Leung said on Commercial Radio. "Hong Kong is such a free city, and many non-residents can [engage in] activities here, so [the white paper] says we have to stay vigilant about whether external forces are meddling in Hong Kong's internal affairs.

"Hong Kong would be doomed if we engaged in a 'colour revolution'; in fact, intense movements have been on the rise recently, and I think [Beijing's] worries are not groundless."

Colour revolutions, so called because the organisers would use a particular colour to signify their movement, took place in eastern Europe in the early 2000s.