Beijing will not sit by and watch push for Hong Kong independence, top adviser warns

A mainland expert on the Basic Law has warned that Beijing will not sit idly by in the face of attempts to secede Hong Kong from the country and undermine territorial integrity.

Rao Geping, a member of the Basic Law Committee, said Hong Kong’s internal security and public order was part of national security.

“Hong Kong people should not assume that calls for secession are only an internal matter for the city. Instead, the country’s territorial integrity is at stake,” he said in an interview with the South China Morning Post on Friday.

“My view is that from the legal perspective, the central government will not sit idly in the face of attempts in Hong Kong to secede the city from the country and undermine territorial integrity,” said the leading mainland adviser on Hong Kong affairs.

“Those calls will only bring Hong Kong to a dead end. Hongkongers should be clear-headed about the damage caused by extremist separatists.”

But Rao stopped short of renewing his call for a relaunch of national security legislation in the city or suggesting what legal means the central government would deploy to rein in secession attempts.

On February 16, Rao called for shelved national security legislation to be enacted urgently in the wake of the Mong Kok riot on February 8.