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Hong Kong localism, independence
Hong KongPolitics

‘No mercy’ for Hong Kong’s pro-independence ‘rats’ says head of top Beijing think tank

Chen Zuoer, the president of Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, and also the former deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said the city should fight back

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Chen Zuoer took a hard line on independence activists. Photo: K. Y. Cheng
Christy Leung

Hong Kong should hunt down independence advocates with no mercy and chase them “like a rat seen in a street” according to the head of Beijing’s top think tank in the city.

Speaking in Beijing on Wednesday morning, Chen Zuoer, the president of Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, and also the former deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, adopted the old Chinese saying to describe the independence supporters as “running rat across the streets” and said that the city should fight back.

“Hong Kong should hunt down the advocates with no mercy. This force cannot exist in the political structure of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China,” said Chen, adding the recent interpretation of the Basic Law had been a heavy blow to them.

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Chen made the remarks as he met a delegation from the Silent Majority for Hong Kong, a pro-Beijing group led by former radio host Robert Chow Yung, an outspoken critic of the Occupy protests in 2014.

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