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PLA ‘committed to protecting’ Hong Kong as stand-off intensifies
- Stopping violence and restoring order ‘most urgent task’ for the city, China’s defence ministry says
- Chinese and US defence ministers discuss Hong Kong at Bangkok Asean meeting while clashes continue between police and radicals
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The Chinese defence ministry has dismissed concerns about People’s Liberation Army soldiers in Hong Kong leaving their barracks on Saturday to help clear roadblocks and debris, saying the garrison was committed to protecting national security and the city’s stability.
Ministry spokesman Wu Qian made the comment after a meeting between Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe and US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper on the sidelines of an Asean defence ministers’ meeting in Bangkok, where they discussed the situation in Hong Kong.
It was the first time the two defence chiefs had spoken face-to-face about Hong Kong. They had discussed the ongoing unrest in the city in a phone conversation on November 5.
As hundreds of masked radicals and police officers remained locked in an intense stand-off on Monday, Wu said the Hong Kong public had welcomed the unexpected appearance of about 50 Chinese soldiers, unarmed and in plain clothes, for the first time in more than five months of unrest in the city.
“Stopping violence and restoring order is the most urgent task for Hong Kong,” Wu said.
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