Hong Kong election result draws cautious response from Beijing
- No direct comment on pro-democracy landslide, but stopping violence and restoring order remain ‘top priorities’
- Foreign Minister Wang Yi warns any attempt to ‘mess up Hong Kong’ will not succeed
China on Monday reacted cautiously to Hong Kong’s community-level elections with both senior officials and state media offering measured comments on the results, which saw the pro-democracy camp scoring a crushing victory over pro-Beijing candidates.
Speaking in Tokyo after a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi did not comment directly on the election results but stressed that the outcome would not change the fact that Hong Kong was a special administrative region of China.
“It’s not the final result yet. Let’s wait for the final result, OK? However, it is clear that no matter what happens, Hong Kong is a part of China and a special administrative region of China.
“Any attempt to mess up Hong Kong, or even damage its prosperity and stability, will not succeed,” Wang said.
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A similar message was delivered by foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang in Beijing who also avoided directly commenting on the election results but said stopping violence and restoring order remained Hong Kong’s top priorities.
China’s official news agency, Xinhua, and the state’s broadcaster, CCTV, carried brief reports of the elections around noon on Monday and each repeated that restoring stability continued to be the city’s critical task ahead.
Neither Xinhua nor CCTV reported the landslide victory for pro-democracy candidates but instead claimed that a number of pro-Beijing candidates had been “harassed” during the elections.
China’s top agencies responsible for Hong Kong affairs have not yet officially responded to the results of the elections in Hong Kong.
According to Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga, Hong Kong was discussed during the meeting between Abe and the Chinese foreign minister.
Abe stressed the “importance of a free and open Hong Kong prospering under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle”, according to Suga.
“Hong Kong is an extremely important partner as we have close economic relations and personal exchanges,” Suga said.
Wang, who was in Tokyo for a Group of 20 foreign ministers’ meeting, had earlier accused the US of interfering with China’s internal affairs but did not directly comment on the district council elections in Hong Kong.
“The United States, making use of its domestic law, wantonly interfered in China’s internal affairs and attempted to undermine ‘one country, two systems’ and the prosperity and stability of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, violating the United Nations Charter and the basic norms governing international relations,” Wang said, according to China’s official news agency Xinhua.
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Hong Kong has been rocked by months of anti-government protests triggered by a now withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed the city to send fugitives to mainland China for trial.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
