New | Beijing’s point of view on Hong Kong ‘entirely understandable’: Singapore foreign minister

Beijing will not give into demands for greater democracy in Hong Kong because to do so may affect the stability of China as a whole, according to Singapore’s foreign minister Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam.

Complaining of anti-China bias in Western media coverage of ongoing pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, Shanmugam told Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore’s largest Chinese-language daily, that Hongkongers owe Beijing their jobs and livelihood.

“If Hongkongers want a change from the Basic Law – they have to recognise that Hong Kong is part of China, and there are some things China will accept, and some things which are red lines,” he said.

“There needs to be a clear understanding of China’s largesse towards Hong Kong even as an anti-China mood is stoked up,” said Shanmugam, echoing a common refrain in China’s state media that the protests are being directed or encouraged by Western powers. “Is the average Hongkonger prepared for the trade-offs?”

The foreign minister points out that Hong Kong never had democracy under British colonial rule, though the last governor of the territory, Chris Patten, greatly broadened the democratic structure of Legco, reforms that were reversed when Beijing assumed control of the city.