Beijing signals less tolerant approach in branding instigators of Mong Kok riot as Hong Kong ‘separatists’
China-watcher says it is unprecedented for Beijing to identify separatists in the city, calling it a “wrong” categorisation that will lead to unnecessary escalation of anti-mainland sentiment
Beijing is signalling a less tolerant approach to social unrest in Hong Kong by branding the instigators of the Mong Kok riot on Monday night as “separatists”, China watchers said on Friday.
The central government raised the stakes in its first official condemnation of the rioters after Hong Kong police arrested 65 people and charged 41 of them.
READ MORE: Three more Hongkongers appear in court over Mong Kok riot, including Scholarism activist
On the face of it, the classification appears to place the rioters in the same category as separatists from the Tibet and Xinjiang regions, who are seen as a serious threat to national security, although there is a difference in the Chinese word used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Hong Kong protesters.
“On the early morning of February 9, a riot plotted mainly by local radical separatist organisation rocked Mong Kok,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in the official statement, which did not specify whether one or more such organisations were involved.
China-watcher Johnny Lau Yui-siu said it was unprecedented for Beijing to identify separatists in the city. He called it a “wrong” categorisation that would lead to unnecessary escalation of anti-mainland sentiment.
The separatist label is “one level less serious” than “secessionist”, and the use of the former is a sign that Beijing could “conclude secessionist elements exist in the city, should the situation worsen”, Lau warned.
READ MORE: Hong Kong police chief fails to quell anger of frontline officers at talks on Mong Kok riot tactics
Secession, terrorism and extreme religious forces form the three core threats China’s Communist Party has pledged to eradicate. Offenders face the death penalty, which does not exist in Hong Kong.
Beijing did not identify Hong Kong Indigenous, the radical group whose members have been accused of orchestrating the violence. But Edward Leung Tin-kei, one of the members charged with rioting, said: “I would not comment directly on the official label which places no emphasis whatsoever on explaining what had actually led to the eruption and escalation of what had happened.”
Pro-establishment lawmaker Wong Kwok-kin said the classification reflected the rioters’ transition from philosophical advocacy to real action. “They were called ‘Hong Kong independence advocates’ before. That no longer applies to people taking to violence,” he said.
The foreign ministry expressed “strong condemnation” of the violence as well as firm support for Hong Kong police in maintaining the city’s stability.
Minutes before Scholarism member Derek Lam Shun-hin was due to appear in court yesterday to face a charge of rioting, Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung dismissed allegations that the serious charge for all but one of the defendants being prosecuted so far was “tailor made” to match Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s description of the Mong Kok clashes as a “riot”.
“It was not because anyone has said anything – the most important and ultimate factor is that we look at evidence,” he said.
“Since the 1997 handover or in the last decade or two, have you seen something similar to what happened that night? ... It is exactly because it is rare that we decided to charge the suspects with rioting.”
He went on: “The court has set it very clearly, including our Court of Final Appeal, that irrespective of your political motive, irrespective of your political opinion, the way to express your views, the way to express your political opinion has to be lawful ... I think the majority of people in Hong Kong would love to have a peaceful Hong Kong, and I don’t think anyone in Hong Kong would love to see such kind of violent act.”
Yuen also said the Justice Department would not rule out charging suspects for other criminal offences.
Referring to the next court appearance for the 37 who made their first appearance on Thursday, the minister said: “We will work closely with the police, we will scrutinise the evidence, and we will decide whether there are other charges that we need to consider from now until April 7 ... We do not exclude the possibility that we might need to add further charges to those defendants.”
