Hong Kong anti-government protests: keep ‘political virus’ of unrest off streets, Beijing urges as Covid-19 eases
- In its sixth such statement since April, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office says ‘forces orchestrating the black violence’ want the city to break from China
- Beijing’s two offices overseeing the city have been asserting their authority amid a controversy over the limits of their power
Beijing has ramped up its broadsides against a return to chaotic anti-government protests in Hong Kong on the back of an easing coronavirus situation, this time warning that it will not allow the “political virus” of violence to turn the city into an independent entity.
The cabinet-level Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO), in its sixth such statement since April, on Wednesday urged all people and institutions that exercise public powers in the city to put a stop to violence, adding that, unless they did so, Hong Kong would never be peaceful.
“The forces orchestrating the black violence want to resist the central government’s comprehensive jurisdiction over Hong Kong and turn the city into an independent or semi-independent political entity at the cost of destroying Hong Kong,” a spokesman said, adding that the central government would not “sit idly by with these recklessly demented forces”.
“Black violence and the ‘If we burn, you burn with us’ mentality are a political virus in Hong Kong and a big enemy of the ‘one country, two systems’ formula,” he said.
The call to action came four days after Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong warned that the city would have no future if anti-government protesters returned to violence instead of working together to battle the coronavirus crisis. The two offices have been asserting their authority amid a controversy over the limits of their power regarding internal Hong Kong affairs.