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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Xi Jinping draws ‘red line’ before protesters march
Protesters carry a banner during a march in Hong Kong yesterday, the 20th anniversary of the territory’s handover from British to Chinese rule. Photo: AFP
IRRELEVANT: The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Sino-British Joint Declaration that gave the territory its freedoms was no longer applicable
/ AFP, HONG KONG
Chinese President Xi Jinping （習近平） yesterday warned that any challenge to Beijing’s control over Hong Kong crossed a “red line,” as thousands calling for more democracy marched through the territory 20 years after it was handed back by Britain.
Xi spoke in a televised address after swearing in Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam （林鄭月娥）, who is already being cast by critics as a China stooge in a territory where many are angry at Beijing’s tightening grip on the freedoms of its nearly 8 million people.
A huge security operation shut down large parts of Hong Kong for Xi’s three-day visit, reflecting Beijing’s concern that there should be no embarrassment ahead of a key Chinese Communist Party congress later this year, which is expected to cement his position as the most powerful Chinese leader in a generation.
Any threat to China’s sovereignty and security or to the power of the central government “crosses the red line and is absolutely impermissible,” Xi said.
He also warned against anyone endangering Hong Kong’s constitution or using the territory “to carry out infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland.”
The message came as young activists have emerged calling for self-determination or even full independence for Hong Kong, which has infuriated Beijing.
Just hours after Xi left the territory in the afternoon, thousands marched from Victoria Park to government offices in central Hong Kong in an annual pro-democracy protest that also called for the release of cancer-stricken Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo （劉曉波）, who was given medical parole earlier this week, but remains in China.
“Suppression by the regime has never let up and I don’t see any end in sight,” said Hong Kong Legislator Nathan Law （羅冠聰）, who was arrested on Wednesday over an anti-China sit-in and attended the protest after being released on Friday.
Xi insisted that Hong Kong had “more extensive democratic rights and freedoms than at any other time in its history” in his speech and pledged to uphold its semi-autonomous status.
However, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday declared that the document signed by Britain and China that initiated the handover “is no longer relevant.”
The Sino-British Joint Declaration gave Hong Kong rights unseen in the mainland through a “one country, two systems” agreement, lasting 50 years.
There are growing fears that freedoms guaranteed by the handover deal are now threatened, with Chinese authorities accused of abductions and interfering in a range of areas, from politics to media and education.
Xi cautioned that political conflict would “severely hinder” Hong Kong’s economic and social development and called for education measures to promote China’s national culture and history.
A proposal to include patriotic education in Hong Kong schools met with huge protests in 2012 and has since been shelved.
Pro-China supporters jeered and booed yesterday’s democracy march, shouting: “Long live the [Chinese] Communist Party! This is China’s soil!”
Earlier in the day, loyalists had also targeted a small, peaceful march in memory of the victims of Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Leading activist Joshua Wong （黃之鋒） accused “pro-China gangsters and mobs” of instigating the attack.
Democracy advocates, including Wong, were taken away in police vans, with two of them saying they had been hit by officers inside, before all were released.
Activists said they had been repeatedly targeted during Xi’s visit.
“What we’ve experienced this weekend was a whole new level of intimidation and direct violence that’s unprecedented,” League of Social Democrats campaigner Avery Ng （吳文遠） said.
Lam’s swearing in by Xi was deeply symbolic for frustrated activists who pushed for fully free leadership elections during the 2014 “Umbrella movement” rallies, but failed to win concessions.
Those protests were sparked by a Beijing-backed political reform package that said Hong Kong could have a public vote for leader, but that candidates must be vetted first.
The plan was voted down by pro-democracy lawmakers and the reform process has since stalled, with Lam making no commitment to revisit it any time soon.
Lam was selected by a pro-China committee, as were her predecessors.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
People yesterday participate in a march in Hong Kong organized by the Civil Human Rights Front. Photo: CNA
