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Hong Kong leader warns against interference, escalation of violence


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Hong Kong leader warns against interference, escalation of violence

By Clare Jim and Farah Master

 

2019-09-10T024512Z_1_LYNXNPEF8904M_RTROPTP_4_HONGKONG-PROTESTS.JPG

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam attends a news conference in Hong Kong, China September 10, 2019. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

 

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Interference by foreign parliaments in Hong Kong's affairs is deeply regrettable, the leader of the Chinese-ruled city said on Tuesday, adding that an escalation of violence cannot solve social issues in the city.

 

The city's Beijing-backed leader, Carrie Lam, was speaking after another weekend of sometimes violent clashes in the former British colony, with police firing tear gas in cat-and-mouse skirmishes with protesters who at times smashed windows and started fires in the streets.

 

"It's extremely inappropriate for foreign parliaments to interfere in HKSAR internal affairs in any way, and (we) will not allow (the United States) to become a stakeholder in HKSAR matters," Lam said, referring to Hong Kong by its status as a special administrative region of China.

 

During a rally at the U.S. consulate on Sunday, thousands of demonstrators, some waving the American flag, called for help in bringing democracy to Hong Kong.

 

The protesters called for the U.S. Congress to pass legislation that would require Washington to make an annual assessment of whether Hong Kong was sufficiently autonomous from mainland China to retain special U.S. trade and economic benefits.

 

Hong Kong returned to Beijing in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" formula that guarantees freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland.

 

But many Hong Kong residents fear Beijing is steadily eroding that autonomy. China denies meddling in the city.

 

The initially peaceful protests have degenerated into encounters between baton-wielding riot police and activists, leading to scores of injuries and about 1,300 arrests.

 

The demonstrations have taken a toll on Hong Kong's economy, which is on the verge of its first recession in a decade. Hong Kong visitor arrivals plunged nearly 40% in August from a year earlier as tourists steered clear of the city.

 

Stephen Schwarz, head of sovereign ratings for the Asia-Pacific region at Fitch Ratings, said the agency's downgrade of Hong Kong last week reflected damage to the city's reputation as a place to do business.

 

"The downgrade reflects months of ongoing conflict environment which are testing the 'one country, two systems' framework and which have inflicted damage to the international perception of the quality and effectiveness of Hong Kong's governance and rule of law as well as the stability of its business environment," Schwarz said.

 

FOREIGN FORCES

Chinese officials have accused foreign forces of trying to hurt Beijing by creating chaos in Hong Kong, and they have warned outsiders to keep out of what they call an internal affair.

 

On Monday, former U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the anti-government protests were not an internal Chinese matter and the United States should offer at least moral support to the demonstrators.

 

After three months of unrest, Lam last week withdrew a controversial extradition bill that had triggered the unrest, but the gesture failed to appease many demonstrators.

 

Anger over the now-shelved extradition bill has triggered opposition to Beijing that had waned after 2014, when authorities faced down 79 days of pro-democracy protests in the central business district.

 

Now, three months of protests have evolved into a broader backlash against the government with demands for democracy re-emerging as a rallying cry.

Lam called for dialogue.

 

"Escalation and continuation of violence cannot solve the issues faced by our society now," she told a news conference.

 

"It will only deepen the conflict, contradiction, splits, and even hatred in society."

 

The protests, beamed live to the world since June, have prompted some of the city's powerful tycoons to appeal for calm.

 

In his first speech mentioning the unrest, billionaire Li Ka-shing urged political leaders to offer young people an olive branch, calling them "masters of our future", according to an online video of remarks to a small crowd during a monastery visit on Sunday.

 

Lam said her administration's actions, including the bill's formal withdrawal, were "not directly to stop these protests and violence".

 

"It is really to express my sincerity to start a dialogue with the people," she said.

 

(Reporting By Clare Jim, Felix Tam, Farah Master, Lukas Jobs, Donny Kwok, Noah, Sin, James Pomfret, Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert Birsel)

 

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-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-09-10
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Someone should tell Carrie Lam that the "foreign interference caused the protests" is a very old song that indicates that her government is in denial.

 

The reason why so many Hong Kongers protested is because they don't want to be enslaved. They were smart enough to realise what was and is happening and did not need anyone else to tell them.

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2 hours ago, Proboscis said:

Someone should tell Carrie Lam that the "foreign interference caused the protests" is a very old song that indicates that her government is in denial.

 

The reason why so many Hong Kongers protested is because they don't want to be enslaved. They were smart enough to realise what was and is happening and did not need anyone else to tell them.

I am convinced that peace will return when she resigns.

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Sorry to be picky but.........the USA is entitled to make its own decision on how best to treat Hong Kong, and whether to make an annual assessment of HK's autonomy and deserving of 'special' status.  For Carrie Lam to tell them otherwise is interfering in USA's internal affairs!

 

 

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4 hours ago, Proboscis said:

Someone should tell Carrie Lam that the "foreign interference caused the protests" is a very old song that indicates that her government is in denial.

 

The reason why so many Hong Kongers protested is because they don't want to be enslaved. They were smart enough to realise what was and is happening and did not need anyone else to tell them.

If Hong Kongers don't want to be enslaved, then they should ask Beijing to end the 1 country 2 systems policy. After ending the policy, China can seize all the land in Hong Kong, especially from the property tycoons, and then build a million government rental flats.

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24 minutes ago, Selatan said:

If Hong Kongers don't want to be enslaved, then they should ask Beijing to end the 1 country 2 systems policy. After ending the policy, China can seize all the land in Hong Kong, especially from the property tycoons, and then build a million government rental flats.

1 country 2 systems ends in 2047 after 50 years of mainland immigration at 150 per day (a little more than 2.7 million if my maths is correct), followed by their families.  At that point the HKers will probably be outnumbered in the democratic voting stakes.  Subjugation by immigration is effective.

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3 minutes ago, animalmagic said:

1 country 2 systems ends in 2047 after 50 years of mainland immigration at 150 per day (a little more than 2.7 million if my maths is correct), followed by their families.  At that point the HKers will probably be outnumbered in the democratic voting stakes.  Subjugation by immigration is effective.

I estimate that Hong Kong may not matter to China at all by 2030. It should have been a 25 year arrangement so that Hong Kong could be integrated earlier with the mainland. China probably didn't expect the rate of its economic progress to be so fast.

China has been encouraging the movement of its rural people to cities in the past 10 years in order to rebalance the economy to be less dependent on exports and more on consumption. Already, some second-tier cities in China are better than Hong Kong in terms of infrastructure and quality of life. By 2047, a typical third-tier city on the mainland may be better than Hong Kong so it would be difficult to encourage mainlanders to move to extremely expensive Hong Kong.

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1 hour ago, Selatan said:

I estimate that Hong Kong may not matter to China at all by 2030. It should have been a 25 year arrangement so that Hong Kong could be integrated earlier with the mainland. China probably didn't expect the rate of its economic progress to be so fast.

China has been encouraging the movement of its rural people to cities in the past 10 years in order to rebalance the economy to be less dependent on exports and more on consumption. Already, some second-tier cities in China are better than Hong Kong in terms of infrastructure and quality of life. By 2047, a typical third-tier city on the mainland may be better than Hong Kong so it would be difficult to encourage mainlanders to move to extremely expensive Hong Kong.

All valid points but you are talking about cities without referring to the individuals that live there and call it home.  Many HKers have no other option and are happy to call HK home; they do not want to be just another Chinese city.  There seems to be no problem in filling the daily quotas for mainlanders to move to expensive HK.

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5 hours ago, animalmagic said:

1 country 2 systems ends in 2047 after 50 years of mainland immigration at 150 per day (a little more than 2.7 million if my maths is correct), followed by their families.  At that point the HKers will probably be outnumbered in the democratic voting stakes.  Subjugation by immigration is effective.

Migration, not immigration. These people never leave their own country. Just change cities.

 

Few HKers actually have a vote above council level anyway. That's the way the British left it.

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22 minutes ago, Traubert said:

Migration, not immigration. These people never leave their own country. Just change cities.

 

Few HKers actually have a vote above council level anyway. That's the way the British left it.

Actually not how the British left it as Patten made changes to the voting system and eligibility before the handover; these were changed to what HK has now shortly after the handover.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Hong_Kong_electoral_reform

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47 minutes ago, animalmagic said:

Actually not how the British left it as Patten made changes to the voting system and eligibility before the handover; these were changed to what HK has now shortly after the handover.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Hong_Kong_electoral_reform

China should have just let the lease on the New Territories to expire in 1997 and maybe a year or two later after retaking the much larger area of Hong Kong, it could simply march in and takes over Hong Kong island and Kowloon like what India did to Goa in 1961.

China should have known that the British couldn't be trusted to honour its part of the deal of the Joint Declaration.

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6 minutes ago, Selatan said:

China should have just let the lease on the New Territories to expire in 1997 and maybe a year or two later after retakiWng the much larger area of Hong Kong, it could simply march in and takes over Hong Kong island and Kowloon like what India did to Goa in 1961.

China should have known that the British couldn't be trusted to honour its part of the deal of the Joint Declaration.

Which part of the Joint Declaration has Britain not honoured? The commitment to allow HK a separate set of rules, laws and judicial system outwith and separate from those of the rest of the PRC?  

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26 minutes ago, StreetCowboy said:

Which part of the Joint Declaration has Britain not honoured? The commitment to allow HK a separate set of rules, laws and judicial system outwith and separate from those of the rest of the PRC?  

3 years before the handover and the last governor deemed it necessary to introduce political reforms without the agreement of China is not a violation of the agreement? China also tolerated the rush into building the new airport in the final years before the handover. The British must be really desperate to funnel as much money as possible out of HK.

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6 minutes ago, Selatan said:

3 years before the handover and the last governor deemed it necessary to introduce political reforms without the agreement of China is not a violation of the agreement? China also tolerated the rush into building the new airport in the final years before the handover. The British must be really desperate to funnel as much money as possible out of HK.

Are you saying that Hong Kong was not in desperate need of a new airport? Personally, I think that Chek Lap Kok is a great airport, and the Chinese should be delighted with it, and the rest of the infrastructure that they inherited with the return to the glorious motherland.

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7 hours ago, Selatan said:

3 years before the handover and the last governor deemed it necessary to introduce political reforms without the agreement of China is not a violation of the agreement? China also tolerated the rush into building the new airport in the final years before the handover. The British must be really desperate to funnel as much money as possible out of HK.

Yeah, they left it in a financial pickle!  Quite possibly the only place in the world that projects a budget surplus and then over delivers, every year!

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China was slow to act against the students at Tiananmen Square while they gathered intelligence on their leaders and key supporters, many of whom were never seen again. In Hong Kong the protests are being organized and led on social media. The authorities are surely tracking support for these sites. They will move when ready. 

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