A man wrapped in a Chinese flag gestures as he stands next to a group of police officers in front of an area occupied by pro-democracy demonstrators in the Causeway Bay
China’s media is ratcheting up the rhetoric against Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, saying protesters risk becoming foreign puppets.
In an editorial yesterday in the English-language daily Global Times, the paper linked the protests to other movements that China deems hostile to the Chinese Communist Party’s authority.
“The external political situation concerning Occupy Central is increasingly clear cut,” the paper said. “A mix of traditional forces that are confronting the current Chinese regime, including Tibetan, Xinjiang and Taiwan separatists, Falun Gong devotees, and pro-democracy activists, have beaten the drums for the Hong Kong protests like cheerleaders.”
The comments in the Global Times, which is affiliated with the official People’s Daily newspaper, come after Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said that foreign forces were fanning the protests. Student leaders have pledged to continue demonstrations unless China reverse a decision to vet candidates for the city’s first-ever leadership election in 2017.
The four-week protest is the biggest challenge to China’s rule over Hong Kong since the end of colonial rule in 1997.
Leung told foreign media on Monday that giving more voice in government to people at the bottom end of the income scale would lead to populist policies unfavorable to big business.
Around 200 people took part yesterday in a march to Leung’s official residence in response to the remarks they perceived as elitist.
“I am extremely angry about our chief executive’s comments,” said Yip Wing, 27, who participated in the march in his electric wheelchair. “It’s an understatement that Leung has lost touch with low-income people. He thinks we don’t exist.”
The Global Times editorial was published a day after student leaders met with Chief Secretary Carrie Lam in televised talks to resolve the impasse.
During the talks, the government said it is considering submitting a report to China relaying the demands and concerns of the protesters. While such a report would provide Beijing with a “reference” on the demonstrators’ opinions, the 2017 election has to be done in accordance with the legal framework laid out by Chinese lawmakers, Lam said.
China has said candidates for the election must be vetted by a 1,200 person-nominating committee. Leung has said that the question of how the members of the group are chosen could be open for discussion.
Alex Chow, the secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students that led the talks, on Tuesday questioned the usefulness of the report that Lam was proposing and refused to commit to further dialogue.
Society’s patience with the protesters is wearing thin as some main roads remain blocked, Leung said Tuesday. Pressure to resolve the occupation is mounting since three temporary injunctions for their removal were approved on Monday, he said.
Members from a taxi association yesterday afternoon removed parts of the make-shift barricades protesters erected at Mong Kok, one of the three protest sites, with the material taken to a truck driven into the midst of the rally area.
“We really want to clear the roads, but it’s beyond our abilities right now,” Eddie Ng, director general of the Taxi Drivers and Operators Association, told reporters yesterday.
Over the weekend, clashes in the Mong Kok district north of the city’s harbor led to some of the worst violence since demonstrations began on Sept. 26, with police saying on Monday that the protests there risked turning into a riot.
“The talks yielded almost nothing,” said Donald Lung, a 22-year-old student at the University of Hong Kong. “I’ll not leave until the government really responds to our demands. Only fundamental change in the political structure can resolve problems,” including the widening gap between rich and poor and policies favoring tycoons and property developers, he said. Frederik Balfour and Clement Tan , Bloomberg
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