The Daily Telegraph Friday 16 August 2019 ** 11
Hong Kong police and Beijing at odds over
claims foreigners are stirring up protests
By Sophia Yan China Correspondent
in Hong Kong and Roland Oliphant
HONG Kong’s police force said yester-
day that the mass protests that have be-
sieged the city all summer showed no
signs of foreign influence or interfer-
ence, signalling a split between Beijing
and the police.
The remarks from the police contra-
dict Beijing’s claims that unidentified
foreign forces, deemed “black hands”,
are fomenting protests in the city that
form the most serious political crisis
since the former British colony was re-
turned to Chinese rule in 1997.
“From the operational angle, I can-
not see that at this stage,” said a senior
police official who agreed to speak on
condition of anonymity, when asked if
there were any signs of foreign funding
or organising of the protests that have
brought millions onto the streets.
This was in direct contrast to state-
ments made by the Chinese govern-
ment yesterday.
“Foreign forces must stop interfering
in Hong Kong affairs,” Liu Xiaoming,
China’s ambassador to the UK, said.
“Stop conniving in violent offences.”
For weeks, Beijing has denounced
protesters as pawns of the West and
plotting a “colour revolution” with ex-
ternal help – part of its propaganda
campaign to discredit the movement
while it issues ominous videos showing
troops engaging in paramilitary exer-
cises in a neighbouring city.
Satellite photos show what appear to
be armoured personnel carriers and
other vehicles belonging to China’s
paramilitary, the People’s Armed Po-
lice, parked in a sports complex in
Shenzhen, just across the border from
Hong Kong. It has been interpreted by
some as a threat from Beijing to use in-
creased force against protesters.
China’s defence ministry has also
pointed to a legal provision that would
allow Hong Kong-based People’s Lib-
eration Army troops to be deployed for
“public order maintenance” at the re-
quest of the city government.
The troops, called the Hong Kong
Huawei under
fire for ‘helping
African rulers
spy on rivals’
By Nick Allen in WashingtonHUAWEI, the Chinese telecommuni-
cations giant, helped governments in
two African countries to spy on politi-
cal opponents, it has been claimed.
In Uganda last year Huawei techni-
cians used spyware to help local sur-
veillance officers crack the encrypted
WhatsApp communications of Bobi
Wine, a popular musician turned poli-
tician, said the Wall Street Journal.
Police then raided a musical event
that would have featured surprise op-
position speakers, arresting Mr Wine
and dozens of his supporters.
“The Huawei technicians worked
for two days and helped us puncture
through,” a senior Ugandan officer said.
In Zambia, Huawei employees were
said to have helped the government ac-
cess the phones and Facebook pages of
bloggers critical of the president so
they could be tracked and arrested.
Huawei categorically denied the al-
legations, saying it had “never been en-
gaged in ‘hacking’ activities”. It said:
“Huawei rejects completely these un-
founded and inaccurate allegations
against our business operations.”
Huawei has supplied a £104 million
CCTV system to Uganda, which has
been hailed by police who believe it
will dramatically cut violent crime.
But opposition leaders say the police
could use the cameras, which have fa-
cial recognition technology, to pick out
demonstrators in any confrontations as
an election approaches in 2021.
Huawei has also sold CCTV systems
to Zambia, Kenya and Egypt, where po-
litical activists have raised similar con-
cerns. The US has restricted trade with
Huawei, accusing it of spying and theft
of intellectual property.
u Last night the founder and chief ex-
ecutive of Huawei said “the UK won’t
say no to us” when it comes to includ-
ing Huawei in its critical infrastructure.
In an interview with Sky News, Ren
Zhengfei also praised Prime Minister
Boris Johnson as “very decisive” and a
“very capable person”.
The UK government is considering
whether to incorporate equipment
from the Chinese telecommunications
giant in the roll-out of 5G, the next gen-
eration of mobile internet infrastruc-
ture. The US has warned its allies
against using Huawei because of secu-
rity concerns.
Mr Ren described the UK’s forth-
coming decision as “very important”.
He said: “I noticed the third day that
[Mr Johnson] was in office, he said UK
should roll-out 5G as soon as possible.
“I think they won’t say no to us as
long as they go through those rigorous
tests and look at it in a serious manner
and I think if they do say no, it won’t be
to us.”REUTERSWorld news
Garrison, released a promotional video
earlier this month that showed soldiers
doing a “riot drill” in which they fired
tear gas and water cannons at people
who appeared to be protesters.
However, three senior Hong Kong
police officers said they weren’t aware
of plans for Chinese forces to stop mass
demonstrations in the city, and denied
rumours that mainland police were al-
ready working in the territory.
However, they also said that they
weren’t sure if they would be informed
ahead of time if mainland platoons
were to be deployed in Hong Kong.
Experts say the Chinese government
is working to prime public opinion for
a potential crackdown, though such a
move is still believed to be a last resortas it would confirm that Beijing had
failed to win over the seven million in-
habitants of Hong Kong, and would
risk severely damaging the city’s image
as a global financial hub.
For now, the police have stressed
that they are more than capable of han-
dling the situation, and that stocks of
crowd-control measures, such as tear
gas canisters, are in plentiful supply.
“At an operational level, we have
considerable depth,” said one of the
senior police officers.
Hong Kong has 3,000 officers avail-
able to be deployed on any given day
specifically to handle the protests –
roughly 10 per cent of the entire police
force – with hundreds of others in
reserve.Chinese soldiers are
put through drills at
Shenzhen Bay
stadium, above,
while military
vehicles mass
outside, right. The
images have raised
fears of a military
intervention in
Hong KongSenior officers stress they
are capable of dealing with
the situation as Chinese
troops mass in nearby city
3,
The number of Hong Kong police officers
available to be deployed on any given
day to deal with the protests
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