China Daily Weekly - 02.08.2019

ByZHANGYIinBeijing

andCHENZIMOinHongKong

P

eoplefromallwalksoflifein

Hong Kong shouldoppose

and resist violence, stand

firmindefenseoftheruleof

law and concentrateondeveloping

the city’s economy and improving

livelihoods, Yang Guang, a spokes-

man for the Hong Kong and Macao

Affairs Officeof the StateCouncil,

saidonJuly29.

The recent violent attacks have

had a severe impacton the rule

of law, publicorder, economy and

global imageofHong Kong, Yang

saidatanewsconferenceonthecen-

tralgovernment’sviewoftherecent

situation in the Hong Kong Special

AdministrativeRegion.

“We hope that Hong Kong will

move past the political contentious-

nessassoonaspossibleandinstead

concentrateondeveloping its econ-

omy and improving people’s liveli-

hoods,”hesaid.

Xu Luying, a spokeswoman for

theoffice,saidmaintainingasound

businessenvironmentinHongKong

is crucial. Recent violence has had

a serious impacton the city’s social

orderandinternationalreputation.

Xu added that most members

fromtheHong Kong Retail Man-

agementAssociation have seen sig-

nificant declines in sales in the past

month.CityUniversityofHongKong

saidconsumerconfidenceinthecity

is nowatitslowest level in half a

decade.

The numberofSoutheastAsian

tour groups visiting Hong Kong has

been falling and Hong Kong’s tour-

ism industry predicts that number

could fall by as much as 70 percent,

she said, without providing a time

frame.

“As a small, globally linked econ-

omylikeHongKonginthecomplex

and volatile international economic

environment, if the business envi-

ronment and business confidence

decline,itwillnaturallyincreasethe

external risks faced by its financial

sector,”Xusaid.

“Therefore, the top priority for

HongKongn owistopunishthevio-

lentacts,restoresocialorderassoon

as possible and maintain a sound

businessenvironment,”sheadded.

Yangsaidthatthecentralgovern-

ment firmly supportsChief Execu-

tiveoftheHong Kong SARCarrie

LamChengYuet-ngorinleadingthe

HKSARgovernment’s administra-

tionundertheruleoflaw.

The central government alsosup-

portstheHongKongpoliceinstrict

lawenforcement,and standsby

HKSARgovernment agencies and

judiciarybodiesinhandingoutpun-

ishmenttoviolentcriminalsaccord-

ingtolaw,hesaid.

Yang alsosaid that the principle

of“one country, twosystems” is the

best institutional arrangement for

maintaining long-term prosperity

andstabilityintheSAR.

The central government will con-

tinuetoimplementthe“onecountry,

twosystems” principle the way it

alwayshas,hesaid.

The DemocraticAlliance for the

Betterment and ProgressofHong

Kong—thelargestpoliticalpartyin

theLegislativeCouncil—welcomed

the remarksof the Hong Kong and

MacaoAffairsOffice.

Holding this news conference

showed the importance the affairs

officeattachestotheHKSAR,aswell

as support for the SARgovernment

and thepoliceforce,said StarryLee

Wai-king,theparty’schairwoman.

Thecentralgovernment’sexpecta-

tions are in line with thoseofmost

Hong Kong people, whowish that

violence in the city would cease

immediately,Leesaid.

TheHKSARgovernmentstrongly

denouncedon July 29 the escalated

and repeated violence by protesters

afterdemonstrationscontinuedlate

intothe nightofJuly28onHong

KongIsland.HongKongpolicesaid

dozensofpeople were arrestedon

July 28 foroffenses including unau-

thorizedassemblyandpossessionof

weapons.

OnJuly 30, charges were pressed

against 45ofthose arrested. Forty-

fourofthemwillbechargedforriot-

ing.Amongthem,a33-year-oldman

waschargedwithassaultingapolice

officer.Separately,a24-year-oldman

was charged with the possessionof

offensiveweapons.

Allof them appeared in the East-

ernMagistrates’CourtonJuly31.

Contactthewqi eqra

[email protected]

Centralgovernmentcallsforcityto

movepastpoliticalcontentiousness

Beijingurges

HongKongto

resistviolence

BySTAFFWRITERS

inBeijingandHongKong

China’sForeignMinistryhasblast-

edtheUnitedStatesformeddlingin

HongKong’sprotests.

HuaChunying, spokeswoman

of the ministry, made the remarks

on July 30 after the US Secretaryof

StateMikePompeoearliersaidatan

eventattheEconomicClubofWash-

ingtonDC,thatHongKongprotests

overthenow-suspendedextradition

bill are “appropriate” and such pro-

testsarecommonintheUS.

Pompeosaid he hopedChina can

“dothe right thing” and respect the

agreements in place with respect to

HongKong.

InadailypressconferenceinBei-

jing, Hua said that protests in the

HKSARhaveseenradicalprotesters

attackingthepo withmetalplice oles

andotherlethalweapons.

MaybetheUScould“import”such

violentprotestsandshowtheworld

how its democracy would handle

them,Huasaid.

InHongKong,formerchiefexecu-

tiveTungChee-hwanotedonJuly

that anti-China forces, especially in

the United States and Taiwan, seem

tobebehindtheprotests.

Addressing a luncheonheldby

Our Hong Kong Foundation, Tung

said these anti-China forces have

exploited the differences between

thesystemofHongKongandthatof

theChinesemainlandtoinciteHong

Kong people tojeopardize the city’s

relationshipwiththemainland.

Hong Kong people must notbe

used as “pawns” when those forces

try touse Hong Kong as a baseof

resistancetothecentralgovernment,

heurged.

Itwasalsoregrettablethatasmall

numberofpeopletookadvantageof

thetoleranceofthegovernmentand

society, Tung said.By indulging in

violentacts,thesepeoplehaveshak-

en Hong Kong’s economy and soci-

ety and damaged the relationship

betweenthecentralgovernmentand

theSAR,headded.

Tung — founderof the think

tank and vice-chairmanoftheChi-

nese People’s PoliticalConsultative

Conference NationalCommittee,

the nation’s toppolitical advisory

body—calledonthecity’sresidents

toreject violence and support the

policeindefendingtheruleoflaw.

There must be “nocompromise”

whendealingwiththe“blacksheep”

benton destabilizing Hong Kong

through violence, and the govern-

mentshouldaddressthecity’ssocial

issueswithoutdelay.

EminentHongKongbusinessman

Allan Zeman said that “Hong Kong

is a great place, but we will destroy

itifviolenceisallowedtocontinue.”

Newsof the violence in Hong

Kong in recent weeks has traveled

aroundtheworld,headded.

From this news foo “petage, ople

are getting the wrong impressionof

what is happening in Hong Kong.

HongKongwillcontinuetogodown

ifwedon’tgettogetherandfindaway

tosolvetheproblem,”saidZeman.

Tung, whobecame the first chief

executiveofthespecialadministrative

regionin1997,alsourged the SAR

government toimmediately address

livelihood issues that have troubled

HongKongformanyyears,stressing

thatthereshouldbenomoredelaysin

findingsolutionstotheseproblems.

The former chief executive con-

ceded that the lackof significant

improvementsinthehousing-short-

ageproblem and widening income

gap has made some young people

choose torelease their emotions

through“streetpolitics”.

The public should remain confi-

dent that the government will carry

out bold reforms torestore public

confidence,Tungsaid.

Tung alsoexpressed full confi-

dence in the principleof“one coun-

try, twosystems, Hong Kong people

governing Hong Kong and a high

degreeofautonomy”.

The recent demonstrations have

provedthatHongKongpeople’sfree-

domofspeechandassemblyisguar-

anteedbytheBasicLaw,Tungsaid.

FormerHKchiefexecutiveurgeslocalpeoplenottobe‘pawns’againstcentralgovernment

‘USforcesbehindprotests’

Citizens gather outsideapolice station in Hong Kong on July 29 to show their support for Hong Kong

police in fulfilling their law enforcement duties.PHOTOSPROVIDEDTOCHINADAILY

8 CHINANEWS August 2-8, 2019 CHINADAILY GLOBALWEEKLY