China official calls for tough security laws to end Hong Kong unrest

Mrs Carrie Lam shaking hands with the director of Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong, Mr Zhang Xiaoming, in 2017. PHOTO: SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Mrs Carrie Lam shaking hands with the director of Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong, Mr Zhang Xiaoming, in 2017. PHOTO: SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

BEIJING • China has said the lack of tough security laws in Hong Kong is a key reason for months of increasingly violent pro-democracy protests and that the enactment of such legislation is an urgent task.

The call - likely to further inflame protesters angry with a police response seen as heavy-handed - came in a lengthy statement issued last Saturday by the head of the Chinese government department overseeing the city.

The statement by Mr Zhang Xiaoming, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, acknowledged that governance in the semi-autonomous city must be improved, saying factors such as housing costs and a growing wealth gap had contributed to the unrest.

But Mr Zhang also backed a firmer hand, saying laws against subversion and other challenges to central government control were needed, and stressed that the territory's leader and legislature must be "patriots" loyal to Beijing.

Efforts by Hong Kong's government to introduce tough security laws in 2003 caused major protests before being shelved.

The lack of such legislation "is one of the main reasons for the intensification of activities of local radical separatist forces", Mr Zhang said.

"The need to safeguard national security and strengthen law enforcement have become prominent issues and urgent tasks facing the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and people from all walks of life."

Chinese President Xi Jinping last week expressed a "high degree of trust" in Hong Kong's embattled Chief Executive Carrie Lam, following speculation that Beijing was preparing to remove her.

While giving no indication that Mrs Lam's removal was imminent, Mr Zhang said: "It must be ensured that the Chief Executive is a patriot trusted by the central government, (who) loves one's country and Hong Kong." The city's "administrative, legislative and judicial organs also must be composed mainly of patriots", he said.

Hong Kong's legislature is quasi-democratic, with half the seats popularly elected and the rest chosen by largely pro-Beijing committees.

Hong Kong holds district council elections on Nov 24, with the pro-Beijing camp bracing itself for heavy defeats. Voter registration has soared and the pro-democracy camp is fielding candidates in every constituency for the first time.

But there are concerns the elections could be called off due to the violence. Last week, pro-Beijing politician Junius Ho was wounded in a knife attack. Earlier, a man shouting pro-Beijing slogans knifed at least three protesters and bit off the ear of a local district councillor.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 11, 2019, with the headline China official calls for tough security laws to end Hong Kong unrest. Subscribe