China Slams Hong Kong Democracy Movement as ‘Political Infection’

Sandra Loyd

China on Wednesday stepped up its usage of anti-terrorism rhetoric relating to the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, calling it a “political virus” and a “dark, destructive force.”

The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) under China’s cabinet, the State Council, struck out at the city’s black- outfitted protesters for going back to streets and shopping centers amidst a lull in the coronavirus epidemic.

” No faster did the epidemic sluggish, than these black- outfitted hooligans were out on the streets holding prohibited events, bothering companies and tossing fuel bombs,” a HKMAO spokesperson stated in a declaration posted to its official website.

” The most significant scourge of Hong Kong originates from within, specifically, the dark, harmful forces … [who have] squashed the guideline of law, interrupted public order, smashed and taken public and private property, threatened people’s lives, and done heavy damage to Hong Kong’s economy and international image,” the declaration stated.

The spokesperson blamed “totalitarian forces and their behind-the-scenes leaders” for managing the demonstration movement, which started with mass, serene opposition to strategies by president Carrie Lam to enable the extradition of supposed criminal suspects to mainland China, and widened into require full democracy and higher responsibility, consisting of a questions into cops violence.

He stated the objective of the demonstration movement was to “withstand the main federal government’s overall control over Hong Kong, and looking for full autonomy in the guise of a high degree of autonomy, turning Hong Kong into an semi-independent or independent political entity.”

On The Other Hand, Hong Kong people are still “confused” by the demonstrations, and had compassion and understanding for the protesters, he stated.

” These dark, violent forces … are political infections … that will not be removed in the space of a single day,” the spokesperson stated.

He contacted Hong Kong’s authorities and organizations to take company action to “stamp out this evil.”

Pro-democracy legislator Andrew Wan stated the HKMAO declaration was “ridiculous,” as it had actually stopped working to take into consideration the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on Hong Kong’s economy, and looked for to blame protesters rather.

” The pandemic … has actually caused financial shutdowns around the globe and yet the HKMAO believes it was the so-called dark, harmful forces, which is amusing,” Wan stated.

“What protests took part during the pandemic, I’d like to ask him?” Wan stated. “It seems that he is living in a time warp.”

Official ‘infection’ talk raises eyebrows

Strategies by Carrie Lam to enable the extradition of declared criminal suspects to deal with trial in mainland China triggered mass street demonstrations starting in June 2019, soon followed by prevalent public anger at cops usage of force versus serene demonstrators and needs for completely democratic elections.

Lam has actually because officially withdrawn the disliked modifications to the city’s extradition laws, however has actually stopped short of conference protesters’ needs for an amnesty for arrestees, an independent public query into cops violence and abuse of power, an end to the description of protesters as “rioters,” and completely democratic elections.

Frontline protesters, eyewitnesses, reporters and human rights groups have actually consistently stated that most of violence throughout the demonstrations has actually come from with the Hong Kong cops, who have actually been commonly slammed for the extreme usage of tear gas, water cannon and pepper spray, as well as both live and non-lethal ammo weapons, on unarmed protesters.

Medical personnel and rights groups have actually likewise knocked the handcuffing and arrests of voluntary medical personnel, consisting of medical professionals and nurses, throughout the siege of the Polytechnic University by riot cops in November 2019

Referrals to people of China from areas whose populations are ambivalent about Beijing’s guideline as contaminated by a “virus” have a precedent amongst current Chinese official declarations.

In a taped lecture launched in October 2017, the Communist Party Youth League of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Area (XUAR) safeguarded the area’s then reasonably unidentified however broadening network of mass internment camps thought to hold up to 1.8 million Uyghurs for re-education.

“That is why they must be admitted to a re-education hospital in time to treat and cleanse the virus from their brain and restore their normal mind,” stated the declaration, exposed by RFA in August 2018, as the camp concern started to get international attention, drawing contrasts to 1930 s prisoner-of-war camp.

Mentioning the XUAR camp system, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum last month added China to its list of“historical cases of genocide and other atrocities, places where mass atrocities are currently underway or populations are under threat, and areas where early warning signs call for concern and preventive action.”

Reported by Male Hoi-tsan for RFA’s Cantonese Service. Equated and modified by Luisetta Mudie.

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