China will not allow Hog Kong to be used as a base for “subversion” against Chinese sovereignty, a top Chinese official has warned.
The head of China’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong, Zhang Xiaoming, said late Sunday that, “As far as Hong Kong is concerned, nobody is permitted do anything in any form that damages the country’s sovereignty and security.”
Xiaoming said that nobody was “allowed to challenge the central government’s authority or that of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, they are not allowed to use Hong Kong for infiltration subversion activities against the mainland [and to] to damage its social and political stability.”
He said Beijing will not interfere in Hong Kong’s internal affairs, though.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to China under the “one country, two systems” agreement in 1997. The Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, allows it to have wide-ranging autonomy and freedom, including a separate legal system.
The territory’s legislative, executive, and judiciary bodies are separate from those of China, and Beijing only maintains authority in defense, foreign affairs, and constitutional disputes.
Beijing warned Hong Kong on Saturday that under the “one country, two systems” agreement, there was absolutely no space for its independence.
“Hong Kong is an inseparable part of the country and in no situation is ‘Hong Kong independence’ allowed,” the head of China’s Hong Kong Macau Affairs Office, Wang Guangya, said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping also said last month that he was “very worried” about Hong Kong, and warned it against seeking independence.
Pro-independence activists accuse the Chinese government of eroding Hong Kong’s autonomy.
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