President Xi Jinping warned a divided Hong Kong that challenges to China’s rule would not be tolerated and that the city’s leaders need to focus on finding new ways to profit from Chinese economic clout.
Xi’s stern speech Saturday -- at ceremony in which he swore in Carrie Lam as Hong Kong’s first female chief executive -- capped a three-day trip to mark the 20th anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China. The president said the city’s leaders must build political consensus, find new economic drivers and address soaring home prices.
Hong Kong’s “top priority” should be to focus on economic development, he told the gathering of the city’s political and business leaders. Any attempt to challenge China’s sovereignty “or use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland is an act that crosses the red line, and is absolutely impermissible,” Xi said.
Since the last Chinese president visited five years ago, Hong Kong has been racked by doubts about the city’s growth model, protests for greater democracy and the emergence of a small independence movement. The trip demonstrated Xi’s intolerance for dissent against Chinese sovereignty while showcasing the confidence he’s displayed at home and abroad as his country’s economic clout gives it less reason to hide its strength and greater ability to shrug off international pressure.
“Xi sent a clear sovereign message: you belong to us and your future is with us,” said David Zweig, professor of political science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “Maybe it will finally put to sleep the democrats’ unfailing belief that somehow Xi is going to offer a package that will solve the political problems of Hong Kong.”
Intense security kept protesters away from Xi, and those lining the streets near the ceremony in the Wan Chai district, appeared largely supportive of Chinese rule, with many waving red Chinese and Hong Kong flags.
“We have received education since primary school that Hong Kong is part of China,” said Lu Wenjing, who came from her home in mainland China to watch the ceremony. “There is no doubt. No matter how Hong Kong people feel about the handover, I hope they know where their root is. It is China.”
Scuffles broke out on Saturday, when a group of demonstrators including pro-democracy lawmaker “Long-hair” Leung Kwok-hung attempted to carry a mock coffin to the convention center where Xi spoke, while calling for greater democracy, according to the Apple Daily. Joshua Wong, one of the leaders of massive pro-democracy demonstrations in 2014 who now runs his own political party, was detained by police and released, he said.
The biggest protest will come this afternoon, shortly after Xi’s departure, when tens of thousands are expected to march through the city in an annual pro-democracy demonstration.
“I think integration with China will be very good for Hong Kong’s economy, but Xi Jinping must realize that many of us have never known true Communist rule,” said Mike Lee, a 20-year-old who works as a waiter at a coffee shop in Wan Chai. “The British left 20 years ago, and we have been born into freedom. China has to be indulgent of Hong Kong’s aspirations.”
To underscore his point that Hong Kong stands to benefit from China’s economic largess, Xi came bearing gifts. The Hong Kong stock exchange announced that foreign investors would from Monday gain access to China’s $10 trillion debt market through a local bond connect. The Chinese and Hong Kong governments earlier signed a pair of trade pacts giving local firms preferential investment access on the mainland.
Earlier Saturday, Lam presided over a reenactment of the flag-raising first performed in 1997 when the British ended their 156-year rule. After taking her oath as chief executive, the one-time colonial civil servant pledged to strengthen the public’s faith in the government and include younger people in political discussions.
“There has been a tendency to make cynical accusations, and to put personal grudges before objective facts,” she said. “This has hurt the executive-legislature relationship, hindered governing effectiveness and directly dragged down our economic and social progress.”
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Both Xi and Lam stressed the need to focus policy on improving opportunities for young people, who have seen economic opportunities decline as they face increasing competition from Mandarin-speaking mainlanders and face soaring housing prices that lock them out of home ownership.
Many young people have also become increasingly skeptical of China’s promise to maintain Hong Kong’s autonomy -- including free speech and independent courts -- under a framework called “one country, two systems.” The failure to hold direct elections for the city’s leader and recent Chinese interventions in the Hong Kong’s legal affairs have energized young activists who led mass democracy protests almost three years ago and now advocate “self-determination.”
Xi attempted to show his concern for the city’s youth with a visit to a teenager recreation camp run by the police, which he praised for “instilling legal awareness from early on.” His wife, Peng Liyuan, a famous People’s Liberation Army singer, visited a kindergarten. On Friday, Xi inspected the local PLA garrison from the back of a jeep.
Ting Wai, an international relations professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, said Xi’s gestures sent a doubled-edged message. “This is the top leader saying he cares about Hong Kong and that he will support you in the future, but at the same time he wants to show who is in power.
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