News Digest

China warns foreign powers not to use Hong Kong as a ‘bridgehead’

China has warned against any foreign interference ahead of a crucial ruling on Hong Kong’s political future on Sunday, saying Beijing will not tolerate the use of the city “as a bridgehead to subvert and infiltrate the mainland”. China’s largely rubber-stamp parliament is set to meet on Sunday, when it is expected to limit 2017 elections for Hong Kong’s leader to a handful of pro-Beijing candidates, a move likely to escalate plans by pro-democracy activists to blockade the city’s Central business district. According to state media, an unidentified spokesman from the Chinese foreign ministry’s Department of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Affairs said China would promptly “make solemn representations” to any “external force” that interfered in Hong Kong’s internal affairs.

The (rights) that the special administration enjoys depends on how much rights the central government grants. Hong Kong has no ‘residual powers’.

A Chinese government spokesman

In an interview with state news agency Xinhua on Friday, the unidentified spokesman said “some people” ignored the long-term interests of Hong Kong and the provisions of the Basic Law “to collude with external forces in an attempt to interfere [with] the SAR government administration”. “This will absolutely not be tolerated,” he said. The spokesman did not identify any outside countries. In 2013, U.S. envoy to Hong Kong Clifford Hart said Washington would continue to back “genuine universal suffrage” there. Such a strongly worded statement from the ministry signals increasing anxiety among Chinese leaders about the outcome of Sunday’s decision, which will be watched closely by diplomats and international human rights groups.