Chinese leadership wants to, on the one hand, strengthen law enforcement in Hong Kong and on the other hand, enhance “national consciousness” and patriotism in the city, a Chinese official on Friday said.
Shen Chunyao, Director of a Hong Kong and Macao law Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament, spoke following a high-level meeting of Chinese leaders that ended on Thursday.
Mr Shen expanded on a statement released at the end of the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which said that Beijing needed to “establish and improve the legal system and enforcement mechanism” to safeguard national security in Hong Kong.
The central government will support Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory that has been rocked by anti-government protests for the past four months, in strengthening its law enforcement, Mr Shen said.
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At the same time, China’s leaders want to boost Chinese history and culture education in Hong Kong, especially for public officials and teenagers, as well as “enhance the national consciousness and patriotism” in the city, he said.
“We will not tolerate any challenge to the ‘one country, two systems’ bottom line,” Shen said, referring to Beijing’s principle for governing Hong Kong, which guarantees a certain amount of liberties for the financial hub until 2047.
“We will not tolerate any separatist act and the endangering of national security, and we will resolutely prevent and contain external forces from interfering in Hong Kong and Macao affairs and carrying out separatist, subversive … and destructive activities,” Mr Shen said.
dpa/NAN
