China’s Xi Jinping Warns of ‘Red Line’ as Hong Kong’s New Leader Is Sworn In
Former British colony marks 20th anniversary of handover to China
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hong Kong’s new Chief Executive Carrie Lam in Hong Kong on Saturday. PHOTO: FAVRE/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY
HONG KONG—Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a stern warning to Hong Kong, where a pro-democracy movement has provoked mass protests in recent years, saying that challenges to mainland sovereignty won’t be tolerated.
“Any attempt to endanger China’s sovereignty and security, challenge the power of the central government…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,” Mr. Xi said in a speech marking the 20th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese rulefrom Britain.
The 64-year-old leader spoke at the end of a three-day visit to Hong Kong, his first as China’s president, as the mainland exerts growing influence over a city that has operated with a free-market ethos under a “one country, two systems” arrangement introduced in the 1997 handover. In the past year, mainland authorities have intervened in local elections and moved to block pro-democracy Hong Kong legislators from taking their seats.
Two decades after the handover to China, the former British colony evolves and suffers some growing pains under growing mainland influence.
The speech amounted to an admonition to the city of seven million people to end an era of political upheaval and embrace its place in broader China. Mr. Xi, who left the city Saturday afternoon, took pains to extol the virtues of Hong Kong’s free-market system as a source of growth and a symbol of mainland accommodation and promotion of “global peace.”
Mr. Xi lauded the “one country, two systems” model as a success and affirmed China’s long-term commitment to it. But he also cautioned against the dangers of political turmoil.
“Making everything political or deliberately creating differences and provoking confrontation will not resolve the problems,” Mr. Xi said. “It can only severely hinder Hong Kong’s social and economic development.”
Mr. Xi demanded changes, some of which have the potential to rekindle controversy. For example, Mr. Xi underscored the need to “step up the patriotic education of the young people,” reviving the memory of a failed 2012 attempt to introduce a pro-China curriculum in Hong Kong schools. The initiative failed after it sparked mass protests by local parents who decried it as Communist Party brainwashing.
Analysts say pressure now falls on Hong Kong’s new leader, Carrie Lam, to reintroduce the controversial measure. Ms. Lam, who was sworn in shortly before Mr. Xi’s speech, is also expected to try to introduce an anti-sedition law that failed amid mass protests in the past.
For now, Hong Kong’s protest movement appears mostly subdued by prosecutions of protest leaders and a sense among many local residents that resisting mainland encroachment is hopeless. Mr. Xi’s visit was marked by small rallies, but nothing like the scale of the mass pro-democracy protests that shut down parts of the city for 79 days in 2014.
Mr. Xi has consolidated power since assuming leadership of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, introducing a sweeping anticorruption campaign that has often targeted his political rivals and taking on the title of “core” leader, a designation that gives him broad decision-making authority. Exerting firm authority over Hong Kong carries enormous symbolic weight as Britain’s 19th century colonization of the territory marked the beginning of a humiliating century of Chinese weakness.
Photos: Chinese President Xi Jinping in Hong Kong
Leader visits former British colony to mark the 20th anniversary of its return to China
Though Mr. Xi’s visit to Hong Kong was freighted with political meaning, it was also mostly a closed-door affair. Mr. Xi made none of the large public appearances one associates with visiting leaders, and attended outdoor events only under highly controlled circumstances, such as reviewing People’s Liberation Army troops garrisoned in Hong Kong. He didn’t attend an outdoor flag-raising ceremony featured prominently on the schedule of handover events.
Security for the visit was tight, with police fanned out across the city. Police detained small groups of protesters who called for universal suffrage and greater autonomy for Hong Kong. A new protest is scheduled for Saturday night.
While the opposition movement has ebbed, its leaders said they hold out hope that further encroachment by Beijing would spark a revival of the protest movement, especially if new measures impinge on the city’s way of life, grounded in rule of law.
“If Hong Kong people don’t stand up for themselves, don’t come out and fight, then Hong Kong will turn into China,” said Avery Ng, a leader of a Hong Kong democracy group.
—Chester Yung and Jenny W. Hsu contributed to this article.
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