New Delhi: A combination of developments over the past few days has brought back a question that most China analysts and commentators were dreading to ask: Can Beijing use its military to quell the protests in Hong Kong? To put it differently, could there be a Tiananmen kind of end to Hong Kong protests?
Over the past 48 hours, three successive developments have exacerbated the situation in Hong Kong, which has been in the grips of massive public protests since June, when the administration sought to introduce a law that would have allowed the city-state to extradite suspected criminals to China.
The bill was shelved last month, but the protests have since transformed into a stir for greater democracy and alleged police brutality.
Chinese control is anathema to many in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous region where residents fear Beijing’s influence is crippling their freedoms.
What has changed?
As a continuation of protests against Mainland China, Hong Kong witnessed the first general strike in over half a century Monday, the Financial Times reported. The strike brought the city’s public transport system to a standstill and most flights coming in and out of Hong Kong, a global financial hub, had to be cancelled.
The ongoing protest movement has substantially affected the island’s economy, compelling economists to downgrade their growth forecasts.
Moreover, a survey released Monday noted that economic activity in the private sector was the lowest since the 2008 financial crisis, according to a report in The Straits Times.
Visible shift
The Chinese authorities maintain that Hong Kong’s police is capable of “handling” these protests, but there has been a visible shift in Beijing’s rhetoric.
Addressing the media, Beijing’s top official on Hong Kong was quoted by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post as saying, “Strikes are no longer a normal demonstration, but radical violations of public order and laws, challenging the bottom lines of ‘one country, two systems (the agreement between China and Hong Kong)’ and national dignity.”
“The motivation is to destroy and ruin Hong Kong,” the official added.
Additionally, Beijing-run state media has turned more aggressive over the past few weeks, painting the protesters as “radicals”.
‘PLA could be used’
According to the South China Morning Post report, the aforementioned official minced few words when asked if Beijing could use the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) against the protesters.
“My answers have been laid out before but what I would like to emphasise again is that the central government supports Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability,” the newspaper quoted the official as saying, “We will not let any acts attacking the principle of ‘one country, two systems’ go unpunished.”
Meanwhile, the Chinese defence ministry said in a statement that the PLA could be used to “maintain social order” if requested to do so by Hong Kong’s government.
Currently, there are 6,000 PLA soldiers based in Hong Kong.
Chinese state-run Global Times has reportedly released a video showing police conducting a “riot drill” in Shenzhen, the city that borders Hong Kong. The drill included 12,000 personnel.
Shenzhen #police drill attracted unusual attention as it features scenarios that resemble the ongoing riots in #HongKong. #香港 https://t.co/0HzpBmpLpp (Video: Shenzhen News Radio) pic.twitter.com/1pIH9ABWlO
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) August 6, 2019
“In live videos of the police drills shown on the Yizhibo network, officers in body armour, helmets and shields confronted groups of people in black shirts and red or yellow construction safety helmets — similar to those worn by Hong Kong protesters — who were holding flags, banners, batons and wooden boards,” the South China Morning Post reported.