HONG KONG (Reuters) – Beijing’s biggest representative in Hong Kong on Thursday warned foreign powers that they would learn a lesson if they used the global financial center as a ‘pawn’, as tensions between China and Western governments over the city increased. .
Luo Huining, the director of the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong, spoke during a ceremony celebrating an ‘education day’ for the National Security Act, which authorities have arranged to promote the comprehensive legislation that China introduced last year .
“We will give a lesson to all foreign forces that intend to use Hong Kong as a pawn,” Luo said.
The new law drew criticism from the West for restricting rights and freedoms in the former British colony, which was promised a high degree of autonomy with the return to the Chinese government in 1997. His supporters say the law restored order after massive protests against the government and against China in 2019.
China, the United States, Britain and the European Union have been trading in sanctions in recent years as security legislation and measures taken to reduce democratic representation in the city’s institutions have exacerbated tensions.
Earlier this week, a letter signed by more than 100 British politicians called on the government of Boris Johnson to expand a list of Chinese officials accused of ‘gross human rights violations’.
National Security Education Day will be marked with school activities, games and shows, and a march by police and other services carrying out the Chinese army’s “goose walk” march.
The Chinese routine, in which troops keep their legs tightly straight when lifted off the ground and swing arms at a 90-degree angle in front of the chest, will replace British-style foot exercises during a parade of police and other forces. .
A stall set up at Hong Kong Police College sold keychains bearing the caption “Warning of tear gas” and stickers bearing the caption “Scattered or we shoot”, replicas of police banners that were a common sight during the 2019 protests.
‘SUPPORT! SUPPORT! SUPPORT! ‘
Elsewhere, in schools and cultural centers, Hong Kong residents have been invited to build a ‘mosaic wall’ of national security, according to a government website, the idea that people should work together to protect their homeland.
Posters and bookmarks entitled “Maintain national security, protect our home” were delivered to schools and kindergartens.
At Wong Cho Bau Secondary School in the city, students gathered for a flag-raising ceremony.
“As a Chinese person, as people from Hong Kong, this is what we need to do to be prepared and make an effort for the country,” the principal, Hui Chun Lung, told students.
Hui emphasizes the ‘stability’ that security legislation has brought to the city, ahead of a two-minute video showing various students giving their support to the legislation.
Students then lined up to stick a greeting card on a mosaic wall.
“Support for the National Security Act is not a problem. Support! Support! Support! I hope we can be one with the continent, ”wrote one student.
In February, Hong Kong introduced national security education guidelines that teach students as young as six years of age about collusion with foreign powers, terrorism, secession and undermining – the four main crimes in the new law.
Chinese officials have partly blamed liberal studies for the restlessness of the youth in the city.
The school curriculum changes and the promotional campaigns are seen as signs that Beijing’s plans for the city go beyond dissent, and that it wants a social overhaul to bring it more in line with the mainland ruled by the Communist Party.
Additional reporting by Jessie Pang, Sharon Tam, Joyce Zhou and Alexander Solum; Writing by Marius Zaharia; Edited by Stephen Coates and Raju Gopalakrishnan