The commentary laid bare the chasm of expectations between the Chinese Communist Party and democratic activists in Hong Kong, and, in citing the party leadership, including President Xi Jinping, it appeared to shut the door on any compromise over the demonstrators’ main demands.
Tens of thousands of protesters have occupied main roads in Hong Kong since Sunday, demanding an open democratic vote for the city’s leader, or chief executive, and many have also demanded the resignation of the current leader, Leung Chun-ying.
People’s Daily issued a resounding “no” to those demands. And it accused the groups that have supported the street protests of pushing Hong Kong toward dangerous disorder.
“If matters are not dealt with according to the law, Hong Kong society will fall into chaos,” the paper said in its commentary.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 and has preserved its own legal system, free press and civic rights not enjoyed by mainland Chinese citizens. The protesters’ demands have centered on how to elect the chief executive of the city, which China calls a special administrative region.
The Chinese government has proposed that starting in 2017, the territory’s voters would be allowed to choose the chief executive by ballot. But it has stipulated that there can be only two or three candidates, and they must be approved by a nomination committee, which would be dominated by people heeding Beijing’s wishes.
Democracy groups and parties in Hong Kong have demanded election rules that allow an “unfiltered vote,” and they have called Beijing’s proposal a fraudulent voting exercise.
Joseph Cheng Yu-shek, a political science professor at the City University of Hong Kong and a longtime advocate of fuller democracy in the city, said the People’s Daily commentary was not a surprise.
“All the protesters here and Hong Kong people know it is extremely unlikely the Chinese leaders will respond to our demands,” he said in an interview at the site of the protests outside Hong Kong’s main government complex downtown. “We are here to say we are not going to give up, we will continue to fight on. We are here because as long as we fight on, at least we haven’t lost.”
The crowds of protesters in downtown Hong Kong were sharply thinner on Thursday morning than at the same time on Wednesday morning, with many having gone home to rest after days in the humid heat. Clumps of three to a dozen young people sat together quietly on the wide expanses of an avenue near the government headquarters that has been free of cars this week.
The People’s Daily commentary accused Occupy Central With Love and Peace, the movement that has led pro-democracy campaigning in Hong Kong, of “desecration” of the rule of law in the city.
“The actions of ‘Occupy Central’ have flagrantly violated the laws and regulations of Hong Kong, severely obstructed traffic and disrupted social order,” the commentary said. “This is placing the political demands of a minority above the law, hijacking public opinion in Hong Kong for selfish ends, damaging the social stability and economic prosperity of Hong Kong.”
The paper said the Communist Party’s central leadership firmly backed Mr. Leung, the chief executive of Hong Kong, widely loathed by many democrats who accuse him of serving as a tool of Beijing. Student groups and democratic politicians who have supported the protests in Hong Kong have said that Mr. Leung must step down and take responsibility for the police force’s use of tear gas against protesters during the weekend, the confrontation that set off the even larger street demonstrations that erupted on Sunday.
“The central government has full confidence in the Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, and is extremely satisfied with his work,” the commentary said. It added that Beijing would “unswervingly support him in running the city” and would “resolutely support the police force of the special administrative territory in dealing with illegal activities according to the law.”
Leung Kwok-hung, an activist and lawmaker known as Long Hair, who was part of a group of about 125 protesters camped outside the chief executive’s office Thursday morning in an attempt to prevent him from coming to work, said Beijing’s support for him was a given, despite opinion polls that have long found him to be unpopular among Hong Kong residents.
“It all comes back to the A B C’s of politics,” said the lawmaker, who is not related to the chief executive. “Any politician like C. Y. Leung, with such a low approval rate, should step down. But Beijing still backs him.”
People familiar with the Hong Kong leadership’s thinking said Wednesday that Mr. Leung and his advisers, with China’s approval, had decided to wait and hope that public opinion turns against the protest movement as it continues to disrupt life in the city. One of the demonstrators outside the chief executive’s office, Kahei Tse, said the movement would struggle to maintain its momentum in the face of such a strategy.
“From the beginning to now it’s been almost five days,” said Mr. Tse, a 33-year-old fitness trainer. “People have gotten tired, and the numbers have been reduced, because there’s been no action taken by the government since the tear gas and pepper spray of the first few days. So people have backed off a little to wait and see the response from the government.”
Michael DeGolyer, a longtime political analyst at Hong Kong Baptist University, said that Beijing’s approach to the demonstrations — particularly a decision on Wednesday to prevent any more tour groups from going to Hong Kong — amounted to an “anaconda” strategy. “The government has chosen to divide and conquer, and strangle the movement bit by bit,” he said.
According to the Hong Kong Tourism Commission, mainland Chinese represented 75 percent of the 54.3 million visits to Hong Kong last year. They are crucial to the hotel and luxury retail industries and important for restaurants and other businesses, all of which employ large numbers of low-wage workers.
The halt to tour groups “has a very small economic effect, but a very large employment effect,” Mr. DeGolyer said, adding that Beijing might next restrict the issuance of individual visas, which account for the majority of mainland visits.
by Chris Buckley
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