DM Monitoring
BEIJING: President Xi Jinping’s remarks on the most urgent task of the Hong Kong situation point the way to restoring order in the city as more and more local residents stand up against the violent protesters. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s latest remarks on the Hong Kong situation the central government will firmly support the chief executive in leading the SAR government to govern in accordance with the law, firmly support the Hong Kong police in strictly enforcing the law, and firmly support the Hong Kong judicial bodies in severely punishing the violent criminals in accordance with the law offer a clear solution to the issue.
Over the past five months, violent protesters in Hong Kong have paralyzed the city’s transport, vandalized shops, torched public facilities, attacked police officers, turned universities into strongholds, and even stabbed and burnt people who disagree with them, committing horrific crimes, threatening lives and trampling on the dignity of others. Their political aim is to destabilize Hong Kong and contain China’s development by forcing the Hong Kong SAR government to bow to their demands. What they’ve done has severely trampled on the rule of law and social order, seriously undermined Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability, and critically challenged the bottom line of the principle of “one country, two systems.” No country or civilized society will tolerate such savage behaviors. As President Xi has pointed out, the most pressing task for Hong Kong at present is to bring violence and chaos to an end and restore order.
The Hong Kong SAR government has been fulfilling its obligation in dealing with the radical violence, making great efforts to try to bring the situation under control. The city will have institutional guarantee for restoring order as long as it is committed to having dialogues with representatives from all walks of life in the city, carrying out projects aimed at improving people’s livelihoods, comprehensively implementing the “one country, two systems” policy and the Basic Law, and at the same time, continuing to stop violence and punish perpetrators in accordance with the law.
As the key force in maintaining the city’s social stability, Hong Kong’s police officers have been facing off with the radical rioters as the violence escalates. When fulfilling their duties, they have exercised maximum restraint when the rioters fiercely assaulted them, grabbed their guns, harassed and even issued death threats against their family members. But some local and Western media, when reporting on the situation in the city, accused police officers of “abusing their power” while deliberately turning a blind eye to the violence perpetrated by protesters, adopting adouble standard when reporting on similar protests in their own countries. But in spite of the adversity, Hong Kong police have the support of the 1.4 billion Chinese people. And the firm support from China’s central government will also help boost their morale.
The rule of law is a core value of the Hong Kong society. When breaches of legal norms are not punished, the dignity of legislation will hardly be preserved, and the rule of law will therefore be stuttering. No one who engage in violent acts shall be above the law and none of the attempts to trample the rule of law, hamper Hong Kong’s prosperity, and challenge the “one country, two systems” principle shall be tolerated. At a crucial moment in deciding Hong Kong’s fate, all institutions and departments of the SAR government need to stick to impartial law enforcement, punish the rioters according to the law, and safeguard the dignity of legislation.
The good news is an increasing number of residents are voluntarily helping with the work to clean up the roads that have been barricaded with rubble, face up to the rioters, and offer their support to the police. All these show that more and more Hong Kong people have come to realize the real intention of the violent protesters to seek their political goals at the expense of Hong Kong’s prosperity and the well-being of the public. As people from all circles of Hong Kong start coming together and stay united against the rioters and their crimes, the day when Hong Kong restores its social order and goes back on track toward a brighter future stands not afar.
