HK violence: China mulls army intervention

Bloomberg

Chinese state media gave one of its strongest warnings yet of a possible military intervention in Hong Kong, even though analysts said such a move remained a last resort.
The unsigned commentary from the official Xinhua News Agency on Sunday came after the 12th straight weekend of unrest in Asia’s main financial hub, with violent clashes that saw demonstrators hurl petrol bombs and police deploy water cannons and tear gas. The piece didn’t say whether Chinese authorities had reached any decision to act or when, only that they had the legal mechanisms needed to deploy forces in the special administrative region.
“This is no longer a regular demonstration, but a ‘color revolution’ that is aimed at destroying the SAR constitutional order from the bottom,” the Xinhua commentary said, citing remarks by late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping saying Beijing must act under such circumstances. “It is the central government’s power, and also the central government’s responsibility.”
The message from Beijing came during a weekend that saw violence reemerge in Hong Kong after days of largely peaceful demonstrations. The tense confrontations — in which a police officer fired a warning shot in the air — could’ve prompted the sterner tone, said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing. “The Chinese government is prepared for armed intervention, but this is a last resort,” he added. “I don’t think the Chinese government will do that before exhausting the Hong Kong government’s options.”
The Hong Kong police still had plenty of room to escalate their own response before China would risk the severe political and economic fallout from a direct intervention, Shi said.
“The words have become harsher, and that means a little bit of an escalation from current statements,” he said.