HONG KONG: Thousands of protesters massed on the streets of Hong Kong on Saturday, just hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that any activities seen as threatening China's sovereignty and stability would be "absolutely impermissible".
As the annual march for democracy got under way from Victoria Park in sweltering heat, participants brandished provocative banners. One depicted Xi wearing a Mao Zedong-style cap that read "Overthrow the Communist Party" and "Overthrow Xi Jinping".
Just hours earlier, Xi had presided over a carefully scripted swearing-in for Carrie Lam, the territory's new chief executive, where he used some of his harshest language yet against burgeoning separatist sentiment.
The territory's leaders, he said, need to focus on finding new ways to profit from China's fast-growing economic clout.
In a speech marking 20 years since the city became a semi-autonomous Chinese region after its handover from Britain, Xi pledged Beijing's support for the "one country, two systems" blueprint, under which Hong Kong controls many of its own affairs and retains civil liberties including free speech. Critics say those freedoms are increasingly under threat.
However, Xi said Hong Kong had to do more to shore up security and boost patriotic education, in a veiled reference to legislation long delayed by popular opposition.
And he appeared to put on notice a new wave of activists pushing for more autonomy or even independence, saying challenges to the power of China's central government and Hong Kong's leaders would not be tolerated.
A protester shouts slogans against Xi Jinping during a march just hours after the Chinese president wrapped up his visit to the city by warning against challenges to Beijing's sovereignty. (AP Photo)
Any attempt to challenge China's sovereignty, security and government authority or use Hong Kong to "carry out infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland is an act that crosses the red line, and is absolutely impermissible", Xi said.
Hong Kong has been roiled by political turmoil that brought tens of thousands of protesters onto the streets in 2014 demanding democratic reforms. Those calls were ignored by Beijing and Xi indicated there would be no giving ground in the future, frustrating many young people and deepening divisions.
"Making everything political or deliberately creating differences and provoking confrontations will not resolve the problems," Xi said. Hong Kong, he added, "cannot afford to be torn apart by reckless moves or internal rifts".
Young activists have formed new groups promoting independence or a local Hong Kong identity separate from the mainland, alarming Beijing.
Meanwhile, incidents such as the secret detentions of five Hong Kong booksellers on the mainland have stirred fears that Beijing is undermining the "one country, two systems" blueprint.
Xi's speech "was a mixture of reassurance and warning", as he signalled that the system in place since 1997 would not change, said Jean Pierre Cabestan, an expert on Chinese politics at Hong Kong Baptist University. "At the same time, there was a strong warning to the localists and the pro-independence people."
He said it was clear Xi's priority is to bring in long-delayed national security legislation, which pro-democacy activists fear will be used to suppress dissent, and patriotic national education in schools, which parents fear is a cover for pro-Communist "brainwashing".
While former colonial master Britain and other Western democracies have expressed concerns about Beijing's actions in Hong Kong, China has increasingly made clear it brooks no outside criticism or attempts at intervention.
Xi said China had made it "categorically clear" in talks with Britain in the 1980s that "sovereignty is not for negotiation".
"Now that Hong Kong has returned to China, it is all the more important for us to firmly uphold China's sovereignty, security and development interests," he said.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang sent a similar message in Beijing on Friday, saying Hong Kong was strictly China's domestic affair.
The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration laying out terms for Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule is "no longer relevant today, and has no binding force on the Chinese central government's governance over Hong Kong", Lu said.
"The UK has no sovereignty, governance right or the right of supervision over today's Hong Kong," Lu said.
Xi oversaw a swearing-in ceremony for Lam, Hong Kong's fifth chief executive since 1997 and first woman in the job. The career civil servant and her cabinet swore to serve China and Hong Kong and to uphold the Basic Law, the territory's mini-constitution.
In a speech that ran a fraction of Xi's 32-minute address, Lam reviewed the dynamic financial center's achievements and challenges, pledged to support central government initiatives and declared "the future is bright".
There was other symbolism hinting at the balance of power.
Lam took her oath of office and delivered her address in Mandarin, China's official language, save for a few lines at the end in the local Cantonese dialect. The official transcript of Xi's speech was printed in the mainland's simplified characters instead of Hong Kong's traditional complex characters.
Even the Chinese flag displayed behind Xi as he spoke was noticeably larger than the Hong Kong flag beside it.
"It speaks volumes to me about who is the boss, who is calling the shots," said Cabestan.
Lam prevailed over a much more popular rival in selection process decried by many as fundamentally undemocratic, with only 777 votes from a 1,200-seat panel of mostly pro-Beijing elites. Hong Kong has more than 3 million registered voters.
Xi later departed for Beijing, ending a three-day visit under heavy security aimed at stirring Chinese patriotism.
Ahead of a flag-raising ceremony on Sunday, a small group of activists linked to the pro-democracy opposition sought to march on the inauguration venue carrying a replica coffin symbolising the death of the territory's civil liberties. They were swiftly stopped by police and pro-China flag-waving counter protesters in an hour-long standoff.