‘Tiananmen Square’ crackdown in Hong Kong would harm trade deal: Trump

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WASHINGTON, Aug 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump on Sunday
warned China that carrying out a Tiananmen Square-style crackdown on Hong
Kong pro-democracy protesters would harm trade talks between the two
countries.

“I think it’d be very hard to deal if they do violence, I mean, if it’s
another Tiananmen Square,” Trump told reporters in New Jersey. “I think it’s
a very hard thing to do if there’s violence.”

The months-long trade dispute between the US and China has been blamed for
setting world financial markets on edge amid signs of a possible global
economic slowdown.

Trump’s comments came as Washington and Beijing look to revive pivotal
high-level talks aimed at ending their trade war.

Phone calls between both countries’ deputies are planned for the next 10
days, and if those are successful, negotiations between more senior officials
could resume, Trump’s chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow said on Sunday.

Hong Kong has meanwhile been rocked by more than two months of protests
and on Sunday saw a crowd that organizers said numbered some 1.7 million
people march peacefully in the city despite rising unrest and stark warnings
from Beijing.

Last week, protesters paralyzed the city’s airport, tarnishing a campaign
that took pride in its peaceful intent and unpredictability — which
demonstrators have tagged with the slogan “Be Water.”

Communist Party-ruled mainland China has in turn sharpened its tone
towards the dissidents, decrying the “terrorist-like” actions of a violent
minority, while state media has broadcast images of military personnel and
armored personnel carriers in Shenzhen, across the border from the semi-
autonomous city.

China deployed tanks to end student-led protests in the bloody 1989
crackdown in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, resulting in an estimated death toll
of hundreds if not thousands.

If such a situation was repeated in Hong Kong, “I think there’d be…
tremendous political sentiment not to do something,” Trump said, referring to
the trade negotiations with China.

– Creeping authoritarianism –

Under a deal signed with Britain, China agreed to allow Hong Kong to keep
its unique freedoms when the former crown colony was handed back in 1997.

But many Hong Kongers feel those freedoms are being chipped away,
especially since China’s hardline president Xi Jinping came to power.

Trump stopped short of endorsing the protesters, saying, “I’d love to see
it worked out in a humane fashion,” and calling on Xi to negotiate with the
dissidents.

Last week, China’s state-run daily The Global Times said there “won’t be a
repeat” of Tiananmen Square in a rare reference to the crackdown.

“China is much stronger and more mature, and its ability to manage complex
situations has been greatly enhanced,” the newspaper wrote in an editorial.

Analysts say any intervention in Hong Kong by Chinese security forces
would be a disaster for China’s reputation and economy.

The weeks of demonstrations have plunged the financial hub into crisis,
with images of masked, black-clad protesters engulfed by tear gas during
street battles against riot police stunning a city once renowned for its
stability.

The unrest was sparked by widespread opposition to a plan for allowing
extraditions to the Chinese mainland, but has since morphed into a broader
movement for democratic rights in the semi-autonomous city.

Sunday’s march, billed as a return to the peaceful origins of the
leaderless protest movement, was one of the largest rallies since the
protests began about three months ago, according to organizers the Civil
Human Rights Front.