No tolerating challenge to bottom line on HK: China Daily editorial

The vandalizing of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region following a demonstration against the extradition law amendment on Sunday was a blatant challenge to the central government's authority.

Scores of radical protesters who refused to stop at the police-designated destination for the march amassed outside the liaison office in Western District. They defaced the national emblem and sprayed anti-China slogans on the building's façade. Some even tried to break into the premises.

Since the liaison office represents the central government, the aim of such actions was crystal clear — to undermine the central government's authority in the SAR. The SAR government rightly and swiftly condemned the acts as "absolutely unacceptable", and the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council expressed its firm support for the SAR government and police to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Capitalizing on the exposure afforded to them, there has been a rising escalation in the audacity of those protestors calling for "Hong Kong independence". In some instances, this is pandering to the Western media for a few minutes of fame. But there are some who oppose Beijing for whatever reason and whose buttons have been pressed by foreign agitation. It is these people who are seemingly willing to go to ever greater extremes to make their aim known.

Even though such actions are an exercise in futility if there ever was one. The sovereignty of Hong Kong was not a matter for discussion in 1997, and it is not now.

That it has a different system under the "one country, two systems" framework is because that was granted as a practical convenience to smooth the return of sovereignty to China. Now there are those trying to flip that around as "two countries, one system" — a system in which they would be the main beneficiaries. Thus foreign forces working behind the scenes have been fanning the flames of discontent one way or another in order to put pressure on Beijing.

Yet over the past 22 years, Hong Kong's development has been closely linked to that of the mainland, and amid the difficult economic climate today, it is more than necessary for the SAR to integrate its economic development with that of the national development strategy if it is to keep pace with the changing times. Those pushing Hong Kong separatism and their foreign puppet masters know this, which is why they are going to such lengths to damage relations.

Likewise, they know a stable society needs the rule of law for the peaceful and rational expression of different demands on the basis of mutual respect, which is why they are trying to undermine public order.

There is no excuse for violence. If the protestors are allowed to violate the rule of law, Hong Kong's advantages and competitiveness will be eroded. For the sake of the SAR, these extreme acts must come to an end.