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Reuters (1 November 2019)

China won’t tolerate challenges to the bottom line of the “one country, two systems” formula that governs Hong Kong, separatism or threats to national security there, a senior Chinese official said on Friday after a meeting of the top leadership.

The past five-months of anti-government protests in the former British colony represents the biggest popular challenge to President Xi Jinping’s government since he took over the leadership in late 2012.

On Thursday, the party vowed to ensure Hong Kong’s stability, following a closed-door, four-day meeting of the ruling Communist Party’s senior leaders in Beijing, signaling its importance to the stability-obsessed party.

What started as opposition to a now-withdrawn extradition bill has grown into a pro-democracy movement against what is seen as Beijing’s tightening grip on the Asian financial hub, which protesters say undermines a “one country, two systems” formula promised when Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997, guaranteeing freedoms not found in mainland China.

Speaking to reporters on the outcomes of that plenum, parliament official Shen Chunyao said Hong Kong was “of course” an important topic at the meeting, which gathers together some 370 officials, from Xi on down.

The plenum stressed that “one country” is the foundation for “two systems”, and the party will support the governments of the Special Administrative Regions - which also include Macau - to strengthen their law enforcement efforts, said Shen, head of the Basic Law Committee of the parliament’s standing committee.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-politics-hong-kong/china-says-wont-tolerate-challenges-to-hong-kongs-one-country-two-systems-status-idUSKBN1XB33Y