Beijing again gives ‘unflagging support’ to Carrie Lam, warns Hong Kong is entering ‘most dangerous phase’

• Communist Party mouthpiece calls on city to put a stop to violent and continued social unrest as ‘no place can survive such turmoil’
• Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office will brief media on Tuesday, and ‘something new’ will be announced, according to a source

Beijing has reiterated its "unflagging support" for embattled Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and warned that the city was entering "a most dangerous phase" with rampant violence on the streets.

Hong Kong must put a stop to the violent and continued social unrest in the city as "no place can survive such turmoil", said a commentary to be published on Tuesday in Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily.

Read out on state broadcaster CCTV on Monday, it said the central government would give "unflagging support" to Hong Kong's chief executive and her administration to take lawful action to restore order.

The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) under the State Council, China's cabinet, plans to hold a media briefing in the capital on Tuesday afternoon. An official familiar with the matter said "something new" would be announced, but he did not elaborate.

The South China Morning Post will carry live coverage of the press conference from 2.30pm.

It comes after the HKMAO " Beijing's top office on Hong Kong affairs " last week broke its silence on the escalating unrest in the city, giving its first media briefing since the former British colony returned to China in 1997.

The press conferences are part of efforts by Beijing to rally support for the beleaguered Hong Kong government. It has also summoned the city's top political advisers " members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference " and national lawmakers to the neighbouring city of Shenzhen on Wednesday for a crunch meeting.

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Meanwhile, mainland Chinese media has stepped up rhetoric on the turmoil in Hong Kong after protesters removed the national flag from a pole in popular tourist district Tsim Sha Tsui and threw it into Victoria Harbour over the weekend.

The city would risk becoming a "stinky and dead harbour" if it slid into anarchy, a CCTV commentary read out on the prime time news broadcast warned on Sunday.

"Hong Kong is at a crossroads of order and chaos. The fate of the city is still in the hands of 7 million Hongkongers," it said, warning that violent protests would not bring democracy or freedom and would only destroy the city's peace and prosperity.

Beijing's Hong Kong affairs office condemns protesters who threw Chinese flag in the sea

The commentary also warned that the instigators and people taking part in the violent protests would "face the consequences when the time comes", without elaborating.

"(We) must solemnly tell the thugs who have unrealistic hopes and wish to further disrupt Hong Kong: you will pay a price for your craziness," it said.

The commentary went on to slam protesters for trying to take their case to the international community.

"Your foreign mums and dads won't be your guardians," it said. "Please be aware of your errors and turn back from your wrong path. Please drop your knife."

That was followed by an editorial in Monday's People Daily saying that the real target of the radical protesters was not the now-shelved extradition bill.

"They are seeking to cause chaos in Hong Kong and destroy 'one country, two systems'," it said.

Li Xiaobing, a specialist on Beijing's policy on Hong Kong at Nankai University in Tianjin, said the series of statements reflected the central government's fury over the situation in the city.

"The acts targeting (the national emblem and national flag), to the central government, are repeatedly breaching its bottom line," Li said, referring to protesters defacing the national emblem outside Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong. "These comments underline Beijing's anger and denunciation of the radicals."

Zhang Dinghuai, a Hong Kong policy researcher at Shenzhen University, said Beijing still wanted the city's government to handle the crisis itself.

"There are people who want to force a showdown with Beijing and to damage 'one country, two systems' by doing that. But Hong Kong is still not out of control and Beijing will leave it to the Hong Kong government to resolve the crisis."

Additional reporting by William Zheng

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