Carrie Lam says Chinese military could step in if Hong Kong’s situation gets worse: ‘Nothing can be ruled out’

Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam has warned that the Chinese military could step in to quash pro-democracy protests if the city’s unrest continues to deteriorate, saying that “no options could be ruled out”.

The chief executive’s comments come after foreign envoys in the city expressed concern that China appears to have doubled its garrison of troops in Hong Kong to a record level of around 12,000.

Ms Lam passed an executive order last week banning the wearing of face masks during protests, resorting to the use of colonial-era emergency laws for the first time in the months-long crisis that began in June.

And she told a news conference on Tuesday that with the escalating violence in recent weeks, foreign critics should no longer view the crisis as “a peaceful movement for democracy”.

Police said 77 people had already been arrested for violating the new anti-mask law, which came into force on Saturday. In that time, a police spokesman said, more than 200 shops and public utilities had been damaged and police fired 367 tear gas rounds.

“Rioters’ level of violence has been escalating, without showing any sign of abating from week to week, and has reached a very critical level,” said Kwok Yam-yung, a regional police commander. “Such ruthless and reckless acts are pushing the rule of law to the brink of total collapse,” he told a news conference.

Ms Lam would not be drawn on what specific circumstances would be required for her to call for assistance from Beijing, only stating that the constitutional instrument was there to allow her to do so.

“I still strongly feel that we should find the solutions ourselves,” she said. “That is also the position of the central government, that Hong Kong should tackle the problem on her own, but if the situation becomes so bad, then no options could be ruled out if we want Hong Kong to at least have another chance.”

Tourism to the city has been devastated by the scenes of unrest in what is usually a major travel hub. But with investors’ confidence rocked, the MTR train services regularly closed and businesses forced to shut amid rallies, Ms Lam said the whole economy was being severely affected.

“Hong Kong’s various sectors will enter a severe winter season,” she said.

The city’s protests began with outrage at Ms Lam’s attempts to pass a bill that would have made it easier to extradite criminal suspects to mainland China, as well as other jurisdictions.

The unrest spiralled out of control even as the city’s government agreed to first suspend and then finally withdraw the bill altogether, as protesters demanded assurances that their democratic freedoms would be protected from encroachment by Beijing.

But the protests also come at a bad time for the global financial hub, suffering keenly the impacts of a US-China trade war that is showing few signs of abating.

US President Donald Trump urged his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to ensure a “humane solution” in Hong Kong during a call on Monday, the White House said. He warned that any “bad” outcome could hurt trade talks ahead of the resumption of negotiations in Washington on Thursday.