As Hong Kong demonstrations demanding more democratic freedoms see yet another day, mainland China continues to get more militant with the city, this time having paramilitary forces perform exercises along the city’s border.
Across a bridge linking Hong Kong’s rural hinterland with the booming mainland city of Shenzhen, hundreds of members of the paramilitary People’s Armed Police conducted exercises at a sports complex in what was widely seen as a warning to protesters in Hong Kong.
The police could be seen carrying out crowd-control exercises, and more than 100 dark-painted paramilitary vehicles filled the stadium’s parking lots.
The exercises come after President Trump called on China’s authoritarian leader, Xi Jinping, to meet with the protestors in an attempt to settle their differences:
If President Xi would meet directly and personally with the protesters, there would be a happy and enlightened ending to the Hong Kong problem. I have no doubt! https://t.co/eFxMjgsG1K
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2019
The increased militancy taken toward Hong Kong, however, suggests Xi Jinping has less diplomatic ideas in mind.