'Beijing Worried Outbreak Will Threaten HK Stability'

A vice-president of Beijing's top think tank on Hong Kong said Beijing is concerned that the Covid situation would lead to social instability here, and it would hold the SAR administration accountable if it fails to contain the outbreak.

Lau Siu-kai’s comments on Wednesday came after Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao quoted President Xi Jinping as saying that the SAR government must shoulder the main responsibility of reining in the pandemic.

“If the Covid situation gets out of hand and people’s dissatisfaction accumulates, leading to all sorts of anti-government behaviour… that would not be what the central government wants to see,” he told RTHK.

“From President Xi’s point of view, various measures taken by the central government have righted the wrongs. The prosperity and stability Hong Kong enjoys now are hard-earned, and shouldn’t be ruined by the uncontrollable Covid situation.”

The vice president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies said Beijing has increasingly taken up a leadership role in the SAR’s fight against the pandemic. 

He said local authorities may now be under pressure to consider measures less welcomed by society, including real-name contact tracing and getting more people vaccinated “through harsher means”.