Hong Kong Becoming A 'police State': US Senator

Hong Kong is sliding towards becoming a police state, US senator Josh Hawley warned on Monday, during a brief visit to the SAR.

Hawley is one of the sponsors of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which could be discussed and voted on by the House of Representatives this week, and would require annual reviews of the territory's special trading status -- and potentially sanction some Chinese officials.

Hawley was in Hong Kong for a two-day visit, during which he watched protests on Sunday.

"The situation here is urgent," he told reporters shortly before flying back to Washington just ahead of a huge rally in Central on Monday to support the US legislation.

Asked what his message would be on returning to Congress he replied: "That Hong Kong is in danger of sliding towards a police state and that representative government in Hong Kong is at risk, and that the one country two systems model is at risk."

Beijing has accused "external forces" of fuelling unrest in Hong Kong, and has seized on supportive comments by western politicians to back its claims.

"Anyone who attempts to split any region from China will perish, with their bodies smashed and bones ground to powder," President Xi Jinping said on Sunday.

Hawley, at 39 the youngest serving senator and a vocal China hawk, described Xi's comments as "violent rhetoric" that illustrated why he believed the US and its European allies needed to take a stronger line on Beijing's growing regional threat.

He also said Hong Kong protesters should eschew violence and not "mimic the behaviour of Beijing and [its] supporters".

Republican senators such as Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have become some of the most vocal supporters of Hong Kong's democracy movement on Capitol Hill -- although the proposed bill is rapidly gathering bipartisan support, especially in the Senate. (AFP)