world news today
by Khushi Rathor KhushirathorHong Kong's Cathay
Pacific warns against protest outside its premises
A Hong Kong Express Airways and Cathay Pacific Airways aircrafts
at Hong Kong International Airport.
Paul Yeung | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific Airways warned
against what it described as an illegal protest planned outside its facilities
on Wednesday and that it had zero tolerance for "violent activities"
and any staff who took part.
Cathay has been caught in the crosswinds between authorities
in Beijing and
anti-government protesters who have staged sometimes violent demonstrations
since June that have grown to pose the city's biggest challenge since it
returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
The carrier said in a statement late on Tuesday police had
banned a planned protest around its Cathay City headquarters on Lantau island,
next to Hong Kong's international airport, on Wednesday evening, making it
illegal.
"Cathay Pacific wishes to emphasize that it fully supports
the upholding of the Basic Law and all the rights and freedoms
afforded by it, " the statement said.
The protests in the Asian financial hub have also posed the
biggest challenge for Communist Party rulers in Beijing since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012. Authorities
in Beijing have sent a clear warning that forceful intervention is possible to
subdue the violence.
Unrest escalated in mid-June over a now-suspended extradition
bill that would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial in Communist
Party-controlled courts.
It has since evolved into calls for greater democracy under the
"one country, two systems" formula enshrined in the Basic Law under
which Hong Kong has been administered since the return from British to Chinese
rule.
Cathay became the biggest corporate casualty of the protests
after China demanded it suspend staff involved in, or who
support, the demonstrations.
Wednesday's planned rally, aimed at protesting against recent
staff dismissals, has since been moved to the central financial district by the
Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, which cited safety concerns if it was
held outside Cathay City.
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's embattled leader, has not ruled out the
possibility her administration could invoke emergency powers to quell the
protests. She said in a news briefing on Tuesday that violence was becoming
more serious but was confident the government could handle the crisis itself.
Imposing the Emergency Regulations Ordinance would give Lam
wide-ranging powers - from changing laws, authorising arrests, detentions and
deportations, to censoring the media - according to legislation on the
government's website.
Hong Kong billionaire Michael Kadoorie, the chairman of power
company CLP Holdings and Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Limited, urged a
peaceful resolution to the crisis in a full-page newspaper advertisement
published in the South China Morning Post newspaper on Wednesday.
Kadoorie quoted his late father in saying that Hong Kong was
always going to develop as a neutral point of contact between two different
ideologies and two different systems of government and said the city could not
leave its young people in despair.
"It is the responsibility of all of us to rebuild trust in
the community and create hope for the younger generation," Kadoorie said.
Visit For More Information: https://www.lekic.me/
Sponsor Ads
Created on Aug 28th 2019 06:13. Viewed 408 times.