China possibly gearing up to quash Hong Kong Protests
by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – China has doubled its troop presence in the former British colony of Hong Kong.
Reuters reports that what was originally thought to be a routine troop rotation of the People’s Liberation Army has turned out to be a reinforcement of the mainland army that has been stationed in the Special Autonomous Region since its handover in 1997.
In a leaked audio recording from earlier this month, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam can be overheard assuring business leaders that the People’s Republic of China has “absolutely no plans” to intervene militarily in protests against overreach from the communist mainland now in their 17th week.
Diplomats who spoke with Reuters nevertheless claimed that the Chinese troops who headed to Hong Kong in late August, which included a special unit that answers to Xi Jinping called the People’s Armed Police, have accumulated into the largest force ever stationed in Hong Kong at 12,000-strong.
The People’s Armed Police, designed especially for quelling protests, were seen engaged in military exercises in a football stadium last month, causing concern that Xi Jinping is gearing up to make good on threats relayed through Chinese state media to utterly crush the pro-democracy protests.