Donald Trump was assailed on Tuesday for his hands-off approach to pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, avoiding criticising Beijing even as he cited US intelligence reports of Chinese troops moving to the territory’s border.
Critics on both sides of the political spectrum accused the US president of abandoning longstanding US policy to support democratic movements and giving Beijing a green light to intervene in one of the world’s most important financial and trade centres, a semi-autonomous Chinese region.
As protesters battled police in Hong Kong’s airport on Tuesday, partially shutting down air traffic, Mr Trump appeared ambivalent, telling journalists the situation was "very tricky."
"I hope it works out for everybody including China. I hope it works out peacefully, nobody gets hurt, nobody gets killed," he said.
Shortly afterwards, Mr Trump tweeted that US intelligence "has informed us that the Chinese Government is moving troops to the Border with Hong Kong".
"Everyone should be calm and safe!" Mr Trump wrote, retweeting a video of military trucks in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
Disturbing video taken in #Shenzhen just across the boarder with #HongKong. Something extraordinarily bad is about happen. #China #HongKongProtests #Democracy #SaveHongKong pic.twitter.com/Gad5R5HVZL
— Alexandre Krauss (@AlexandreKrausz) August 12, 2019
But the US leader had no words in support of the protesters as Hong Kong experiences its largest crisis since the British handover of its former colony to China in 1997.
After more than four months of protests, his administration has mainly called for both sides to avoid violence, while denying Beijing’s accusations of US interference.
"Trump favours both sides in Hong Kong protests. Hardly a profile in courage," said Nicholas Burns, a former senior US diplomat now at the Harvard University Kennedy School.
"The only side the US should be on is democratic rights for the people of Hong Kong."
The protests, which began in March and have intensified since then, are against a move by the Hong Kong government to allow the extradition of criminal suspects to China, which opponents view as an incursion into Hong Kong’s more transparent justice system.
Hong Kong protests | Read more
But they have come as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s and Mr Trump’s governments have plunged ever deeper into a wrenching battle over trade that is dragging down the economies of both, with no sign of a resolution.
In late July M2r Trump praised Mr Xi’s approach to the protests, one day after organised triad gangsters attacked protesters, sending 45 to hospitals.
"China could stop them if they wanted," he said.
"I think President Xi of China has acted responsibly, very responsibly," he said.
Days later, he blasted China’s trade policies but, regarding the Hong Kong protests, said Beijing "doesn’t need advice."
"That’s between Hong Kong and… China, because Hong Kong is a part of China," he said.
"It’s also hard to overstate how devastating it is when they risk it all to speak up for these ’American’ values, and America is silent," he wrote on Twitter.
"This is not foreign policy," he said.
Click Here: Cardiff Blues Store