Hong Kong won't tolerate Trojan horses

The separatists and anti-China subversives in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region who have been trying to wage a Trojan war against the regional and central governments are now on tenterhooks after Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office Director Xia Baolong elaborated on the principle of "patriots governing Hong Kong".

Xia's elaboration on Monday, the most comprehensive ever of its kind, made known in no uncertain terms Beijing's determination to implement this principle fully.

"Patriots governing Hong Kong" is part and parcel of the "one country, two systems" principle. As late leader Deng Xiaoping, chief architect of this political innovation, categorically pointed out in June 1984, "patriots must form the main body" of Hong Kong's administrators after the territory's return to China. He made clear that patriots are people who respect their own nation and genuinely support the country resuming the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong, and would never do anything to harm the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong.