China's Communist masters know that any time they are seen to interfere in Hong Kong, to which they have promised autonomy until 2047, they risk instant censure from the free world. By and large this risk, and the effect on international confidence in the former British colony, have stayed China's hand since Hong Kong was given back in 1997. What, then, were the men in Beijing doing this week? Minutes after Qian Qichen, a Chinese deputy prime minister, had met Hong Kong's number two, Anson Chan Fang On-sang, the official news agency issued a public command and, within it, a rebuke: Mrs Chan, "together with the whole civil service, must better support the chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa." To some of those who worry about Hong Kong's autonomy, this intervention was a devastating blow.
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