Chinese intervention in Hong Kong would be a 'catastrophe', Patten says

Hong Kong’s last British governor Chris Patten on Tuesday cautioned that if China intervened in Hong Kong it would be a catastrophe and that Chinese President Xi Jinping should see the wisdom of trying to bring people together. Patten said it was counterproductive of the Chinese to warn of "other methods" if the protests did not stop.

"That would be a catastrophe for China and of course for Hong Kong," Patten told BBC radio. "Since President Xi has been in office, there's been a crackdown on dissent and dissidents everywhere, the party has been in control of everything." Patten said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson should ask U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton who is in London this week to get Washington to agree that it would be a "catastrophe" if China was to intervene in Hong Kong.

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