Amid four months of anti-Beijing unrest in Hong Kong, Chinese President Xi Jinping in a unusually tough aggressive tone has has warned that any attempts to split China would result in “bodies smashed and bones ground to powder”.
Xi issued the dire message during a weekend visit to Nepal, according to a foreign ministry statement released recently .
“Anyone who attempts to split any region from China will perish, with their bodies smashed and bones ground to powder,” Xi said, according to the ministry. “Any external forces that support the splitting of China can only be regarded as delusional by the Chinese people,” he said during a visit to Nepal.
While the Chinese leader did not mention any region by name, his comments came as riot police and pro-democracy protesters clashed again in Hong Kong on Sunday and amid tensions with self-ruled Taiwan.