People's Daily accuses US of 'colour revolution' bid with Occupy Central
People's Daily takes claims of American collusion with Occupy Central to higher level
The Communist Party's mouthpiece newspaper has blamed the United States for colluding with Occupy Central protest organisers to try and foment a "colour revolution".
Although a Hong Kong-based pro-Beijing newspaper has made similar claims before, the commentary published on the front page of overseas edition signalled Beijing is taking the accusations to a higher level.
The commentary, entitled "Why the US never gets bored with colour revolutions",claimed Washington was stirring up trouble against regimes it dislikes under the pretext of supporting pro-democracy movements.
Citing unidentified overseas media reports, it said core leaders of Occupy Central had met Louisa Greve, a vice-president of the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
The commentary also cited unnamed overseas reports as suggesting that Greve was connected with forces seeking Tibet independence and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
"Of course, the US will not admit it is manipulating 'Occupy Central', just as they will not admit it is controlling other anti-Chinese forces. They will legitimise their moves under the values of 'democracy, freedom and human rights'," it added. NED had not responded to request for comments by late last night.
The commentary came after the Hong Kong government called off a meeting with student protest leaders as Occupy Central entered its 13th day and international leaders gave their backing to the movement.
