By Jacob Gu, Bloomberg–

China sent the strongest warning yet of using troops on Hong Kong’s streets where Beijing says protests have turned into a “Color Revolution,” with water cannons and tear gas fired in skirmishes between police and demonstrators in the 12th straight weekend of unrest.

“It’s not only China central government’s authority but also its responsibility to intervene when riots take place in Hong Kong,” the state-run Xinhua News Agency said Sunday in a commentary, recalling comments by former top leader Deng Xiaoping saying Beijing has to act under such circumstances.

President Donald Trump on Aug. 13 said reports from U.S. intelligence agencies show the Chinese government is moving troops to its border with Hong Kong. A day earlier, Global Times, a Chinese tabloid run by the People’s Daily, reported that the Chinese People’s Armed Police were assembling in Shenzhen ahead of “apparent large-scale exercises,” where “numerous” armored personnel carriers, trucks and other vehicles of the paramilitary force were seen heading toward Hong Kong’s neighboring city.

In Sunday’s commentary, Xinhua said Hong Kong’s protests have turned into a Color Revolution aimed at overturning the Special Administrative Region’s constitutional institutions, a signal it was ready to take further action. Previously, Chinese officials had described the protests as having some characteristics of a “color revolution.”

Protesters’ violent acts have pushed Hong Kong to an extremely dangerous edge, the city’s government said in a statement after a day full of violent clashes between demonstrators and the police where an officer fired warning shots in the air.

— With assistance from Dandan Li.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jacob Gu in New York at jgu3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kean Zhang at kzhang65@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, James Ludden

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