HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s citizens were voting on Sunday in an election where the focus is on turnout, with residents grieving and traumatized after the city’s worst fire in nearly 80 years and the authorities scrambling to avoid a broader public backlash.

Security was tight in the northern district of Tai Po, close to the border with mainland China, where the fire engulfed seven towers. The city is holding elections for the Legislative Council, in which only candidates vetted as “patriots” by the China-backed Hong Kong government may run.

Residents are angry over the blaze that killed at least 159 people and took nearly two days to extinguish after it broke out on Nov. 26. The authorities say substandard building materials used in renovating a high-rise housing estate were responsible for fueling the fire.

Eager to contain the public dismay, authorities have launched criminal and corruption investigations into the blaze, and roughly 100 police patrolled the area around Wang Fuk Court, the site of the fire, early on Sunday.

‘NOT A HEALTHY SYSTEM NOW’
A resident in his late 70s named Cheng, who lives near the charred buildings, said he would not vote.

“I’m very upset by the great fire,” he said during a morning walk. “This is a result of a flawed government… There is not a healthy system now and I won’t vote to support those pro-establishment politicians who failed us.”

Mr. Cheng declined to give his full name, saying he feared authorities would target those who criticize the government.

At a memorial site near the burned-out residential development, a sign said authorities plan to clear the area after the election concludes close to midnight, suggesting government anxiety over public anger.

Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong has said it would crack down on any “anti-China” protest in the wake of the fire and warned against using the disaster to “disrupt Hong Kong.”

China’s national security office in Hong Kong warned senior editors with a number of foreign media outlets at a meeting in the city on Saturday not to spread “false information” or “smear” government efforts to deal with the fire.

The blaze is a major test of Beijing’s grip on the former British colony, which it has transformed under a national security law after mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.

An election overhaul in 2021 also mandated that only pro-Beijing “patriots” could run for the global financial hub’s 90-seat legislature and, analysts say, further reduced the space for meaningful democratic participation.

‘ABSOLUTELY NEED ALL VOTERS TO COME OUT’
Publicly inciting a vote boycott was criminalized as part of the sweeping changes that effectively squeezed out pro-democracy voices in Hong Kong. Pro-democracy voters, who traditionally made up about 60% of Hong Kong’s electorate, have since shunned elections.

The number of registered voters for Sunday’s polls — 4.13 million — has dropped for the fourth consecutive year since 2021, when a peak of 4.47 million people were registered.

Seven people had been arrested as of Thursday for inciting others not to vote, the city’s anti-corruption body said.

Hong Kong and Chinese officials have stepped up calls for people to vote.

“We absolutely need all voters to come out and vote today, because every vote represents our push for reform, our protection of the victims of (fire) disaster, and a representation of our will to unite and move forward together,” Hong Kong leader John Lee said after casting his vote.

Hong Kong’s national security office urged residents on Thursday to “actively participate in voting,” saying it was critical in supporting reconstruction efforts by the government after the fire.

“Every voter is a stakeholder in the homeland of Hong Kong,” the office said in a statement. “If you truly love Hong Kong, you will vote sincerely.”

The last Legislative Council elections in 2021 recorded the lowest voter turnout — 30.2% — since Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997. — Reuters

TOKYO — Chinese fighter jets directed fire-control radar at Japanese military aircraft near Japan’s Okinawa islands in two incidents, Japan’s defense minister said on Sunday, condemning the move as “dangerous.”

“These radar illuminations went beyond what is necessary for the safe flight of aircraft,” Shinjiro Koizumi posted on X, adding that Japan had lodged a protest with China over Saturday’s “regrettable” incident.

Meeting with Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles in Tokyo, Mr. Koizumi said Japan would respond “resolutely and calmly” to China’s conduct to maintain regional peace and stability.

A fire-control radar lock is one of the most threatening acts a military aircraft can take because it signals a potential attack, forcing the targeted aircraft to take evasive action.

JAPAN-CHINA RELATIONS HAVE SOURED, TENSIONS OVER TAIWAN
The encounters near islands close to territory claimed by both Japan and China are the most serious run-ins between the two militaries in years and are likely to further escalate tension between the neighbors.

Relations have already soured after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned that Japan could respond to any Chinese military action against Taiwan if it also threatened Japan’s security.

China claims democratically governed Taiwan and has ramped up military and political pressure against the island, whose government rejects Beijing’s territorial claims. Taiwan lies just 110 kilometers (70 miles) from Japan’s westernmost island, Yonaguni.

Calls to China’s defense ministry on Sunday were not answered.

Japan hosts the biggest overseas concentration of US military power, including warships, aircraft and troops, with much of that contingent, including thousands of US Marines, based in Okinawa.

The US State Department and the US Embassy in Tokyo did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Japan’s claims about China’s use of radar.

Japan said the Chinese J-15 jets involved in the two incidents were launched from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier, which was maneuvering south of the Okinawan islands with three missile destroyers.

In 2013, Japan said a Chinese warship locked its radar on one of its destroyers in the East China Sea. Three years later Beijing accused Japanese jets of directing their fire-control radar on Chinese fighters.

In June, Japan said Chinese jets flew dangerously close to one of its patrol aircraft near Okinawa.

CHINESE NAVAL ACTIVITIES
On Thursday, China was deploying a large number of naval and coast guard ships across East Asian waters, which at one point numbered more than 100, Reuters reported, citing sources and intelligence reports.

Taiwan’s government described that buildup as posing a threat to the Indo-Pacific region. Japan said it was monitoring Chinese activity closely.

On Sunday, Taiwan’s coast guard said it was monitoring drills by three Chinese maritime safety ships on the western side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line but said the situation in the waters surrounding Taiwan was currently “normal.”

Chinese state media said the search-and-rescue drills were in the central waters of the strait, patrolling “high-traffic areas, and areas with frequent accidents.”

Taiwan’s coast guard said China was using “misleading and false wording” about what it was doing, with the aim of harassing Taiwan and carrying out psychological warfare.

China says it alone exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the strait, a major trade route for about half of global container ships. The United States and Taiwan say the strait is an international waterway. — Reuters

THE KREMLIN welcomed a move by US President Donald J. Trump’s administration to revise its national security strategy and stop calling Russia a “direct threat,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in remarks published by the TASS news agency on Sunday.

Since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, US strategies have designated Moscow as a major threat. However, the updated US policy, announced on Friday, adopts a softer tone, urging limited cooperation.

In comments to the state-run news agency, Mr. Peskov said the updated strategy dropped wording that described Russia as a direct threat and instead called for cooperation with Moscow on strategic stability issues.

“We considered this a positive step,” he said, adding that Moscow would examine the document closely before drawing broader conclusions. “We certainly need to look at it more closely and analyze it,” Mr. Peskov was quoted as saying.

The new 29-page strategy set out Mr. Trump’s foreign policy vision as one of “flexible realism” and said US policy would be driven above all by “what works for America,” according to the document.

Washington would seek a quick resolution to the conflict in Ukraine and aimed to re-establish “strategic stability” with Moscow, while maintaining that Russia’s actions in Ukraine remained a central security concern, the document said.

The strategy was released amid a stalled US peace initiative, in which Washington presented a proposal that endorsed Russia’s main demands in the nearly four-year-old war.

Mr. Trump has often made positive and admiring comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin, prompting critics to accuse him of being soft on Moscow even as his administration-maintained sanctions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

European allies, reliant on US military support to deter Russia, have watched the shift closely and voiced concern that softer US language might weaken efforts to confront Moscow as the war in Ukraine continues. — Reuters