“The fact is that she is in a dilemma. She has to obey the masters and, at the same time, her conscience says the people of Hong Kong are right in rejecting the law.

“But, on the other hand, she knows the consequences of rejecting the law,” Mahathir said in a question-and-answer session at the Lawasia conference here today.

Mahathir said he expected China to begin clamping down on protesters, citing the events during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

“Yes, they allow you to demonstrate and all that, but eventually, in a system that is authoritarian, they will come back and do what they have to do,” he said.

He mentioned how the Chinese government had, during the 1989 protests, brought in soldiers from other areas to end the protests after they learnt that some of the demonstrators were relatives of soldiers there.

“I think in the end, that is what China will do.”

Hong Kong has seen years of rallies and unrest sparked by Beijing’s tightening grip on the semi-autonomous financial hub.

The recent unrest was ignited by a now-scrapped proposal to allow extraditions to the mainland but it has since snowballed into a wider movement pushing for democracy and police accountability after Beijing and Lam took a hard line.

Millions have hit the streets while hardcore activists have clashed repeatedly with police in the biggest challenge to China’s rule since the city’s handover from Britain in 1997.