China’s ‘two sessions’ 2023: will Hong Kong’s voice in Beijing be weakened by the loss of a vice-chairman on country’s top political advisory body?
- Post learns that retiring vice-chairman Tung Chee-hwa will not be replaced, leaving Leung Chun-ying as only city CPPCC member at that level
- City membership on Standing Committee of the CPPCC also cut, down from 18 to 16, with nine new faces
China’s top political advisory body is to have one fewer vice-chairman from Hong Kong as the seat of the city’s first post-handover leader will not be filled after he steps down, the Post has learned.
But observers said the retirement of Tung Chee-hwa, 85 – leaving another former chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, as the city’s only vice-chairman on the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) – would not weaken the city’s voice in Beijing.
The reduced representation for Hong Kong was also seen in the Standing Committee of the CPPCC during the five-yearly transition, as the number of city delegates decreased from 18 last term to 16, with nine new joiners.
The new line-up was circulated in the CPPCC’s presidium on Thursday during China’s annual political summit known as the “two sessions” and was expected to be voted on by more than 2,000 members on Friday.
Leung, 68, who held the city’s top job from 2012 to 2017, is the only Hong Kong candidate among the 23 to serve as a CPPCC vice-chairman, the list seen by the Post revealed.
The news quashed earlier suggestions that another heavyweight would rise to the same position after the departure of Tung.
Tung announced in January that he would step down from the body he served on for 18 years. He was the only Hong Kong face among CPPCC vice-chairmen from 2008 to 2017.
