Hong Kong is not independent like Singapore and those who challenge Beijing’s authority are separatists, says CY Leung
- In five-minute speech, former chief executive says any autonomy Hong Kong has comes at China’s discretion
- According to Leung, mainland Chinese believe that Hongkongers are ungrateful for concessions they won ahead of 1997 handover
Leung, in his second video speech in a week, also said while the opposition camp emphasised that “power comes from the people”, he argued Hongkongers could only give limited power to the city’s government.
“In Hong Kong the extra autonomous power that we enjoy actually comes from Beijing, and Beijing has to account to all the 1.4 billion people in the whole of China,” he said. “Ignoring the sentiments of the mainland people is self-deception on the part of Hong Kong.
“We are not another Singapore. In Hong Kong, by pushing on the democracy envelope too far, and by attempting to chip away the authority of Beijing in, for example, appointing the chief executive, many of the so-called democrats have become, in practice, separatists.”
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‘We cannot have our cake and eat it’, says former Hong Kong leader CY Leung
