It’s time to accept Basic Law, former Hong Kong leader CY Leung tells opposition camp, supporters
- It’s wrong to disregard original intent of mini-constitution and ‘turn Hong Kong into a political city’, Leung says
- Don’t use ‘fanciful ideas of democracy’ to judge Hong Kong, it’s not a sovereign country, he adds
The opposition camp and its supporters need to accept the city’s constitutional order, now that Beijing has overhauled Hong Kong’s political landscape, former leader Leung Chun-ying has said.
In an interview with the Post to mark the 25th anniversary of the city’s handover, the 67-year-old emphasised repeatedly that Hong Kong had all along been a “city of economics”, not “a city of politics”, and the opposition and its supporters needed to “stick to the original bargain”.
“The single biggest challenge is to get the opposition in Hong Kong – they and their followers still exist – to accept the provisions of the Basic Law,” he said, referring to the city’s mini-constitution in place since the city’s return to China in 1997.
“A lot has to do with this part of the Hong Kong population. They need to accept the provisions stipulated in the Basic Law,” said Leung, now a vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the nation’s top advisory body. “If they don’t, we will have a pretty tough time ahead as a society.”
Beijing pledged in 1997 that various freedoms and autonomy enjoyed by Hong Kong would remain for at least 50 years. But Leung was unbothered by those expressing concerns about life in Hong Kong beyond 2047, the 50th anniversary of the handover.
He said 2047 was a non-issue, and recalled that the late Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping once said that the arrangement after 50 years “need not be changed”.
