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- Jun 18, 2013
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Chinese Parliamentary Sessions 2013
March 2013 sees the annual meeting of the two legislative and consultative bodies of China, where major policies are decided and key government officials appointed. The National People's Congress (NPC) is held in the Great Hall of the People in China's capital, Beijing, and with 2,987 members, is the largest parliament in the world. It gathers alongside the People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) whose members represent various groups of society.
Second state leader stresses Hong Kong's role in national security
New head-to-be of top legislature stresses city must show understanding of ‘one country, two systems’, after earlier warning on subversion
A second state leader yesterday stressed the importance of Hong Kong safeguarding national security, a day after another warned the city against becoming a base for subversion and said its ruling elite had to love the nation.
Politburo Standing Committee member Zhang Dejiang , who will supervise Hong Kong and Macau Affairs and head the nation's top legislature, called on Hong Kong delegates at a closed-door meeting to help deepen the implementation of the "one country, two systems" concept, Xinhua reported.
Zhang also said the Hong Kong public should develop a fuller understanding of the concept - an expression often used by Beijing in showing its concerns that some Hongkongers placed the "two systems" ahead of the "one country" idea.
Zhang, ranked third in the party hierarchy, made the comment just a day after the fourth-ranked fellow Politburo Standing Committee member Yu Zhengsheng warned against Hong Kong becoming a base for subversion on Wednesday. Unlike Yu, Zhang did not mention universal suffrage, the chief executive election or "subversion".
He stressed Hong Kong must safeguard national security as stated in last year's 18th party congress report - which sums up the governing philosophy of the party for the next five years.
"He used it to show that the central government's policy on Hong Kong remains unchanged," said Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, one of the 36 Hong Kong deputies of the National People's Congress at the meeting.
She added: "What I have heard [from Zhang] today were the clearest remarks over the past few years on Hong Kong's achievements and advantages." Another deputy, Michael Tien Puk-sun, said Zhang mentioned that conflicts between Hong Kong and mainland China were "expected". Tien quoted him as saying: "We need to handle it with a cool head and take concrete measures."
Several other deputies also described Zhang's comment as "more positive and less stern" than Yu's. Zhang and Yu are expected to head the nation's top legislature and top political advisory body respectively.
Zhang will take over from party chief Xi Jinping as the head of the party's leading group on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs - effectively the highest decision-making body on the two special administrations.
Political commentator Johnny Lau Yui-siu believed the comments were triggered by recent events, such as some protesters in Hong Kong waving colonial flags and a plan to occupy the roads in Central to demand universal suffrage.
Wang Gaungya , director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office under the State Council, said "a minority of people used Hong Kong as a bridgehead of subversion".
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10:01pm
HKers are not so naive as to trust you on that.
Don't proceed on any elections (real or fake) that would hurt our usual way of living.
Tell the truth.
China, dictates a governor (rather than the fake elected-chief executive ) to us as in our good old colonial days please.
2:54pm
Hong Kong people had the right to demonstrate before the handover. But we had much less demonstrations in the nineties than today. Why ?
Whether HK would have full democracy today under British rule ? Difficult to say. However, the first elections were introduced by the last governor, Chris Patten.
But the question is not how the Brits were and how things would be today under their rule.
The question is what the Central government needs to do to get a much better understanding how the Hong Kong people feel, think and what they expect from their ultimate government, which sits in Beijing.
Certainly, the Hong Kong people also need to make an effort to understand what Beijing can allow Hong Kong to do and what not because Beijing needs to take into consideration the bigger picture which is ruling an incredibly large country and population.
11:35am
11:20am
Hong Kong now can vote in free and fair elections, they can protest and assembly under Chinese rule. Yet, ironically, Hong Kong today is more democratic or more freedom of speech than it was during the vast majority (perhaps the totality) of its time under British rule.
if Britain had had the option of ruling Hong Kong as long as it pleased, would you think that Hong Kong today be a full democracy? It is unlikely and Hong Kongese had never asked for the freedom of speech and democracy under Britain ruled. It is just like a herd of fattened lambs, the people of Hong Kong meekly accepted whatever British rulers’ decisions.
The British rulers siphoned great financial wealth from Hong Kong under the guises of taxes, administrative fees and other nicely titled levies. The colonial master cunningly bent, deformed and exploited the workings of Hong Kong’s financial, political and cultural institutions to its on benefit.
Jennie PC Chiang/江佩珍 03/08/13 美國
7:13am
If the Central government wishes to be respected as the ultimate superior over Hong Kong they have the obligation to learn to understand the way of life, way of thinking in Hong Kong and the emotional language Hong Kong people use (and are allowed by law) to express their feelings. Only then they will be able to understand the real meaning behind the waving of the colonial flag which would give them food for thought what the Central government has done wrong to win the people of Hong Kong to be accepted as the ultimate power. The Central government wanted Hong Kong back but the Hong Kong people didn't necessarily want to become part of a communist and corrupt country. Hong Kong people are proud to be of Chinese race. But the country China, its system and its government scares many Hong Kong people. Think about it !
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