Advertisement calls on Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to step down
Chief executive rubbishes idea as organiser says his policies don't live up to his promises
More than 300 people have put their signatures to a newspaper advertisement published both locally and in Taiwan, calling for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to step down.
The half-page ad accuses Leung's policies of "mainlandising Hong Kong". It was a warning to Taiwan of the side effects of opening up cross-border tourism and other policies that jeopardised local interests, the co-signers said.
The ad ran in two Hong Kong newspapers and in Taiwan.
Leung described the move as incomprehensible.
"To arouse so-called international attention by placing an identical advertisement in Taiwan, this is incomprehensible for Hongkongers and the Taiwanese," he said.
The notice cited the development plan for the northeastern New Territories, close to Shenzhen, and the rapid expansion of an individual visit scheme that encouraged visitors from across the border.
It questioned Leung's insistence that his top priority in governing the city lay in the interests of Hongkongers.
"I imposed the zero quota for mainland mothers to give birth in Hong Kong," he said. "I proposed the policy of 'Hong Kong property for Hong Kong people'."
NeoDemocrats lawmaker Gary Fan Kwok-wai co-ordinated an online fundraising effort for the ads, which cost more than HK$50,000.
Fan said Leung was good only at playing with words.
"Announcing policies does not mean they have been put into practice," he said. "He can't even take good care of the livelihoods of Hongkongers, so he should step down."
Two lawmakers also on the Executive Council criticised the move as "inappropriate".
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee of the New People's Party said: "It's not meaningful … They are merely trying to disrupt Hong Kong's stability and the illustrative value that 'one country, two systems' has for Taiwan."
Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung of the Business and Professionals Alliance said it was inappropriate to "internationalise" Hong Kong's internal problems.
Separately, a full-page ad targeting the Occupy Central campaign for democracy ran in at least three local newspapers. The advertiser, the Silent Majority for Hong Kong, proclaimed that the civil disobedience movement would bring the city "suffering".
