Decisions on party politics 'inevitable'

Beijing and Hong Kong will not be able to avoid party politics in 2017, when decisions about universal suffrage must be made, according to Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing.

Tsang said the 16 years of administrative problems after the handover was strong proof that a chief executive had to be affiliated to a political party.

"It is not a matter of whether [Beijing] allows [party politics] or not," Tsang said on an RTHK television programme, where he appeared with former executive councillor Allen Lee Peng-fei. "Even if the chief executive-elect is an independent, in accordance with the Chief Executive Ordinance, you cannot cut the person's de facto links with political parties."

Citing the experience of the city's first chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, Tsang said a purely executive-led government was not viable.

"Before the handover, we thought having a chief executive without political links would work, as he ruled with the assistance of a strong civil service," said Tsang, who was founding chairman of one of the parties that merged to create the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.

"We believed having a chief executive should have worked better than having governors as he would be elected by Hong Kong people.

"Tung thought it was all right to focus on livelihood issues and keep away from politics, but everything - housing, the environment and so on - is politics when you are the chief executive," Tsang said, adding that Beijing's views about the city were "too simplistic".

The legislature chief said the central government's worries lay in the inevitability of different parties taking charge.

"When there is party politics there is no way you can rule out party alternation," Tsang said. "But it is not feasible to exclude all political parties from governing Hong Kong."

When discussing Legco's election plans for 2016 and 2020, Tsang called for proposals which could incorporate some of the ideas behind universal suffrage as well as the controversial functional constituencies. Veteran politician Lee urged Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to float a plan for the 2016 Legco poll in his policy address in January.