Chair change shows Hong Kong deputies no longer in the driving seat at National People’s Congress
Hong Kong’s NPC delegation lose their casual sofas for a conference table in what analyst says signifies downgrade of city’s status
In a gesture that demonstrated Beijing’s authority, the seating arrangement for the annual meeting between the state leader overseeing Hong Kong and the city’s deputies to the national legislature was changed for the first time since the 1997 handover.
National People’s Congress chairman Zhang Dejiang met the deputies in Beijing yesterday for the meeting, during which Zhang and Hong Kong’s 36-strong delegation led by Maria Tam Wai-chu were seated at one end of a room in the Great Hall of the People, as in previous years. But instead of having delegates lined up on two sides of the room, Zhang and Tam joined about 30 of them along with mainland officials in sitting around a large rectangular conference table, and the casual sofas they enjoyed in the past were substituted for chairs.
Some Hong Kong deputies appeared surprised arriving for the meeting at 9am. “Oh, this year we are sitting like this,” a deputy was heard murmuring to a colleague.
They sought to downplay the change however when asked if there was any political meaning behind it.
NPC Standing Committee member Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, a deputy since 1998, said: “I think this arrangement is the norm, because in the past it looked like we were foreign guests … but in fact, just like those from mainland provinces, we are here to do our job, and not to receive courteous treatment.