Several young Hong Kong radicals likely to get elected to Legislative Council, says top Beijing official

A top Beijing official in charge of Hong Kong affairs is fully ­prepared to accept the reality of several young radicals winning Legislative Council seats in the September election, but expects them to mature politically over time.

Feng Wei, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in Beijing, said the central government was also analysing the reasons for the rise of radicalism and the tendency of protesters to resort to violent means to achieve their ends.

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Instead of a hardline stance that Hong Kong observers feared mainland officials would take, Feng adopted a pragmatic tone throughout an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post.

It marked the first interview given to Hong Kong media by a top official in the central government agency handling the city’s affairs since the early 1990s.

Feng observed that Hong Kong’s political arena was witnessing generational change and he expected many young people to appear on the political scene after the Legco election.

“We will spot many new faces on TV screens. It will be normal that several radical young people will be returned as lawmakers [in September],” the official said.

“Politics is the process of putting theories into practice. Young people participating in politics, including radicals, will gradually mature.”