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Hong Kong cannot develop different set of politics from China, Beijing legal expert says
Another participant at seminar in Hong Kong, Rao Geping, says Chinese officials will not enjoy full powers at express rail terminus in West Kowloon
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The legal chief of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong says Hongkongers should wake up from the “illusion” that they can develop a different set of politics from China under “one country, two systems”, declaring that “all politics is central”.
A Basic Law adviser, meanwhile, dismissed speculation that mainland Chinese officers would be empowered to enforce national laws in full at the Hong Kong terminus for the high-speed rail link to Guangzhou, saying their powers would be restricted to immigration and customs checks only.
Wang Zhenmin from the liaison office echoed No 3 state leader Zhang Dejiang, who last month said in a high-profile speech that the central government had “comprehensive” sovereignty over the city and urged Hong Kong to enact a national security law to prevent separatist movements.
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Wang’s comments came a week after three localist legislators formed an alliance with a group of pro-independence counterparts from Taiwan.
Speaking at a “one country, two systems” seminar organised by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies on Friday, Wang said that 20 years after the handover, a small group of people in Hong Kong still had not yet accepted that the city had permanently returned to Chinese sovereignty.
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