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.