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Lam says 'two systems' intact

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The new chief secretary has rejected protesters' claims that Beijing has interfered in Hong Kong's internal affairs in contravention of the 'one country, two systems' principle.

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said yesterday that she could find no evidence from her experience in the administration to support the frequently levelled accusation that the 'Western District is ruling Hong Kong' - a reference to the location of the central government's liaison office.

'That could never happen because the government is accountable to the public,' the former secretary for development said.

Lam insisted that the boundary between the two systems, as outlined in the Basic Law, was very clear and she promised to uphold the principle in her coming five years in office.

'I think the liaison office's intention was to express care,' she said.

Her comments on Commercial Radio contrasted with the strongly expressed views of some of the up to 400,000 protesters in the annual July 1 march that mainland authorities had interfered in the city's affairs and the chief executive election.

New chief executive Leung Chun-ying fuelled these fears with an hour-long visit to the liaison office a day after he won the job in March.

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