Civil service neutrality is a British thing: state leader

The remark by Tang Jiaxuan casts doubt on a long-standing Hong Kong tradition

The long-standing policy of Hong Kong's civil servants remaining politically neutral was described as a 'British practice' by a senior central government official yesterday.

An academic said the remarks would arouse suspicion if mainland authorities felt the city's civil servants were not required to be apolitical when discharging their duties.

Controversy erupted this week when the deputy director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Xu Ze, reportedly told a civil service delegation in Beijing that members should be patriotic and uphold the Basic Law, including the Article 23 legislation.

Some interpreted the comments as implying the pre-handover tradition of civil servants remaining apolitical no longer had to be upheld.

Asked to clarify Mr Xu's remarks before he met Hong Kong delegates yesterday, State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan said: 'Political neutrality? I learned about that when I studied British literature and history. That's the practice of the British.'

Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, a public and social administration professor at City University, said Mr Tang's response showed the central authorities did not attach importance to political neutrality.