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Gary Cheung

Jimmy Cheung

Former chief secretary reacts to NPC chief's remarks

Former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang  yesterday urged Beijing and the Hong Kong government to clarify remarks by the National People's Congress head  on Hong Kong's autonomy and separation of powers.

Mrs Chan  warned the remarks on Wednesday by Wu Bangguo  could shake overseas investor confidence in Hong Kong as an international financial centre.

She also pledged to take part in the July 1 march for democracy this year, because she thinks the pace of democratisation is too slow.

Mr Wu's remarks  were dismissed as 'nothing new' by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen. 'Mr Wu has not set out any new framework,' he said during a visit to Tianjin  .

Mr Wu, who chairs the National People's Congress Standing Committee, said in Beijing  that Hong Kong had considerable autonomy only because Beijing had authorised it.

He also said it was inappropriate to copy the separation of powers between the executive, legislature and judiciary or the parliamentary system from western countries directly to Hong Kong.

Mr Tsang said Beijing and the Hong Kong government had all along adhered to the Basic Law. 'People can see for themselves that Legco and the judiciary have been doing their job. I don't think there is any cause for worries,' he said.

Responding to Mr Wu's remarks,

Mrs Chan said Hong Kong people accepted that the autonomy granted to the city  derived from Beijing.

'What I particularly worry about is the suggestion that the three  organs of the government - that is, judiciary, legislature and executive governing body - are not independent of each other.

'The whole purpose of having the three parties separate from each other is to act as check and balance. That is central to the whole concept of 'one country two systems'.

'If the people's confidence in the 'one country, two systems' principle is affected, it will not only affect the people, but also affect our status as an international financial centre, and also might have impacts on overseas investments,' Mrs Chan said.

'I do not think we should allow this debate to continue without clarifications. So, I urge the central government and the Hong Kong government to explain exactly what is behind Mr Wu's remarks.'

But former chief secretary Sir David Akers-Jones  said of Mr Wu:  'He was just telling us a few facts of life. These are the facts of life: Hong Kong is part of China. Hong Kong is, as spelled out in the Basic Law, to be an executive-led government ... And that is the fact. It is not going to be a western-style democracy. It is going to our own style of democracy.'

Xu Chongde , a mainland drafter of the Basic Law, said he hoped Hong Kong officials would consolidate the 'executive-led government'.

'The Basic Law spelled out clearly the powers enjoyed by the chief executive. I hope the chief executive and his successors will  have the will and skills to wield power to establish a strong government,' Professor Xu said.

Mrs Chan and Sir David were speaking  at a reception marking the inauguration of the Professional Commons - a policy advocacy body founded by about 80 pro-democracy professionals in the  accountancy, information technology, planning, education, legal and medical sectors.

The new group, led by Civic Party vice-chairman Albert Lai Kwong-tak,  evolved from a loose  coalition formed by pro-democracy members of the Election Committee after they secured more than 100 seats on the committee in December.



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