City BeatControversial comments by Legislative Council president prompt questions about Hong Kong’s future role as part of China

Beijing makes it crystal clear that independence advocates cannot be allowed to enter Legco and no independence advocacy should be tolerated in schools

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Jasper Tsang’s comments to an online portal raised some interesting questions. Photo: Edward Wong

Published: 5:00pm, 21 Aug 2016Updated: 9:29pm, 21 Aug 2016

Wild guessing and speculation was the unavoidable result when a mainland news portal quietly took down a recent interview posted online featuring a Hong Kong political heavyweight who may run for the city’s top job revealing his differences with incumbent Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.

Last Friday, in an interview with the Shanghai-based Jiemian online platform, outgoing Legislative Council president Tsang Yok-sing candidly admitted he did not see eye to eye with Leung’s judgment on political issues, including the way he handled opposition forces.

Naturally, some interpreted the publication of the interview as evidence that Tsang had Beijing’s green light to run for chief executive. But could the mysterious disappearance of the interview mean the opposite? The veteran politician himself said the next day that his words had been “twisted” by the local media and he was not opposed to Leung’s administration.

But there’s no playing down the speculation these days about the “dark horses” for next year’s leadership election. “Who will you support?” has become an unavoidable question, even for candidates running in September’s Legislative Council elections.

Yet, every time candidates are grilled on this by their rivals or hosts at election forums, a more fundamental question seems to be missing – what kind of Hong Kong do we want in the next five to 10 years or beyond and where are Hong Kong-Beijing relations heading, given recent calls for independence.

Beijing, no doubt, wants to nip independence ideas in the bud. Recent comments by Beijing officials suggest two bottom lines: independence advocates cannot be allowed to enter Legco and no independence advocacy should be tolerated in schools.

There are many who are convinced that independence for Hong Kong is no more than just an idle fantasy among fringe extremists. However, a recent localist rally, which organisers promoted as “making history”, might have changed everything.

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Beijing makes it crystal clear that independence advocates cannot be allowed to enter Legco and no independence advocacy should be tolerated in schools

Beijing makes it crystal clear that independence advocates cannot be allowed to enter Legco and no independence advocacy should be tolerated in schools