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Former Hong Kong leader C Y Leung accuses opposition of possible secession by trying to sideline Beijing from city’s governance
- Carrie Lam’s predecessor says opposition leaders’ tactics could put them in violation of one of the four offences outlawed by the national security legislation
- He says Hong Kong has been abusing ‘one country, two systems’ to allow itself to become a ‘recruitment centre of subversion’
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Former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying has accused the opposition of possible secession by trying to remove Beijing from the equation in the city’s governance.
In a pre-recorded message broadcast on government radio on Sunday, Leung also dismissed the suggestion that the central government’s decision to impose the national security law on Hong Kong had undermined the “one country, two systems” principle, under which the city was guaranteed a high degree of autonomy.
“One country, two systems is alive and well. So are the freedoms that Hong Kong people enjoy,” said Leung, who was Hong Kong’s chief executive from 2012 to 2017.
Leung said the city was given the responsibility of enacting its own laws to safeguard national security, but in the 23 years since its return to Chinese rule had failed to fulfil that obligation.
“In the absence of such laws, we have seen in recent years increasing threats to national security. Both the Chinese government and the people on the mainland are rattled,” he said.
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