Hong Kong minister attacks lawmaker’s bid to adjourn debate on copyright bill
Greg So urges pan-democrats not to support Raymond Chan’s ‘very unwise’ proposal
Commerce minister Greg So Kam-leung hit back at Raymond Chan Chi-chuen yesterday after the People Power lawmaker suggested a motion to adjourn debate on the controversial copyright amendment bill at this week’s meeting.
So, who is tasked with implementing the bill, said it was “very unwise” for Chan to try to obstruct debate in the Legislative Council and called on other lawmakers, especially the pan-democrats not to support his motion.
“I hope lawmakers, especially the pan-democrat lawmakers, will not join the debate adjournment proposed by Chan,” So said.
The minister said Hong Kong needed “positive energy”, otherwise it would “sink in sorrow”.
Chan told Cable News after So made the comments that adjourning the debate would free up more time for lawmakers to deal with bills that were not disputed.
“Now that he [So] has given up the [copyright] bill, [the Legislative Council] should be moving to deal with other bills in the backlog,” he said.
Chan added that there were more than 20 bills waiting to be dealt with, and he quoted the government as saying that if those bills could not be settled this year, all previous efforts would be wasted.
“I don’t understand why a responsible government would struggle with us for three more days.”
If the bill is shelved, it will be the second time in four years that the government has failed to get a copyright bill through the Legislative Council after a decade of discussion on the issue.
Despite anger among pro-government lawmakers at the repeated use of the delaying tactics, So said last Friday that there was still time for all sides to scrutinise the bill and approve it in the Legco meeting scheduled to start this Wednesday.
The copyright bill has been dubbed by critics “Internet Article 23” – a reference to the Basic Law provision on national security legislation – while the government says it is necessary to align Hong Kong with global standards of intellectual property protection.