Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam blasts UK group’s ‘unfounded and unfair’ report on city
Chief executive takes ‘great exception’ to report compiled by British peer Paddy Ashdown that casts doubts on rule of law and China’s influence over city
Hong Kong’s leader hit back on Tuesday at a British concern group for “interfering” in the city’s internal affairs with “unfounded and unfair” criticism.
“I take great exception to the comments and conclusion in that report. Those comments are totally unfounded and unfair,” Lam said.
“To attack the rule of law in Hong Kong and to allege that China, and this is a word they use, that China continues to ‘erode Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms, thereby breaching an international treaty’, is totally unfounded. We have seen no evidence of that. Quite the contrary, the central government has been fully backing Hong Kong and supporting Hong Kong in our economic and social development.”
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Reiterating that the core values of the city included the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, Lam again pledged: “I will do my utmost to safeguard those core values.”
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Lam made an effort to explain controversial comments by liaison office director Wang Zhimin on Sunday that Beijing’s representative arm in Hong Kong would “walk together” more with the local government.
She said she had taken “a slightly more pragmatic” approach over her working relationship with the liaison office for her term as chief executive.
“To better integrate into national development, we do need a lot more liaison, a lot more understanding, of the national strategies and this is where the role of the liaison office … comes in,” she said. But she made clear that she only invited officials from the office to discuss issues and policies whenever there was a “mainland angle”.
The liaison office’s role is viewed with suspicion by opposition politicians who accuse it of meddling in local affairs beyond its purview. They mock it as “Western district ruling Hong Kong,” a reference to the district where the office is located. But Lam rejected such criticisms on Tuesday, saying Wang’s remarks had been over-interpreted by some.
She added her cabinet would definitely do its own job in lobbying lawmakers and explaining policies.
However, lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung of the opposition Democratic Party condemned Lam’s remarks, saying it was “appropriate” for a group and members of parliament in Britain to monitor the process of democratisation in Hong Kong under the Sino-British Joint Declaration which laid the groundwork for the city’s return to Chinese sovereignty.
“Instead of being defensive, Carrie Lam should re-examine whether our so-called democracy is up to international standards,” Hui said.
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Article 18 of the city’s mini-constitution states that national laws shall not be applied to Hong Kong except for those listed in Annex III.
Ashdown, who was in Hong Kong for a two-day fact-finding mission in November, said the pending enactment of national security legislation had the “potential to breach human rights” and the government should ensure it would be in line with the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.
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He also called on Beijing to uphold the Joint Declaration and the “one country, two systems” principle, and for Britain to continue monitoring the human rights situation in Hong Kong.
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He repeated the ideas he gave in a speech to senior civil servants and Lam’s cabinet in November, stressing that “one country” was the basis of “two systems”.
Hongkongers, especially the city’s leaders, should know and respect the “Beijing mindset”, to stand at the height of the state and think about the national interest to handle some matters, Wang wrote.