Legco secretary general sidesteps calls to resign over removal of pan-democrat bills committee chairman James To, insisting he did everything by the book
- Kenneth Chen is under pressure from the opposition, which accuses him of acting outside his authority in helping pro-Beijing camp unseat To
- A petition calling on Chen to resign had been signed by 20,000 people by Tuesday
The chief administrator of Hong Kong’s legislature has shrugged off calls to resign, insisting his office remained politically neutral during the ousting of a pro-democracy member as chairman of a key committee.
Kenneth Chen Wei-on was under pressure after the pan-democratic camp accused him of exceeding his powers to help the pro-Beijing bloc unseat the Democratic Party’s James To Kun-sun from presiding over the panel vetting a controversial extradition bill. To was a key player in the opposition’s filibuster.
Chen, the non-partisan secretary general of the Legislative Council, did not give a clear answer on whether he would ask the courts to stop the unprecedented situation of two rival camps simultaneously hosting their own committees to vet the bill.
He maintained his decision was based on the Legco rule book and its conventions. Chen also stressed the secretariat had always been neutral.
Responding to calls to resign, which included an online petition signed by more than 20,000 people as of Tuesday, Chen would only look to the task ahead in passing the bill.
“What the secretariat needs to do now is to refocus our efforts on this very controversial and technical bill,” Chen said.
