Hong Kong’s deputy leader urges opposition lawmakers to ‘let go of their prejudices’ and serve out extended Legco term
- Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung appeals for legislators to cooperate as city faces unprecedented challenges
- The calls come as the opposition mulls boycotting Beijing’s decision to extend the Legco term
Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung is the most senior official in the local administration to call on opposition lawmakers to stay in the chamber after China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee decided to extend the current Legco term by at least one year, citing the coronavirus pandemic in delaying this year’s elections.
Writing on his blog on Sunday, Cheung asked the opposition to cooperate at a time when the city faced unprecedented challenges.
“Cooperation brings benefits, while confrontation brings damages in the relationship between the executive and legislative branch,” he wrote.
“I earnestly urge lawmakers to perform the statutory duties of the Legislative Council, let go of their prejudices, and seek common ground while reserving differences for the benefit of the public.”
Legal scholar sounds caution on Beijing’s decision to extend Legco term
The minister added he and the city’s leader, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, had met pro-establishment lawmakers last week to exchange views on council matters.
Cheung’s appeal came after the constitutional affairs minister, Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, also expressed hope that all serving lawmakers would return to help in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, stipulates that Legco terms last four years, and the NPCSC’s brief allowing the extension offered no legal rationale for the exception.
The four barred lawmakers and other pan-democrats have since faced questions on whether they should follow some activists’ appeals to boycott the council and any future election.
Masterstroke or mess? Legco extension by Beijing stumps both sides
While no consensus has been reached, Civic Party chairman Alan Leong Kah-kit called on his allies to stay in the chamber to defend against any controversial bills or funding proposals in the coming year.
In backing Beijing’s resolution on her official blog, Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, said it provided the Hong Kong government with a “flexible and solid legal basis” to plug the gap in the legislature created by the postponement of next month’s elections.
“Neither the [Hong Kong] government nor the courts have the right to deal with [the vacuum],” she wrote. “The implementation of the common law stipulated in the Basic Law remains unaffected.”
