Hong Kong politics: Communist Party is pioneer and defender of ‘one country, two systems’, Beijing official declares
- Speech by central government’s liaison office head marks first time since handover Beijing has categorically spelled out party’s role in the governing principle of Hong Kong
- Voices calling for an end to one-party rule are city’s ‘true enemies’, Luo Huining tells forum attended by chief executive and other political elites
Beijing’s top representative in Hong Kong has for the first time described in unequivocal terms the Communist Party as the architect, leader and defender of the “one country, two systems” governing principle, slamming those calling for an end to its rule as the “real enemies of the city”.
“To advance the cause of one country, two systems, it is imperative to uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China … The party is the true pioneer, leader, practitioner and defender of the cause of one country, two systems,” he told high-level officials, businessmen and lawmakers.
“No one better appreciates the value of one country, two systems or is more committed to the original aspiration of this policy than the party,” he said of the governing principle first envisioned by the late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping as a way to retain Hong Kong’s capitalistic system while returning to Chinese rule.
Luo went on to identify the enemies of the city whom he said were trying to bring an end to one-party rule and at the same time destroy the one country, two systems model.
They were “those who clamour for ‘an end to one-party rule’, reject the leadership of the party over the cause of one country, two systems, those who attempt to use Hong Kong as a geopolitical pawn to contain China as well as a bridgehead for infiltrating the mainland”.