Hong Kong has ‘no basis to exist’ as a special region without Chinese constitution’s authorisation, finance chief Paul Chan warns

Hong Kong would have “no basis to exist” as a special region of China without the authorisation of the national constitution, the city’s finance chief warned on Sunday, saying the country’s socialist system had to be respected and the Communist Party’s leadership upheld.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po’s comments echoed those of Beijing’s top official in Hong Kong the previous day, that without recognising the constitution’s supreme status, it was as though one had forgotten “how the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region came about”.

Luo Huining, head of the central government’s liaison office in the city, made the remarks during a Constitution Day seminar on Saturday.

Writing on his blog on Sunday, Chan called the constitution the “fundamental law”, with supreme status and effect. He said it recognised socialism as China’s fundamental system and the party’s leadership as the most natural feature of the country.

“In other words, without the authorisation of the national constitution, there would be no one country, two systems and Basic Law. Nor would there be the establishment of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region, let alone the stable transition and return of sovereignty during the handover,” Chan wrote, referring to 1997 when Britain handed the city back to China.

“From the perspective of the national constitution, upholding Hong Kong’s constitutional order would involve respecting the country’s socialist system and upholding the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. Or else, the Special Administrative Region would not have a basis to exist.”