CY Leung Accuses Pan-dems Of Past Secession Attempt

Former Chief Executive CY Leung has dismissed allegations that the imposition of new national security laws marks the end of 'One Country, Two Systems' in Hong Kong.

Speaking on RTHK's Letter to Hong Kong broadcast on Sunday, he said such claims are baseless, and the legislation fully conforms to the Basic Law.

“What you read in the Western media have a lot to do with geo-politics and little with the freedoms of the Hong Kong people”, Leung said.

He added that the national security threats have been rising in recent years because the city has failed for 23 years to fulfill its constitutional duty to enact its own security laws.

He blamed the pan-democrats for this, saying their filibustering tactics meant that any attempt to pass such laws would “inevitably fail”.

The former leader – now a vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) – further accused the opposition of trying to push back against China's sovereignty over Hong Kong.

He gave as an example a recent effort to filibuster a recently-passed bill banning people from disrespecting the national anthem.

But he went back as far back as the run-up to the 2017 CE election, when the pan-democrats wanted the people to directly choose candidates for election rather than via a nominating committee as specified under the Basic Law.

He said what's even worse is their campaign to 'do away' with Beijing's power to appoint the elected candidate.

“By appointing the elected candidate if it sees fit, the Central Government confers onto the chief executive additional powers. So it is the combination of the two mandates, one from the Hong Kong electorate and the other the Chinese Central Government that gives the chief executive wide-ranging powers and Hong Kong the high degree of autonomy”, Leung explained.

“The pan-democrats wanted to remove the Central Government from this equation and maintain the powers of the chief executive. This is not democracy. It is secession by any definition.”

He also said before the imposition of the new security law, Hong Kong had been seen to be 'abusing' its high degree of autonomy, and had allowed itself to be used as a base and recruitment centre of subversion.

Leung added that the acts of some critics belie their claim that 'One Country Two Systems' is dead.

“The opposition ironically has been as rowdy and Apple Daily as anti-China as before, despite their claim of being targeted”, he said.

Leung singled out Democratic Party lawmaker Roy Kwong, who had recently announced he was moving out of his public housing unit into a new HK$10 million flat.

“I am glad that the HK$5 million income that he will have received by the end of his four-year term as Legco member has been put to good use. Of course he is not alone in the market. Recent offers by real estate developers have done very well. So much for ‘The end of Hong Kong’”, Leung concluded.