'Don't Look At The Basic Law From A HK Perspective'

A former director of Beijing's Basic Law Committee, Qiao Xiaoyang, has urged Hongkongers to stop looking at the city's mini-constitution from a Hong Kong perspective, saying they will only understand it correctly if they consider it through Beijing's eyes.

"You can't look at it from Hong Kong's perspective. You're Chinese. Standing in the position of our nation to understand what is being said in the Basic Law... that's the only way for you to comprehensively and accurately implement the Basic Law, to understand the content," Qiao said.

He offered his advice at an online summit on Tuesday to mark the 30th anniversary of the promulgation of the Basic Law.

Another former mainland official, meanwhile, said Hong Kong people should know that the 50 years of no change promised in the Basic Law only refers to the city's way of life and social systems.

Feng Wei, a former deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, said this doesn't mean there won't be changes to Hong Kong's constitutional system.

"When it comes to the constitutional system, things have indeed changed. And after the handover, we didn't talk enough about such changes," he said.

Feng said there was little discussion about changes in the early days after 1997 because the central authorities wanted to ensure society remained stable.

But he said misunderstandings about Beijing's powers and its relationship with the SAR have led to problems.

Hong Kong's social unrest throughout the years – from the march against Article 23 national security legislation in 2003 to last year's violence – were in part due to some people taking aim at the central government and its relationship with the territory, Feng said.