Noting that Hong Kong is a diversified society, Zhang said that it was normal for there to be different opinions on Hong Kong’s politics, economy and people’s livelihoods. On Wednesday, the protestors raised slogans and chanted for the Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying to step down.
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China’s top legislator Zhang Dejiang has highlighted the economic and social development in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s (SAR) during his three-day inspection tour.
The Occupy protests two years ago came after Zhang’s National People’s Congress handed down guidelines requiring a panel dominated by Beijing loyalists to screen candidates for what was to be Hong Kong’s first citywide election for chief executive in 2017. He also said he hoped the city’s people will remain confident in a bright future for both Hong Kong and the country.
“While respecting the “one country, two systems” and the Basic Law, we would like to listen to the opinions and suggestions from all walks of life and communicate in various ways for the sake of Hong Kong”, he said. The Chinese economic slowdown means that the Belt and Road initiative’s success will require Hong Kong’s tried and tested expertise.
And one gesture of affection he brings with him from Beijing was a lengthy recitation of Hong Kong’s strengths.
High-ranking Chinese government official Zhang Dejiang took a swipe at growing calls for independence among Hong Kong’s youth when he visited the city Monday, in a display of the mainland’s steadfast stance on its “one country, two systems” policy. It comes as concerns grow that freedoms are under threat in semi-autonomous Hong Kong as China tightens its grip.
The idea of Hong Kong independence is anathema to Beijing, which fears any separatist or sweeping democratic demands spilling into China to undermine its rule.
About 200 pro-democracy protesters and rival pro-China demonstrators gathered in one of the zones in the evening yesterday, as Zhang gave his banquet speech.
Mr Zhang conceded that a small minority of people in Hong Kong had been calling for independence, but said China would “unswervingly” maintain the current “one country two systems” model of governance for Hong Kong, that guarantees a high degree of autonomy in Hong Kong since it switched from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
Democracy activists and pro-China groups traded insults close to the conference centre where Zhang was speaking, heckling and swearing at each other.
“It is not a question of localism, it is an effort to separate the city from China under the name of localism”, he said.
“No one can override the law, and no offenders can evade legal jurisdiction with any excuse”, he said. “Society should severely condemn those actions which challenge the rule of law”.
However, in an address to local tycoons, businessmen and officials Thursday morning, Zhang insisted he saw the city’s residents were “full of happiness” during his trip.
Their bid came on the final day of a 3-day trip by Zhang Dejiang, who chairs China’s communist-controlled legislature, where frustrated protesters have been kept out of sight behind barricades in a security lockdown.
In another sign of official nervousness over the visit, authorities glued together paving stones to prevent them from being ripped up and hurled by protesters.
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