HONG KONG – Former chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Leung Chun-ying has shared his opinion on the Chinese top legislature's decision on improving the electoral system in Hong Kong.
Leung, also vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said in a recent recorded speech that Hong Kong never had an elected governor under the British rule and never had an elected legislature before China and Britain started negotiations on Hong Kong's future.
The highly autonomous powers of the HKSAR government do not come from local people. Local people, in, for example, the UK, do not and cannot through local elections give their local government such highly autonomous powers.
Leung Chun-ying, former HKSAR Chief Executive
After 22 rounds of talks, the Chinese and British governments signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984, and China started the practice of "one country, two systems" under the HKSAR Basic Law since July 1, 1997, when it resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the British colonial rule.
As the former secretary-general of the HKSAR Basic Law Consultative Committee which spent four and half years consulting widely the public of Hong Kong on the questions of the contents of the Basic Law between 1985 and 1990, Leung offered his understanding on Hong Kong issue.
"The political status of Hong Kong is that of a city, albeit one with a high degree of autonomy," he said.
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The negotiations of Hong Kong's future were between China and Britain, which produced the joint declaration. Hong Kong was never a party in the negotiations or in the agreement, he said, noting that it was China's central authorities that authorized the establishment of the HKSAR and delegated certain autonomous powers to the HKSAR government.
"The highly autonomous powers of the HKSAR government do not come from local people. Local people, in, for example, the UK, do not and cannot through local elections give their local government such highly autonomous powers," Leung said.
"In other words, if Hong Kong residents want to emulate their London counterparts in voting in their city leader, Beijing could happily agree tomorrow, provided the Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region) chief executive has the same limited powers as the London mayor."
"So we, as the people of Hong Kong, can not have our cake and eat it, casting Beijing to one side in the process of selecting the chief executive and at the same time insisting on giving the chief executive much more powers than those of the London mayor," he said.
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Citing relevant clause of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the HKSAR Basic Law, Leung said the HKSAR chief executive "will be appointed by the central people's government on the basis of the results of elections or consultations to be held locally."
He noted the words "consultations" and "appointed by the central people's Government," saying they mean that "if the selection of the chief executive is carried out on the basis of consultation, and not election tomorrow, this would still be in line with the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law."
Furthermore, whatever the result of consultation or election, it is subject to the appointment of the central authorities.
On the issue of "one person, one vote" in Hong Kong, Leung said that according to the Basic Law, the ultimate aim is the selection of the chief executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures.
Leung said that he put a formal proposal on the table in 2014 that would have given the Hong Kong people an opportunity of universal suffrage in electing the chief executive. However, it resulted in unfortunately the illegal "Occupy Central" movement.
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The movement, started and backed by the so-called "pro-democrats," did not like nomination by a nominating committee, which is the requirement in the Basic Law. Instead, they insisted on the so-called "civic nomination," meaning any group of voters in Hong Kong could nominate a candidate, said Leung.
"That was against the Basic Law," he noted.
Leung also talked about the social unrest in Hong Kong in 2019, saying the so-called "pro-democrats" also wanted universal suffrage without a nominating committee's nomination.
"That, I'm afraid, is not the deal in the Basic Law," he said.