Leader Says It’s Business As Usual In Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s new leader gave his government high marks for its first month under Chinese rule, saying Thursday the changeover had been successful precisely because so little had changed.
“There are demonstrations as usual, lawsuits as usual, media scrutiny as usual,” Tung Chee-hwa told a luncheon gathering of the Australian Chamber of Commerce.
“It would be unusual if this were not the case, since this is what we know and we expect of Hong Kong and its people.”
China’s takeover of the former British colony on July 1 was viewed with skepticism by some who worried that life under China would be less free than under Britain.
On Thursday, Hong Kong’s Democrats criticized what they said were some backward steps for democracy, including a court ruling this week validating Hong Kong’s Chinaappointed legislature and new election proposals they said would cut their voter base.
But at the luncheon, Tung insisted that Hong Kong’s first month as part of China has “shown clearly that Hong Kong people have no reservations about openly expressing their view and exercising their rights and freedoms.”
“If people ask me what has been the biggest change since July 1, I would have to say there has been no big change,” he said.
Tung said he welcomed a recent legal challenge to the validity of Hong Kong’s new legislature, saying it showed the rule of law was thriving.
The court rejected the motion Tuesday on the grounds that Hong Kong judges had no power to challenge the legality of the provisional legislature since it was ratified by the Chinese parliament.
The Democrats, the largest party in the territory, criticized the ruling in their first post-handover meeting with Tung, said the party’s chairman, Martin Lee.