Beijing liaison recruits Liberal Party to tout Hong Kong electoral reform
Beijing body's alleged request for Liberal Party to help drum up support for the government's reform plan infringes Basic Law, a legislator says
Beijing's liaison office may have breached the Basic Law by "meddling in Hong Kong's internal affairs", after it apparently asked a pro-establishment party to join a publicity blitz promoting the government's electoral reform package.
The Liberal Party admitted, upon media queries, having received a message from the liaison office on Wednesday asking if it was interested in helping with an upcoming citywide campaign organised by Robert Chow Yung, leader of an anti-Occupy Central movement last year.
"I will pass the message to our district councillors or officers in the community and let them decide whether to play a role in it," party chairman Felix Chung Kwok-pan said yesterday. "We will not make it compulsory."
Chung said he did not regard the office's call as exerting any sort of pressure on the Liberals.
But Civic Party lawmaker Dr Kenneth Chan Ka-lok said the liaison office had clearly violated Article 22 of the Basic Law, which states that no department of the central government should interfere in Hong Kong's affairs. Chan said Beijing's constitutional role in political reform did not justify the office's purported move.
Dr Ma Ngok, a political scientist at Chinese University, also felt it inappropriate for the office to advise a local party what to do.
The government's own drive to win the hearts and minds of Hongkongers is already in full swing, after it announced its final proposal on April 22 requiring chief executive hopefuls to win majority support from a 1,200-strong nominating body before the top two or three candidates move on to the public ballot.
In contrast to the liaison office, the team led by Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has distinctly omitted the Liberals from the action while roping in other pro-establishment allies such as the Federation of Trade Unions and Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
James Tien Pei-chun, honorary chairman of the Liberals, said officials who had been distributing leaflets to residents had not approached them for assistance. But Tien said the aides who wore party windbreakers bearing their names during the community outreach were more interested in promoting themselves ahead of November district council polls.
He also said it was inappropriate for Tung Chee-hwa to make frequent public remarks, in his capacity as the city's former chief executive, on its current affairs.
Tung had earlier urged pan-democrats to back the reform plan instead of succumbing to the influence of the more hard-line elements of their camp.
"I was appointed to the legislature in 1988 by the colonial government and had [worked with] a number of governors," Tien said. "I had never seen any ex-governor who would comment frequently on policies put forward by the incumbent."
Lam, meanwhile, urged pan-democratic lawmakers "to set aside their ideals and democratic demands, consider Hong Kong's big picture and long-term interest as their priority and abandon their vow to veto the package".
Several members of the League of Social Democrats protested as Lam attended a webcast show hosted by Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing. Lam told reporters she did not plan to accept a challenge from the league to take part in an open debate on reform.
