UK minister Hugo Swire meets with CY Leung, six months after Hong Kong chief snubbed talks
Britain’s minister responsible for Hong Kong affairs, Hugo Swire, met Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying this morning, six months after Leung snubbed him during a visit to the city for discussions on political reform.
Swire, who is minister of state with the British Foreign Office, mentioned the visit on Twitter this morning: “Delighted to be back in [Hong Kong]. Looking forward to packed programme of calls on government, legislators and business.”
He followed that with a note to say the meeting had been constructive:
Swire also met with Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing.
“I told him that the UK government should not have asked Hongkongers to accept the government’s reform package earlier – it had influenced its allies and made them change their stance,” Lau said.
Lau asked Swire to support pan-democrats’ effort to start the political reform exercise anew. Leung has said he will not relaunch the process in the remaining two years of his term.
