‘Engage youth’: Beijing’s message for Hong Kong as China’s political advisers begin annual meeting
Government worries that youth in special administrative regions lack a national identity
A top Communist Party official urged Hong Kong delegates to engage with the city’s youth, as he launched China’s two-week-long political high season with the opening of the political advisory body’s annual session yesterday.
In a keynote speech, Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, urged delegates to “resist and oppose anything” that might “violate, undermine and weaken political foundation for consensus”.
“[We should] make efforts to consolidate our existing consensus and unite our thoughts to form a new consensus,” Yu said at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing.
READ MORE: what China’s movers and shakers are saying as the country’s biggest political festival plays out in Beijing
The so-called ‘Two Sessions’ – of the CPPCC and the National People’s Congress, the legislature, which begins tomorrow – coincide this year with a controversial ideological campaign.
The campaign appears to be promoting the president and party chief Xi Jinping to a status rivalling that of Mao Zedong.
It also appears to be tightening controls on public life, from academia to the media.
The sessions also come at a politically sensitive time on the mainland, with leaders calling on cadres to be loyal to the party.
