Opinion | Hong Kong shouldn't forget Lu Ping's words of wisdom
Gary Cheung says the late Lu Ping, one of the more liberal Beijing officials on Hong Kong affairs, was spot on about the flaws of our political system
Politicians across the political spectrum have lined up to heap praise on Lu Ping , the former director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office who died this month. While most acknowledged his contribution in ensuring a smooth handover of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China, some of his insights into the city's post-handover development received little attention.
Lu was best known for branding the last British governor, Chris Patten, "a sinner for 1,000 years" in 1993, over an electoral reform package that Lu said breached the Basic Law and Sino-British agreements.
However, despite his attack on Patten, Lu was a relatively liberal-minded official. That same year, he assured Hong Kong its development was in its own hands.
"As for how the legislature will be constituted after its third term [2008], all that is needed is for two-thirds of legislators to approve, the chief executive to give his consent, and then report to the National People's Congress Standing Committee … for the record," he was quoted as saying on the front page of the overseas edition of the on March 18. "There is no need for central government approval. How Hong Kong develops democracy in the future is entirely within the autonomy of Hong Kong."
This assurance was overridden by a higher authority in April 2004 when the Standing Committee ruled that changes to how the chief executive and legislators are selected were possible in and after 2007 if the chief executive believed "there is a need" to do so and the committee agreed. Any changes, if passed into law, must also obtain the "final approval" of the Standing Committee in the case of electing the chief executive, or "registration for the record" in the case of electing the legislature.
When Lu made his promise in 1993, Beijing was confident it could win over the hearts and minds of Hong Kong people within a decade after the handover. Hence it was ready to give its people a relatively free hand in developing a democratic system. But in the wake of the 500,000-strong July 1 march in Hong Kong against national security legislation, the central government tightened its grip on the city's constitutional development.
