Hong Kong’s annual policy address, in which the Chief Executive announces his policy agenda and specific policies, was originally scheduled to be released the day after (14), but Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced today that it will be postponed until the end of next month, when she will be invited to attend a conference celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Shenzhen Special Administrative Region to listen to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech. Mrs. Lam denied that this was a dwarfing of Hong Kong’s policy address, but rather that the specific plans to stimulate Hong Kong’s economic recovery, coordinated with various ministries in Beijing, were only finalized over the weekend for release in the policy address.
However, Chinese commentator Liu Ruishao, who is familiar with China’s current affairs, pointed out in an interview with us that the Beijing government’s arrangement was to ignore Hong Kong, and that only the local authorities should obey the central government, so Mrs. Lam could only obey and choose to attend the celebration in Shenzhen. He went on to say that Hong Kong people may be unhappy about this, but Hong Kong does not have the “teeth” to bargain with Beijing, plus Hong Kong officials “only take orders without ‘guts’. “It is expected that Hong Kong will be marginalized even more quickly, and the event also highlights the fact that Beijing’s feudal mindset is not suitable for managing a modern Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong delegates invited to attend the celebration in Shenzhen, in fact, there is also the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Tam Yiu-chung, but he had declined the invitation last week, because he had to attend a five-day meeting of the NPC Standing Committee starting tomorrow.
The Chief Executives of Hong Kong and Macau have been invited to attend the 40th anniversary celebration of the Shenzhen Special Administrative Region the day after tomorrow, but the date overlaps with the release of the policy address, which the Hong Kong government is considering postponing, Hong Kong Sing Tao Daily reported today.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor held a press conference this morning to announce the postponement of the Policy Address, as she had just received a notice from the central government in Beijing to go to Beijing this month to discuss measures to support Hong Kong, and as various ministries will hold a coordination meeting later this month, she decided to postpone the delivery of the Policy Address in order to seek Beijing’s support for the announcement in the Policy Address.
She also announced that she would lead a delegation to Shenzhen today to attend the 40th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Special Economic Zone the day after tomorrow, in the hope that the cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong can be taken to a new level. As to whether she would meet Xi Jinping during the at least three-day trip to Shenzhen, Mrs. Lam only said that she had received notification that she would only attend the conference.
She stressed that it is a usual arrangement for the Policy Address to be delivered at the first meeting at the beginning of the Legislative Council session, but it is not unchanging and does not affect the session.
Mrs. Lam denied that going to Shenzhen to attend the conference was belittling the Policy Address by postponing it, but she could not explain why the Policy Address could not be delivered first, pending discussion of new policies with the central ministries. She also denied that the above arrangement was a manifestation of “one country over two systems”, nor was there any policy that had to wait for Beijing’s “will”, but could not explain why she thought that the current Policy Address could not restore public confidence.
Also visiting Shenzhen today with the delegation were Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, Secretary for Justice Cheng Yeow-wah, Secretary for Security Lee Ka-chiu, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Tsang Kwok-wai, Secretary for Innovation and Technology Sit Wing-ngeng, and Director of the Chief Executive’s Office Chan Kwok-kee. However, Mrs. Lam stated that she would not discuss the issue of the 12 Hong Kong people accused of smuggling or organizing smuggling.
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