There was no talk of chief executive elections or the performance of the government with Wang Guangya, Leung Chun-ying said of his meeting with Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs director in Beijing.
The two met at the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council on Thursday afternoon, at the start of Leung’s three-day trip in Beijing. Leung will be attending the opening ceremony of the fourth session of the 12th National People’s Congress on Saturday.
“We did not talk about the chief executive elections,” Leung told RTHK. “We did not talk about ‘finding weaknesses’ and there was no comment on the government’s performance.” He said that Xi Jinping had already commented on his performance two months ago when they had a meeting.
Leung also did not answer whether the two talked about Lee Bo, the Causeway Books co-owner, in their meeting. Lee was reported to be missing in December, but recently resurfaced to debunk rumours that he was kidnapped. He also said that he would be giving up his British citizenship.
However, Leung did say that the Hong Kong government has expressed their concern to the mainland authorities and have kept in close contact with them.
“We talked about Hong Kong’s basic infrastructure,” Leung said. “There are many aspects which require the support of the state and the cooperation of cities and provinces in the mainland. This includes the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge, the new third runway [for Hong Kong International airport] and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link… [These three projects] are very important for the future development of Hong Kong.”
Leung was also asked whether the two discussed the Mong Kok unrest – which broke out over the government’s clearing of street hawkers earlier last month – and localist candidate Edward Leung Tin-kei’s collecting over 60,000 votes in Sunday’s New Territories East by-election.
Leung replied saying he trusts that mainland authorities will not miss the timing to comment on important events in Hong Kong, according to Commercial Radio.
