Leader Carrie Lam says Hongkongers must defend leadership of China's Communist Party

Chief Executive Carrie Lam has defended comments made by Beijing’s top official in Hong Kong, that people who advocate an “end to one party rule” in mainland China pose a threat to “one country, two systems.”

Hong Kong people need to defend the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and respect the country’s constitution in order to ensure the implementation of “one country, two systems,” Lam told a press conference on Tuesday.

Liaison Office Director Luo Huining said on Saturday that “those who clamour for ‘an end to one-party rule'” were “posing existential threats to the policy of ‘one country, two systems’.”

He said those who seek to end the rule of the Chinese Communist Party were “attempting to use Hong Kong as a geopolitical pawn to contain China and infiltrate the mainland.”

His comments appeared targeted at the organisers of the annual Tiananmen Massacre vigil, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. Formed in 1989, one of the alliance’s operational goals is to “end one-party dictatorship.”

Lam said that she did not feel that Luo’s comments had put pressure on the government to outlaw the alliance.

“Regarding the question on whether the SAR government will take what action against some organisation or groups, the answer is also ‘to act in accordance with the law’,” she said.

Vice chair of Hong Kong Alliance Chow Hang-tung speaking to the press on June 11, 2021 ahead of a hearing over last year’s unauthorised Tiananmen Massacre vigil. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP.

The alliance has been facing increasing pressure after police banned the annual vigil in Victoria Park scheduled for June 4 for the second successive year, citing Covid restrictions. The group’s leader, Lee Cheuk-yan, was jailed for 18 months over a banned protest on China’s National Day in 2019.

Lee and seven members of the alliance were also among a group of democrats charged over a vigil last year which went ahead in the park despite a ban.

‘No CCP, no new China’

Luo’s comments were part of his keynote speech at a forum on “one country, two systems” held on Saturday.

“…to advance the cause of “One Country, Two Systems”, it is imperative to uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China,” he said. “It is a historical fact that without the leadership of the CCP, there would be no New China or socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

“Neither would there be the smooth handover of Hong Kong, nor the prosperity and stability after its return.”

Help safeguard press freedom & keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team