Senior government officials held two meetings with nearly 300
Hong Kong people in Shenzhen, in the southern province of
Guangdong, on Thursday to solicit views on the tenure of the
special administrative region's new chief executive (CE).
Qiao Xiaoyang, deputy secretary-general of the National People's
Congress (NPC)
Standing Committee, said great attention would be paid to views
from all walks of life in Hong Kong, including those contradicting
the central government's.
The State Council has asked the NPC Standing Committee for an
interpretation of Hong Kong's Basic Law with regard to the
by-election of a new CE after disagreement on the issue following
Tung Chee Hwa's resignation last month.
Xinhua News Agency reported that most speakers at the meetings
agreed the next CE should be selected by the Election Committee and
approved by central government, and that their tenure should be for
the remainder of Tung's, not a full five year term.
It also said a majority had agreed that the NPC Standing
Committee is empowered to render an interpretation of Hong Kong's
Basic Law, and that Annex I of the Basic Law meant CE selection
methods after 2007 could be amended.
The standing committee's chairman and vice-chairpersons' meeting
on Monday had entrusted Qiao to exchange views with Hong Kong NPC
deputies, Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
members and others.
Li Fei, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of
the NPC Standing Committee; Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of the
Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council and Wang
Fengchao, deputy director of the Liaison Office of the central
government in Hong Kong, also attended the meetings.
Qiao reiterated a commitment to the "One Country, Two Systems"
principle, to Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy, and to handling
Hong Kong affairs according to its Basic Law and maintaining its
prosperity and stability.
(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2005)