President Xi Jinping said yesterday in his keynote speech during the closing meeting of the annual session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing that the central government will “support Hong Kong and Macau in integrating into the nation’s development strategies, strengthen the national identity and patriotism of compatriots [in the two special administrative regions] and maintain the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macau.”
The president also said that the central government will “strictly follow the constitution and the basic laws [of Hong Kong and Macau], and support the [two] special administrative region governments and chief executives in pro-active governance in accordance with the law.”
Xi also said, “We will comprehensively and accurately implement the principles of ‘one country, two systems’, ‘Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong’, ‘Macau people governing Macau’ and a ‘high degree of autonomy’” for the two special administrative regions.
