HONG KONG- State leader Li Zhanshu has praised Macau for fully implementing the Basic Law since its return to the motherland 20 years ago, adding that it’s time for Hong Kong to follow Macau’s lead by grasping the “spirit of the central government.”
Li Zhanshu, the chairman of Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), was speaking at a forum in Beijing on Tuesday to mark the 20th anniversary of the taking effect of the Macau Basic Law on December 20, 1999.
The vice-premier in charge of Hong Kong and Macau affairs, Han Zheng, as well as the director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Zhang Xiaoming, were also there.
Li praised Macau’s role in implementing the Basic Law and One Country, Two Systems principle, until he went off script and threw in a comment about Hong Kong.
He said Macau understood how Beijing has overall jurisdiction, but it also enjoys a high degree of autonomy. Hong Kong too should try to understand the spirit of the central government, Li said.
Then he said Hong Kong must also get to grips with the nation’s Constitution, adding that Beijing’s demands of both special administrative regions are the same.
Li underlined that Macau people have a strong sense of national identity, and he praised the city for enacting Article 23 national security laws a decade ago.
Li Zhanshu (fifth from left, front), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), speaks at a symposium marking the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the Basic Law of the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) in Beijing yesterday. The symposium was also attended by Macau’s first chief executive, Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPPCC) National Committee Vice-Chairman Edmund Ho Hau Wah (right, front). Photo: Xinhua
