The central government seeks additional ways to scrutinise the city’s affairs, including instructing the chief executive and assessing legislation
Beijing has made the unprecedented move to declare its power to “supervise” Hong Kong officials based on their allegiance to the country’s sovereignty, prompting pan-democrats and civil servants to question such a standard., one of the seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee, said at the Great Hall of the People on Saturday that Beijing would invoke a number of “implicit powers” – which have so far not been paid close attention to during the first 20 years of the city’s handover. “It should be stressed that [Hong Kong’s] governing teams… must be made up of patriots who respect the Chinese people, sincerely support [China’s] resumption of sovereignty and pose no threat to [Hong Kong’s] prosperity and stability, ” he said, referencing late leader Deng Xiaoping. “The central government is responsible for supervising whether [Hong Kong’s] public officers uphold the Basic Law, and whether they pledge allegiance to the country and [Hong Kong] .” His 50-minute speech came just weeks. Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying declined to say whether Zhang’s new order compromised the political neutrality of the city’s civil servants.
