South China Morning PostYesterday, 23:23
Top Beijing official Feng Wei is predicting success for young radicals in the Legislative Council poll. Photo: Gary Cheung
A top Beijing official in charge of Hong Kong affairs is fully prepared to accept the reality of several young radicals winning Legislative Council seats in the September election, but expects them to mature politically over time.
Feng Wei, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in Beijing, said the central government was also analysing the reasons for the rise of radicalism and the tendency of protesters to resort to violent means to achieve their ends.
Instead of a hardline stance that Hong Kong observers feared mainland officials would take, Feng adopted a pragmatic tone throughout an exclusive interview with theSouth China Morning Post.
It marked the first interview given to Hong Kong media by a top official in the central government agency handling the city’s affairs since the early 1990s.
Feng observed that Hong Kong’s political arena was witnessing generational change and he expected many young people to appear on the political scene after the Legco election.
“We will spot many new faces on TV screens. It will be normal that several radical young people will be returned as lawmakers [in September],” the official said.
“Politics is the process of putting theories into practice. Young people participating in politics, including radicals, will gradually mature.”
In the Legco by-election last month, localist candidate Edward Leung Tin-kei took many by surprise when he clinched more than 66,000 votes. He came third in the race.
Leung has said Hong Kong independence is “one of the options” for the city, remarks that were made after the Mong Kok riot which his group allegedly had a part in instigating.
Feng’s overture to radical young activists in Hong Kong is in line with Beijing’s more nuanced and softly-softly approach towards the city during the “two sessions” of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in the capital over the past week. Instead of only denouncing the violence, they focused on other aspects of city governance.
Zhang Dejiang, the National People’s Congress chairman who oversees Hong Kong affairs, told the city’s CPPCC deputies two weeks ago that the “one country, two systems” principle would remain unchanged, though he urged the city to safeguard the rule of law.
Feng said the central government was “very concerned” about the rise of radicalism and was analysing the reasons behind the phenomenon.
He said the tendency of resorting to violence was notable in the Mong Kok riot.
“Perhaps in a certain period in future, this is a phenomenon which will merit increasingly more of our attention, though this is something we do not want to see,” he said.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1925094/several-young-hong-kong-radicals-likely-get-elected
