The European Union’s latest report on Hong Kong has called on Beijing and the Hong Kong government to resume the political reform process. File photo: AP
The European Union’s latest report on the HKSAR has called on Beijing to "restore the trust of Hong Kong residents and the international community in the Basic Law and the 'one country, two systems' principle".
In its annual report on Hong Kong, the EU also described the case of five people linked to a Causeway Bay business selling books critical of Beijing's leadership as the most serious challenge to the Basic Law and the 'one country, two systems' principle since the 1997 handover. The five went missing last year and later surfaced on the mainland
It said the disappearance of the five booksellers, two of whom hold EU passports, called into question the functioning of the 'one country, two systems' principle under which Beijing pledges a high degree of autonomy for the SAR, and has "potentially lasting implications for Hong Kong's rule of law".
The EU report said 2015 was a politically challenging year for the SAR and for the functioning of the 'one country, two systems' principle.
"The European Union regrets that the principal actors in the electoral reform process were unable to reach a compromise on the reform, and that no progress was made towards the goal of introducing universal suffrage for the election of chief executive from 2017," the report said, calling on Beijing and the Hong Kong government to resume the political reform process.
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1256624-20160426.htm
