Pan-democrat legislator suggests state leader conveyed only ‘minimal endorsement’ of city chief
STUART LAU, EMILY TSANG
AND GARY CHEUNG
UPDATED : Wednesday, 18 May, 2016, 8:22am
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying greets Zhang Dejiang at the airport. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Last year, Christmas came early for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. At a meeting with the media after his visit to Beijing, he beamed as he switched from English to Mandarin to repeat how President Xi Jinping “fully endorsed” his work.
And yesterday Zhang Dejiang, the third highest-ranking official in China, dished out more praise but also gave Leung cause for pause as, according to veteran lawmakers, his choice of adjective seemed less affirming.
In a meeting to hear the work performance from dozens of local officials, Zhang, who leads a group on Hong Kong and Macau affairs, summarised Xi’s earlier position on the leader and added: “The central government is satisfied with the work of the chief executive and of the [Hong Kong] government.”
Expressing satisfaction, argued Civic Party lawmaker Alan Leong Kah-kit, was different from full endorsement.
“As a matter of plain language, the degree of endorsement from Zhang this afternoon is much less than a few months ago,” he said. “The word ‘satisfied’ is very restrained, offering minimal endorsement of Leung.”
A veteran pro-Beijing lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he “couldn’t explain why” Zhang used a different wording.
But he said Zhang’s main purpose was to give the governance team and civil servants a boost after the tumult of recent years.
Lau Siu-kai, vice-chairman of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, cautioned against over-interpreting the words. The two phrases were sometimes used interchangeably by state leaders, he pointed out.
China watcher Johnny Lau Yui-siu was more blunt.
He asked: “Would Zhang say something that departs from Xi, the real man in charge of Hong Kong affairs?”
Still, Chinese leaders are known to favour ambiguity in certain situations so they can manoeuvre over multiple meanings, said analysts.
Another element of the guessing game involved protocol. Meeting Leung and colleagues at the central government offices in Admiralty yesterday, Zhang continued Xi’s practice introduced when he met Leung in December. He sat at the top end of a working table, abandoning the practice of two leaders sat next to each other.
With Hong Kong officials standing and applauding to welcome Zhang, “the mainland is trying to infiltrate its own style of officialdom into Hong Kong”, China watcher Lau said.
The meeting with government officials lasted an hour and a half, much longer than previous meetings of about 10 minutes.
The timing allotted showed Beijing was signalling that it took seriously the need for the local government to be accountable to the centre, Lau Siu-kai added.
After meeting with the executive branch yesterday, Zhang will switch his focus to the legislature this evening, underlined by an unprecedented arrangement for a state leader to meet pan-democrats face-to-face for up to 40 minutes. The four pan-democrats chosen to meet Zhang will focus on two issues: removing Leung from the city’s top job as well as restarting the political reform process.
These issues were agreed upon by a total of 22 pan-democrat legislators, who urged Zhang to listen to the real voice of Hongkongers during his stay.
Initial talk of discussing bookseller Lee Po, who disappeared from Hong Kong before resurfacing on the mainland, did not feature on the formal list.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1946624/why-zhang-dejiangs-choice-words-may-worry-hong-kongs-chief
