News in the political circle︱The Shaling dispute reflects the new mode of work in Hong Kong and Macao News: "Funeral City" is about to shrink

Political situation

Written by: Sha Banshan

2021-04-12 07:00

Last update date: 2021-04-12 07:00

In view of the short supply of local columbaria, the Hong Kong government plans to build a "super funeral city" in Shaling close to the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border. The land formation and related infrastructure projects were expected to be completed in 2022, providing one-stop funeral, cremation and columbarium Field service.

However, the plan has suddenly become an "archery target" for the establishment in recent days. First, the left-hand report "opened the way" criticizing the site selection, and the DAB Legislative Council Member Chen Keqin at the Chief Executive's Question and Answer Conference directly denounced his disgust. It is not appropriate for sex facilities to be placed in the center of the Greater Bay Area, which quickly heats up the issue.

Shaling is adjacent to Shenzhen’s business district. The Super Funeral City project did arouse some opposition from the Mainland. However, it has not become a climate and there has not been much local response. The establishment voted for the related project four years ago.

But since the beginning of April, the situation has changed drastically.

"Hong Kong 01" asked many politicians about the ins and outs of the incident.

According to people familiar with the matter, the whole matter is not as simple as it seems. It involves an important shift in the work of the Central Government, Hong Kong and Macau: from the past, it only gave advice and support to the SAR government to directly activate the public opinion machine to "push" the amendment. This incident It is a perfect example.

Some sources even pointed out that the high-level government has felt the pressure, and the funeral city plan is likely to "shrink" in the end.

▼"Hong Kong 01" directly hit the situation near the Shaling Funeral City site▼

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The voice of opposition has not yet become a climate. The Hong Kong government has "firmed" the implementation of the plan

The Shaling Funeral City plan was proposed by the then government as early as 2012. It plans to set up more than 200,000 columbarium niches, 10 corpse incinerators, morgues, funeral homes and cemeteries, and provide 178,000 cremation services every year.

In 2017, the project was approved by the Public Works Subcommittee and Finance Committee of the Legislative Council. At that time, the establishment also supported the plan, including the DAB.

During the implementation of the plan, the resistance encountered has not been too great, and the people in the North District who come and go are mainly involved in direct interests.

Another media quoted news that in the early stages of the plan, the Shenzhen Municipal Government had negotiated with the Hong Kong Food and Health Bureau on potential landscape and air pollution issues, but the Hong Kong side insisted that it had no intention of changing the plan and the meeting broke up unhappy.

Preliminary work such as land leveling and road widening also continued.

According to the frontline reporters of "Hong Kong 01" who went to the scene yesterday (11th), the site is now leveled into a dirt road, ready to be paved with cement to start various basic construction projects.

The place is separated from Shenzhen by a river, with a clear view of Shenzhen's Luohu Commercial City.

In May 2017, the Public Works Subcommittee passed a vote on the land formation and related infrastructure projects of Shaling Funeral City.

At that time, most of the establishments voted for it, including members of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong.

(Voting record of the Legislative Council)

In October 2017, the Finance Committee approved funding for land formation and related infrastructure projects in Shaling Funeral City.

(Voting record of the Legislative Council)

The offensive of public opinion heats up rapidly, "Wenhui" counts votes: 21 establishment members opposed

However, since the end of last month, Shaling Funeral City has suddenly become a beating position for the establishment camp.

It was the Wen Wei Po, the "direct line" of the Liaison Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, who launched the report on March 28, stating that the government intends to submit the agenda to the Legislative Council again and apply for funding to complete the project.

The report quoted Rong Haien, a member of the Legislative Council of the New Democratic Party, as saying that the funeral city is incompatible with the planning of the Greater Bay Area. "Metropolis" development plan.

Later, Sima Nan, a well-known leftist Internet celebrity in the Mainland, also joined the battle group and published a video on March 30, claiming that the funeral city is an offensive facility and criticizing the Hong Kong government for not considering the feelings of the Shenzhen people, which received widespread responses from mainland netizens.

The public opinion offensive rose rapidly in the following week.

"Ta Kung Pao" and "Wen Wei Po" followed up the report for many days, and continued to quote opinions against the construction of Shaling Funeral City, including quoting Chen Yueming, chairman of the Ta Kwu Ling District Rural Committee, referring to residents, Heung Yee Kuk, District Council and even the Legislative Council. Oppose the project and criticize the Food and Health Bureau for arbitrarily; Quoting the DAB Legislative Council Members Chen Keqin and Liu Guoxun saying that such use of land is not ideal and should be coordinated with the development of the Greater Bay Area; Quoting Yao Yat Ming, former chairman of the Planning and Development Section of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors Link Shaling and Lok Ma Chau Loop together for the development of innovation and technology.

Eventually the topic was raised to the chief executive level.

At the Chief Executive’s question and answer meeting last week, Chen Keqin directly mentioned the relevant plan to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. He directly pointed out that the funeral city was poorly selected and had serious planning errors. He questioned the government’s seemingly "empty talk" about the Greater Bay Area plan. Think of it as "the wind in your ears."

Chen Keqin is the vice chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of China and the "deputy monitor" of the establishment. His public "fire shots" made people realize the incident or unusual.

The "Wen Wei Po" published a report the following day that the government "counted votes", stating that there were a full 21 established legislators who disagreed with the renewal.

It should be noted that if the current Legislative Council does not count the chairman Liang Junyan, there are only 42 members left. If there are 21 establishments who are opposed, plus two members who are non-organizations (the passionate citizen Zheng Songtai, the medical profession Chen Peiran), the future government If you want to "break through the barriers" of the Legislative Council to seek funding, it is at stake.

At the Chief Executive’s question and answer meeting last week, Chen Keqin directly mentioned relevant plans to Chief Executive Carrie Lam. He pointed out that the funeral city was poorly selected and had serious planning errors. He questioned the government’s seemingly "empty talk" about the Greater Bay Area plan. Think of it as "the wind in your ears."

Chen Keqin is the vice chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of China and the "deputy monitor" of the establishment. His public "fire shots" made people aware of the incident or unusual.

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People familiar with the matter: The new mode of work in Hong Kong and Macau uses public opinion to directly change government behavior

A senior establishment person with knowledge of the situation told "Hong Kong 01" that according to his understanding of the origin of the dispute, the Central Hong Kong and Macao system had contributed behind the scenes. He believed that the construction of a "super funeral city" in Shaling was indeed planning. There were problems on the above, and it was incompatible with the adjacent Shenzhen business district, and did not conform to the overall planning and development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, so the public opinion offensive was used to "promote" the SAR civil service system to correct it.

The specific method is to use the pro-China media to "open the way" to create public opinion and cause "controversy." After the opposition has accumulated to a certain level, the establishment will relay the strong opposition directly to the chief executive and put forward more counter suggestions.

The establishment person further mentioned that from the perspective of Beijing's work with Hong Kong and Macau, this incident has important symbolic significance.

In the past, the Hong Kong and Macau work system units generally only dealt directly on political issues, but this time it has expanded to the non-political level: "In the past, the central government only provided opinions on the planning and development of Hong Kong, even for the Greater Bay Area. The Hong Kong government decides whether to do or not to do it. This time, it is completely different. It is found that Hong Kong is taking the wrong path in planning, and it intervenes to force Hong Kong civil servants to "do it"."

The person even stated that due to increasing public opinion and political pressure, senior government officials are planning to revise the original plan for the Shaling Funeral City: "The entire plan should be difficult to reverse, but it is likely to "shrink" in scale." Pai did not mention more details and the revised scale, because it is still preliminary at this stage.

Another member of the establishment also pointed out that the incident has heated up rapidly in recent days, and there are official forces behind it. In particular, "The Dagong" and "Wen Hui" have reported on the incident many times in recent days, criticizing the funeral city for ignoring the integration of the Greater Bay Area, showing that there is something behind it. Certain operability.

The person pointed out that the central government would certainly be unhappy to build a super funeral city in Shaling, which is adjacent to Shenzhen, and joked: "If you try to build a funeral city next to the Xiong'an New District in Hebei, is it possible that the central government will be silent?" It is estimated that Beijing may hope to use this incident as a precedent to "propose questions" to SAR officials, "The central government has already helped you solve political problems, and you have to deal with people’s livelihood problems yourself. (Deputy Prime Minister) Han Zheng has repeatedly emphasized that Hong Kong Housing Although the problem is difficult to solve, there is always a time when the solution begins." How to dismantle the bomb this time depends on the ability of Hong Kong government officials.

The supply of columbariums in Hong Kong is in short supply, which is a long-standing issue of people’s livelihood. However, since columbariums are an abomination facility, site selection is extremely difficult.

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Shaling niches is not a question of going and staying

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