Last year, the central government took action to revise Hong Kong's electoral system. The number of seats in the Legislative Council increased to 90, and the "resurrection" of the electoral committee sector resulted in the most disparate parliamentary territory since the handover.
A large number of newcomers have joined the parliament. Business member and "squad leader" Liao Changjiang said in an exclusive interview with "Hong Kong 01" that although the new parliament has no "aggressive" opposition in the past, the difficulty of coordinating work has increased more than before.
Regarding the overall situation in Hong Kong, he said frankly that after the turmoil of the amendment bill in 2019, the central government's trust in Hong Kong has been damaged to a certain extent.
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It is said that the title of "pro-establishment monitor" is no longer appropriate because the coordinating objects include Di Zhiyuan
Liao Changjiang started to serve as the "squad leader" of the establishment faction in the last Legislative Council, that is, the convener, but times changed. "Coordinator" is more appropriate, because all the members of the new council are already "patriots", and it is meaningless to use "establishment" to summarize specific political views of Legislative Council members. Therefore, among the members he is coordinating at present, there are also members who report non-establishment The new thinking of the school is Di Zhiyuan.
Monitoring the government is not the same as "building the government"
In an exclusive interview with Hong Kong 01 the year before last, Liao Changjiang mentioned that the establishment’s space to monitor the government was greatly affected by the political environment at the time: when the atmosphere was relatively peaceful, there was room to tell the government “what is right, what is wrong”, pointing out that The government's governance mistakes; when the barriers are clear and the confrontation is serious, the establishment must unite with the outside world, it is difficult to raise objections to the government, and it is difficult to even speak several times in the parliament.
In his latest interview, he said that the current Legislative Council, which is composed of patriots, just fulfills this healthy executive-legislative relationship.
"First of all, some people think that monitoring the government must 'criticize the government' and 'build the government'. This concept is wrong." Liao Changjiang pointed out that after the new parliament has been in operation for several months, when problems with the government are discovered, what should be done is to raise them in good faith. For example, the government earlier proposed to create 7 directorate posts in the Environment Bureau, but skipped the process of discussion in the panel, which caused dissatisfaction among members, and the government finally withdrew it; The government made a direct announcement, and even skipped the process of "constructing first, then deliberating" in the parliament. Members felt it was inappropriate, and the government finally stopped insisting.
Under the composition of the new parliament, the nature of Liao Changjiang's work has also changed significantly.
(file picture)
Coordination is harder than in the past "everyone used to have a common enemy"
When it comes to parliamentary work, Liao Changjiang stated that the so-called "squad leader" does not have a very specific scope of work, "Because the practical affairs of the parliament are carried out by the chairman (Leung Kwan-yin) and the secretary-general of the Legislative Council, my responsibilities are regarded as a 'doll', sometimes among members When something happened, I was responsible for coordination. There are countless situations, and there can be more than 100 different situations. It is impossible to read a book from heaven and get old. It depends on my own experience.” Liao Changjiang said.
However, Liao Changjiang admits that it is now more difficult to coordinate parliamentarians than before. There are many reasons behind it. First, the establishment had a "common enemy" (i.e. the opposition), and they needed to be united "at the outside", and the internal unity had to be taken care of. What are the internal differences? Second, there were many senior members of the last parliament, but only a few newcomers, but nearly two-thirds of the current parliament are newcomers. Everyone may have different understandings of the procedure and the operation of the parliament, and it will take time. It will take longer to get in touch; in addition, the last parliamentary establishment had 6 major sections and only 4 independent members, but now there are more non-partisan members: "Coordinating 4 (members) and coordinating 40 are very different, right? "
Liao Changjiang bluntly said that the running-in period of the new parliament has not yet been completed, especially the new members' acceptance of some existing rules of procedure, parliamentary conventions, and the original intentions behind them are also inconsistent. Compared with some other countries and regions, Hong Kong's parliamentary politics It is far from being mature enough, so it is difficult to rely mainly on "conventions" to handle differences like foreign parliaments. Otherwise, it will be easy to appear to be embarrassed. In the future, it will take a long time to "cross the river by feeling the stones" to explore the parliamentary conventions applicable to Hong Kong.
Liao Changjiang mentioned that Di Zhiyuan, a self-proclaimed non-establishment faction, is also in the scope of his coordination.
(file picture)
Some new recruits "feeling emotional" cannot be the chairman of the committee in the first year
Asked about specific examples of coordination difficulties, Liao Cheung Kong declined to name any members, but gave an example: "There has always been an unwritten rule in the Legislative Council that new members cannot be committee chairmen during the first year of their term, but this Not many new members sincerely accept it.” He pointed out that the original intention of this provision is to prevent new members from being unfamiliar with the rules of procedure and affecting the operation of the committee, but some new members may ask themselves that they are particularly familiar with certain issues, so they are not familiar with the above-mentioned rules. Dissatisfied with the arrangement.
"Actually, if you are very familiar with a certain topic and have strong opinions, you should not be the chairman of the committee. It is more helpful to be a member of the committee to express your opinions. Because as a chairman, you play the role of "ball witness" and implement the rules of procedure. Let people see that you are fair and cannot be partial. However, newcomers may not necessarily get the essence of being a chairman, and it takes a little time to understand. This situation is not very common, but they do need to understand the purpose of some conventions, not necessarily at the beginning. I understand, so there may be some opinions, even some emotions.”
Political conflict damages the trust of the central government: Hong Kong can no longer be a hidden danger to national security
The root cause is that the current parliament has been reorganized as a "pure patriot" because of various political conflicts since 2019, including the turmoil over amendments, the defeat of the pro-establishment in district council elections, and the democratic "35+" plan, which directly threaten the central government. Governance of Hong Kong.
As a result, the central government has successively enacted the "Hong Kong National Security Law" and "improved the electoral system" to "heavy hand" to rectify the situation in Hong Kong. At present, the society is still in the aftermath of the turmoil of the amendments. The outside world can't help but pay attention. be alleviated.
Liao Changjiang agrees that after the "black violence" incident in 2019, the central government's trust in Hong Kong has been affected to a certain extent. What he does is to ensure long-term stability, prosperity and stability in Hong Kong.” He paused here, thought carefully about the exact words, and then summed up two conditions: “First, the central government must deal with 'patriots ruling Hong Kong'. I am satisfied with the implementation, and secondly, Hong Kong can no longer be a hidden danger to national security.”
He pointed out that central officials have already said that the premise of "one country" is more stable, and the advantages of "two systems" are more obvious. In the past, Hong Kong has gone off the rails for a period of time. In the future, it will need to redouble its efforts to regain the trust of the central government. Evaluation, "this should be asked by the central officials".
Liao Changjiang pointed out that the situation in Hong Kong has calmed down on the surface after the central government's action, but in fact there are still many undercurrents that need to be dealt with. He believes that the current chief executive, Li Jiachao, has the intention to solve these problems, and praised the other party as a person who is tolerant and listening, values team spirit, and dares to delegate power to others. The head of the Secretary.
President Xi Jinping's July 1 speech emphasized the uniqueness and advantages of Hong Kong.
(file photo/joint interview)
The society can no longer bear the tightening of epidemic prevention measures
Liao Changjiang finally mentioned that President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech in Hong Kong on July 1st this year, which provided important inspiration for the future development of Hong Kong, emphasizing that the central government attaches great importance to the uniqueness and advantages of Hong Kong, including the common law system. It is rarely mentioned that this has given a boost to Hong Kong, stating that "one country, two systems" is a long-term national policy, and Hong Kong people need not worry about moving towards "one country, one system".
Under this premise, Liao Changjiang fully understands that Hong Kong and the mainland have different new crown epidemic prevention policies. They need to connect the mainland and the world. There is no inevitable contradiction between the two. It is necessary to balance risks and practical needs, and reduce the risk of a major outbreak based on science. To the minimum, and clearly explain to the mainland what Hong Kong has done, so as to achieve a proper balance between the economy and people's livelihood and epidemic prevention.
He admitted that although the number of confirmed diagnoses is slowly rising, it is difficult to tighten social distancing as much as half a year ago, otherwise the economy and people's livelihood will be extremely difficult. Ideally, coupled with the fact that many citizens have natural antibodies due to previous infection, it can effectively prevent the risk of severe illness and death.
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