Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has urged Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to deepen integration with China after an election installed a legislature of Beijing loyalists in the Asian financial hub.
“We hope Hong Kong can directly connect to China’s development strategy,” Li said on Wednesday after the pair met in Beijing. Lam is making her annual trip to brief China’s state leaders on social, political and economic issues in the city.
“It is essential the central government continues implementing ‘one country, two systems’,” he said, referring to the 50-year agreement brokered before the UK handed the city back to Chinese rule in 1997.
Lam is expected to meet with President Xi Jinping later on Wednesday for the first time since 2019, according to local news outlet Hong Kong Economic Times. Lam’s visit will be closely watched for signs she has Beijing’s backing to run in the March 27 vote for Hong Kong’s next chief executive.
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have also yet to announce the highly anticipated start date for cross-border quarantine-free travel amid the global spread of Omicron.
A meeting with Lam would mark the first time Xi has granted an in-person audience with a leader from outside mainland China since he saw Pakistan’s president in Beijing in March 2020. Xi hasn’t left the country during the pandemic as China pursues a “Covid zero” strategy of trying to eliminate the virus from its borders.
During Lam’s last annual report to China, conducted via video conference in January due to the pandemic, Xi announced Hong Kong must be governed by “patriots” to ensure the city’s stability, an edict that prompted overhauls in the electoral system, including cutting the share of directly elected seats in Sunday’s vote.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
China’s Li urges Hong Kong leader to deepen integration
Image: Bloomberg
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has urged Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to deepen integration with China after an election installed a legislature of Beijing loyalists in the Asian financial hub.
“We hope Hong Kong can directly connect to China’s development strategy,” Li said on Wednesday after the pair met in Beijing. Lam is making her annual trip to brief China’s state leaders on social, political and economic issues in the city.
“It is essential the central government continues implementing ‘one country, two systems’,” he said, referring to the 50-year agreement brokered before the UK handed the city back to Chinese rule in 1997.
Lam is expected to meet with President Xi Jinping later on Wednesday for the first time since 2019, according to local news outlet Hong Kong Economic Times. Lam’s visit will be closely watched for signs she has Beijing’s backing to run in the March 27 vote for Hong Kong’s next chief executive.
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have also yet to announce the highly anticipated start date for cross-border quarantine-free travel amid the global spread of Omicron.
A meeting with Lam would mark the first time Xi has granted an in-person audience with a leader from outside mainland China since he saw Pakistan’s president in Beijing in March 2020. Xi hasn’t left the country during the pandemic as China pursues a “Covid zero” strategy of trying to eliminate the virus from its borders.
During Lam’s last annual report to China, conducted via video conference in January due to the pandemic, Xi announced Hong Kong must be governed by “patriots” to ensure the city’s stability, an edict that prompted overhauls in the electoral system, including cutting the share of directly elected seats in Sunday’s vote.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
READ MORE:
China denies rumour that detained mint banker forged $314bn in notes
Hong Kong adds UK to high-risk list as curbs impede travel
Foreign diplomats helped Lithuania evacuate staff from China
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most read
Latest Videos