MR YIU SI-WING (in Cantonese):

Deputy President, during the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China on 1 July this year, President XI Jinping made it clear that he would definitely not allow any foreign power to bully, oppress or enslave the Chinese people. Back in 2017 during the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("SAR"), President XI publicly declared the untouchable "three limits of toleration" under "one country, two systems", pointing out that any activities that endanger the sovereignty and security of the country, challenge the authority of the Central Government and the Basic Law of Hong Kong, or make use of Hong Kong as a channel for infiltration and sabotage against the Mainland, are all breaches of the limits of toleration and are absolutely impermissible.

 

All of these clearly indicate the attitude of our country, and one concept under the philosophy of governance of our country is independence and self-reliance. China does not interfere in the internal affairs of others, nor does it allow foreign powers to dictate the affairs of China. However, some Western countries, led by the United States, often make use of the concepts of democracy and freedom to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, and over the years have hyped about the issues related to Xinjiang and Tibet in a hostile attempt to subvert the Chinese regime.

 

Hong Kong is a prime example. After the reunification, foreign forces took advantage of the freedom of Hong Kong under "one country, two systems" to cultivate the opposition camp as their agents and to continuously subvert Hong Kong. Through various political and protest activities, they have influenced a number of sectors of Hong Kong, including education, media, judiciary, and even the Legislative Council, and have hindered the administration of the SAR Government, directly or indirectly affecting the efficiency of governance and credibility of the Government. This has eventually given rise to public grievances, which led to the outbreak of the Occupy Central movement in 2014 and the "black-clad violence" in 2019, completely destroying Hong Kong's core values.

 

Deputy President, Hong Kong people have always been rational and pragmatic. They are proud of the spirit of the Lion Rock and understand that success is attributed to hard work. It is typically a city that succeeds in economic development. No one could have imagined that such a vibrant and economically active cosmopolitan city would be dragged down by brutal political activities. In recent years, Hong Kong society has been seriously torn apart, with the emergence of "strictly either yellow or blue" political divisions and a hostile atmosphere across the community, where members of a family can turn against each other for different political positions, which was unimaginable in the past. In 2019, the "black-clad violence" reached its peak, not only wreaking havoc on social order, but also causing great damage to the economy, especially the tourism industry, with tourist arrivals dropping by half in December 2019 compared to the same period last year. If the problem was not resolved, Hong Kong's economy would plunge into an abyss of no return.

 

In view of this, the Central Government introduced the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("the National Security Law"), improved the electoral system, and fully implemented the principle of "patriots administering Hong Kong". Since then, the anti-China forces have been restrained, but foreign forces, led by the United States, are persistent in making ill-intentioned criticisms from time to time on China's internal affairs. They have published the so-called monitoring reports on Hong Kong's issues, and sanctioned certain Hong Kong officials. I believe that these actions will not stop in the near future, as the Hong Kong issues are still the main battleground for foreign forces to attack China. The SAR Government should be politically wise enough to prepare for the long haul.

 

The tourism industry, being one of the four major economic pillars, certainly hopes that Hong Kong can restore calm and welcome tourists from all over the world in a peaceful and safe manner after the epidemic. The SAR Government has the responsibility to protect Hong Kong's international image. If foreign anti-China forces make false reports about Hong Kong, the SAR Government should respond decisively in a timely manner and fight the public opinion war. Of course, as I said earlier, the Government cannot just respond by issuing statements, and it is better to send its officials to express the views in person. As for the agents of foreign powers in Hong Kong, the authorities should strictly enforce the National Security Law to prohibit any subversive acts of foreign powers from happening in Hong Kong.

 

With these remarks, Deputy President, I support the motion moved by Mr Paul TSE.