Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang has acknowledged it is no “easy task” to truly implement Hong Kong’s executive-led governance system, stressing that it must be a “shared responsibility” of the legislative and judicial branches and society as a whole.
But Ding, the head of the Central Leading Group on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, said an executive-led governance system was “important and essential” for the city to align with China’s 15th five-year plan and advance its integration with the mainland.
“To genuinely implement [executive-led system] is not easy,” Ding said at a meeting with Hong Kong and Macau members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country’s top advisory body, on Friday.
“It requires the chief executive and the government to strengthen their sense of being the head [of the city], and will need the coordination from all sectors of society.”
Ding, the sixth-ranked Politburo Standing Committee member, added that putting the executive-led system into effect also required support from the legislature and judiciary.
“[Implementing] the executive-led governance is not just the business of the chief executive. It is also the shared duty of the Hong Kong and Macau governments, the public of Hong Kong and Macau and all sectors of society,” he said.
