Leung Chun-ying Plays Down Expectations Ahead of Government Meeting With Student Protesters
Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying maintains that demands for direct input from the public on the nomination of candidates for the city’s top post would be impossible and could lead the poor and working class to dominate elections. Associated Press
HONG KONG—Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said that if the government met student demands and allowed candidates to be nominated by the public, Hong Kong’s poor and working class could dominate the elections.
Speaking in an interview with foreign media, Mr. Leung reiterated that the student demand for direct input from the public on candidates for the city’s top post was impossible. He said using a nominating committee as required by Beijing gives representation to a wide range of groups. (Latest News: Hong Kong Protest Talks Set, Police Ready)
He warned that if candidates were nominated by the public, the population that earns less than the median monthly salary of US$1,800 could dominate the process.
“If it’s entirely a numbers game and numeric representation, then obviously you’d be talking to the half of the people in Hong Kong who earn less than US$1,800 a month,” Mr. Leung said.
Hong Kong has one of the world’s biggest wealth gaps and some of the world’s highest property prices, factors that have increased the frustration of young people.
He also warned that regardless of the nomination process, Beijing has the right to decide whether or not to appoint the winner. “You could imagine the scale and the kind of constitutional crisis if Beijing said to the people of Hong Kong, ‘Sorry, this person who you just elected is not appointable and is not acceptable. Go back to the polling station and try again,’ ” he said.
Mr. Leung was speaking the day before the first talks between the government and students in the standoff, which has grown more violent in recent days. He played down expectations for the talks. “We are not quite sure what they will say tomorrow at the session,” Mr. Leung said.
‘If it’s entirely a numbers game and numeric representation, then obviously you’d be talking to the half of the people in Hong Kong who earn less than US$1,800 a month.
’ —Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying
He said the government would repeat its position that direct nomination was impossible but said he believed the two groups could find common ground on a plan to make the nominating committee more broadly representative. Currently, it is dominated by pro-Beijing and pro-business members.
“There could be a compromise somewhere in between by making the nominating committee more acceptable to the students,” Mr. Leung said.
He said that so far, Beijing has allowed Hong Kong to handle the protests on its own but said that if protesters continued to confront the government, that could change.
“Challenging myself, challenging the Hong Kong government at these difficult times will do no one any service, will do Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy no service,” he said.
Mr. Leung said he understood the students’ frustrations with Hong Kong’s economic disparities and high housing costs and said he would continue policies to deal with those problems. “The shortage of housing has worsened to the extent that some young married couples live apart, and it is not acceptable,” he said.
He repeated claims made in a television interview Sunday that external forces were helping to back the protesters, though he didn’t specify what those were. The claims echoed recent statements in Chinese state media.
“I didn’t overhear it in a teahouse,” he said. “It’s something that concerns us. It’s something that we need to deal with, and the way to deal with this external intervention is not by holding press conferences or taking people to court, I’ll stop at that.”
—Isabella Steger contributed to this article.
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