Legislators, judiciary must ‘support’ Hong Kong’s executive-led government: Xia Baolong

Beijing’s point man on Hong Kong affairs has called on the city to improve its executive-led governance model, arguing that the legislative and judicial branches should support the government as they perform “on the same stage” rather than undermine one another.

Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, on Monday warned against any attempts by foreign and disruptive forces to promote the idea of separation of powers, arguing such views undermined the authority of the local and central governments.

In his first major address to the city’s new cohort of legislators at a closed-door seminar organised by the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies think tank, Xia reminded lawmakers to uphold high standards of personal conduct and serve as role models for residents.

He also urged the city to improve its executive-led system and called on the legislative and judicial branches to support that model of governance.

“The crux of insisting and improving the executive-led model is for the chief executive and his administration to strengthen their sense of ownership over Hong Kong and Macau and bear primary responsibility for governance,” he said.

“Although the executive, legislative and judicial branches have their respective divisions of labour, their ultimate goal is the same,” he added. “They perform on the same stage – they should support one another rather than pull the rug out from under each other. The legislative and judicial branches should defend the executive-led model and respect that principle.”