‘Beijing not pleased with HK’s handling of Covid’

A vice-president of Beijing’s top think tank on Hong Kong said on Friday that Beijing is not pleased with the Hong Kong government’s performance in handling the Covid-19 outbreak, saying its failure to tackle the epidemic might affect national prestige.

Lau Siu-kai made the comment after Premier Li Keqiang said the central government is following Hong Kong’s Covid situation every day and that the SAR government needs to shoulder the primary responsibility in combating the outbreak with the full support from Beijing.

Speaking to RTHK, Lau, from the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said state leaders want to see improvement in the SAR government.

“If Hong Kong cannot control the epidemic, it will impact our national prestige and Hong Kong’s ability to integrate its development with the mainland’s development,” he said.

“Beijing is not pleased with the performance of the Hong Kong government… Beijing insists that Hong Kong should solve its own problems, and the primary responsibility lies with the [SAR] government. At the same time, Beijing will use all the resources available to help Hong Kong out,” he said.

“Beijing will not allow Hong Kong government to shirk responsibility or to allow Beijing to take up the responsibility on behalf of the Hong Kong government.”

Lau said the SAR government would face disapproval from the central government if it fails to get the epidemic under control.

He added that Li wants people to leave the topic of the Chief Executive election aside for a while, so the society can focus on fighting Covid.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s sole deputy to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, Tam Yiu-chung, also said the premier’s remarks showed that Beijing’s top mission for the SAR is to control the epidemic.

Li’s message is consistent with those from other state leaders, he added.