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Legislator calls for approval of constitutional reform in HK

Source: Xinhua | May 17, 2015, Sunday | Online Edition

HONG Kong's Legislative Councilor Lam Tai Fai has appealed to his peers to vote for a constitutional reform package in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) .

Lam said the central government has been sincerely implemented the principles of "One country, Two systems" and "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong" with a high degree of autonomy since Hong Kong's return to the motherland 18 years ago.

"Please put down your stubborn concepts and those unrealistic standards," Lam said, calling on those legislative councilors who opposed the reform package to set aside prejudices and move on. " Let's go step by step and achieve our goals of 'one person, one vote' universal suffrage in 2017."

As of Saturday, more than 960,000 of Hong Kongers had signed petitions to support the reform proposal about achieving universal suffrage in the 2017 Chief Executive Election, according to Hong Kong's Alliance for Peace and Democracy.

Organized by the alliance, the campaign is aimed at gathering Hong Kong people's support for the constitutional reform package designed for the election of the next chief executive by "one person, one vote."

The Alliance for Peace and Democracy launched the "sign for universal suffrage movement" since May 9 and attracted lots of people, including senior officials, to sign on.

Under the article 45 of the Basic Law, the method for selecting the Chief Executive shall be specified in the light of the actual situation in the Hong Kong SAR and in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress.

"I don't agree with those who proposed 'public nomination' in Hong Kong, it is definitely goes against the National People's Congress Standing Committee's decision on Aug. 31 of last year," Lam told Xinhua on Friday.

"There aren't any 'international principles' in the way to the final democracy, so we might learn from others but cannot just copy them," he added.

Lam said because there is no other places the same as Hong Kong, "we have to stick to our own historical background, population composition and actual social condition, and most importantly, follow closely to the line of the Basic Law."

As the Basic Law stipulates in the article 45 that "the ultimate aim is the selection of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures," Lam emphasized that Hong Kong should elect an executive chief who loves his country.

"The Chief Executive and all Hong Kong citizens have responsibility in defending our national security," said Lam. " Because Hong Kong is an inalienable part of our country."

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