In an exclusive interview with Shenzhen TV Direct News reporter Qin Yue, Hong Kong's chairman of the Legislative Council, said that the local legislation time is very tight, and the Legislative Council has set up a subcommittee to carry out preliminary work. If the SAR government

[Direct News Press]

htmlOn March 30, the 27th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress passed the newly revised Annex I and Annex II to the Basic Law of Hong Kong unanimously. At present, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is promoting local legislation and implementing Annexes I and II to the revised Basic Law.

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan said in an exclusive interview with Shenzhen TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue that the local legislation time is very tight, and the Legislative Council has established a subcommittee to carry out preliminary work. If the SAR government takes the bill to the first and second readings of the Legislative Council on Wednesday, the group will officially be converted into a bill committee and continue to review the bill.

In response to the outside world, there are doubts in the parliament that there are currently establishment factions in the parliament and the deliberation process is not transparent enough. Liang Junyan bluntly stated that the deliberation of Members of parliament is not a "rubber stamp" and will definitely handle it with responsibility.

He also described that over the past few months, the opinions of lawmakers have been so sharp, but their way of doing things will be calmer, and the Hong Kong government will be more likely to accept their opinions. In Parliament, lawmakers continue to supervise the Hong Kong government.

"I think it's all sparks." Liang Junyan described it.

In response to the current Hong Kong society, there is a voice saying that future legislative committee members may criticize the Hong Kong government's administrative system more sharply in order to win more voters, and the legislative power will be greater. Leung Jun-yan responded that the interaction between legislation and administration is different from before. Members of parliament spoke on behalf of the industry and voters behind them. may be more intense than before, but as long as everyone does this for the welfare of Hong Kong citizens, it is normal to have different voices.

" Sometimes I joke with my friends that there were more than 20 opposition members in the past, and now there are 42 opposition parties in the Legislative Council. What I want to express is that their voices do not unanimously support the government. For every thing, they may have another opinion, and may not be against the government, but they feel that the government needs to listen to their opinions. So the actual situation in Hong Kong is that they only require that there will be a diverse voice, and there are both those who agree and oppose it. But in the end, these members of the parliament must be patriotic, for Hong Kong and the country, and most importantly, for the people. ”

Liang Junyan also revealed that the Hong Kong government has 8 bills to be submitted to the Legislative Council for deliberation, and 15 bills will be submitted to the Legislative Council one after another.

"So together, the total number of Hong Kong government proposals on people's livelihood and economy is a large number. may even be more than before, However, I believe the legislation will be able to handle it."

For the improvement of the Hong Kong electoral system this time, Liang Junyan described it as "let the train back on track". The chaos in the past few years is that the train derails. If you continue driving, you will only rush into the valley, and the cars will be destroyed and people will die. He denied that the chaos in the past was so-called "democracy."

"Every place relies on its own actual situation to reform its own democratic system. If you think that the social chaos in Hong Kong in the past few years can be called democracy, then I must not agree. We should return to the right track and develop democracy that conforms to our actual situation, and then promote the democratic process on this basis, that would be much better. Democracy in every place is not exactly the same, If we ignore our own actual situation, then it is meaningless to talk about democracy. ”

He also pointed out that the central government only revised Annexes 1 and Annexes 2 this time, and did not modify these two articles in the Basic Law regarding the election of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council elections to finally achieve universal suffrage.

[Direct News Press]

htmlOn March 30, the 27th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress passed the newly revised Annex I and Annex II to the Basic Law of Hong Kong unanimously. At present, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is promoting local legislation and implementing Annexes I and II to the revised Basic Law.

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan said in an exclusive interview with Shenzhen TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue that the local legislation time is very tight, and the Legislative Council has established a subcommittee to carry out preliminary work. If the SAR government takes the bill to the first and second readings of the Legislative Council on Wednesday, the group will officially be converted into a bill committee and continue to review the bill.

In response to the outside world, there are doubts in the parliament that there are currently establishment factions in the parliament and the deliberation process is not transparent enough. Liang Junyan bluntly stated that the deliberation of Members of parliament is not a "rubber stamp" and will definitely handle it with responsibility.

He also described that over the past few months, the opinions of lawmakers have been so sharp, but their way of doing things will be calmer, and the Hong Kong government will be more likely to accept their opinions. In Parliament, lawmakers continue to supervise the Hong Kong government.

"I think it's all sparks." Liang Junyan described it.

In response to the current Hong Kong society, there is a voice saying that future legislative committee members may criticize the Hong Kong government's administrative system more sharply in order to win more voters, and the legislative power will be greater. Leung Jun-yan responded that the interaction between legislation and administration is different from before. Members of parliament spoke on behalf of the industry and voters behind them. may be more intense than before, but as long as everyone does this for the welfare of Hong Kong citizens, it is normal to have different voices.

" Sometimes I joke with my friends that there were more than 20 opposition members in the past, and now there are 42 opposition parties in the Legislative Council. What I want to express is that their voices do not unanimously support the government. For every thing, they may have another opinion, and may not be against the government, but they feel that the government needs to listen to their opinions. So the actual situation in Hong Kong is that they only require that there will be a diverse voice, and there are both those who agree and oppose it. But in the end, these members of the parliament must be patriotic, for Hong Kong and the country, and most importantly, for the people. ”

Liang Junyan also revealed that the Hong Kong government has 8 bills to be submitted to the Legislative Council for deliberation, and 15 bills will be submitted to the Legislative Council one after another.

"So together, the total number of Hong Kong government proposals on people's livelihood and economy is a large number. may even be more than before, However, I believe the legislation will be able to handle it."

For the improvement of the Hong Kong electoral system this time, Liang Junyan described it as "let the train back on track". The chaos in the past few years is that the train derails. If you continue driving, you will only rush into the valley, and the cars will be destroyed and people will die. He denied that the chaos in the past was so-called "democracy."

"Every place relies on its own actual situation to reform its own democratic system. If you think that the social chaos in Hong Kong in the past few years can be called democracy, then I must not agree. We should return to the right track and develop democracy that conforms to our actual situation, and then promote the democratic process on this basis, that would be much better. Democracy in every place is not exactly the same, If we ignore our own actual situation, then it is meaningless to talk about democracy. ”

He also pointed out that the central government only revised Annexes 1 and Annexes 2 this time, and did not modify these two articles in the Basic Law regarding the election of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council elections to finally achieve universal suffrage. He believes that after returning to the right track, Hong Kong has hope of achieving universal suffrage in the future. Annex II to the Basic Law after the revision of

has been confirmed that the number of members of the Legislative Council will increase to 90. Liang Junyan smiled and said that the pressure on the Legislative Council chairman will not increase.

"There is a Cantonese saying that "there are more people and more people, and it is easier to do things". If there are more people, things will be done better, so I think it is not too much pressure for the chairman of the Legislative Council. "

However, the number of people has increased. A realistic problem is that the Legislative Council meeting hall cannot sit. At present, the Legislative Council Secretariat has discussed with the Architectural Administration how to add it. Another question is where the newly added 15 MPs work.

"There are only 75 members of the Legislative Council in the current Legislative Council building, so there are 15 members of the parliament need to find another place. " Liang Junyan revealed that there are currently several different plans and are being discussed to deal with them.

As for whether they will strive for re-election, Liang Junyan did not respond directly, and only said that he would think about the next step at the appropriate time.

"My current work is queued outside the office, which is very heavy. The most important thing is to do the current work well and think about the next step at the right time."

The following is the text transcript of the interview.

Shenzhen TV direct news reporter Qin Yue in Hong Kong: Hong Kong Legislative Council recently established a subcommittee on the "Decision of the National People's Congress on Improving the Electoral System of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region". We know that this committee has also held many meetings at present. What are the main focus and agenda progress of the discussion?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Jun-yan: The Chief Executive wrote a letter last month asking the Legislative Council to set up a group to start handling the amendment of Annex I and II to the (Basic Law) and local legislation. We know that there will be three elections in the next year, and there will be considerable changes in the content. The time for local legislation is very tight, so the Chief Executive has such a requirement. At present, the group is doing detailed legal basis and other preliminary review work. wait until this Wednesday. If the Hong Kong government can take the bill to the first and second readings of the Legislative Council, the group will officially become a bill committee and continue to review the bill.

Generally speaking, the review process for a bill begins with the nature of the bill and why this bill is there, and (by SAR government officials and related persons) explain it to the parliamentarians. Then the members of the parliament reviewed one by one. The group is currently buying time to deal with the preliminary work. Five meetings have been held in the past to ask government officials to ask general principles on the detailed bill.

I think the meeting went very smoothly in the past week or two. The members of the parliament also asked many sharp questions, and officials were able to answer them in detail. Of course, many details need to be explained in detail to the members after the bill, which we call the "Blue Paint Bill", come out. When the bill committee is established, it will be reviewed and the Hong Kong government will explain it in detail. At the same time, it will also let the public know what the meaning of the entire bill and every article in it is. I hope that after the establishment of our Bill Committee, we will do our best to review it.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: You just said that you should buy time, but there are also voices in the society that there are currently establishment parties in the parliament, and the deliberation process is not transparent enough, and the bill may be passed directly, and the public does not have the right to know, etc. What do you think of these statements?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Legislative Council Liang Junyan: The deliberation of each draft in the Legislative Council is handled in accordance with the above principles. Members of the parliament will also ask questions about the major principles in the article, and the words in each detail will be discussed in detail.Because this bill involves a lot, everyone knows that time is tight, and the Hong Kong government may have rough areas in the process, and lawmakers will do it well in the process of deliberation one by one. I would like to emphasize that the deliberation of members is not a "rubber stamp" and will definitely handle it with responsibility. The draft is broad and has many details, including the number of people in each sector, who can enter the sector, etc. I believe that the parliamentarians will do their job to deal with it. I know that the Subcommittee (Bill Committee) have reserved quite a bit of time to deal with it. In addition to the original 30 hours of deliberation time, they have also reserved additional time and will use it if needed. I think the outside world should not directly say it is a "rubber stamp". Everyone should wait and see how the members of the parliamentarians devoted themselves to deliberating such an important law.

Shenzhen TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: Such an important law, but we also know that there were similar subcommittees last year, and many members of parliament were absent. From what you know, what are the attendance rates of recent lawmakers?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan: I think everyone is responsible for their duties. Deliberation of a law, such as a large law, takes a long time and in detail. Unlike some small law, it can be reviewed in one or two hours. So it does not mean that the longer you spend in parliament, the more responsible you are, the shorter you are, because every bill usually takes some time to be brewed. Of course, this bill is the most urgent at present. Why should the subcommittee (Bill Committee) seek time to review in advance? Because in fact, the Chief Executive has already expressed his hope that the bill will be passed by the end of May, so from mid-April to the end of May, the subcommittee should review it in an intensive manner as the Chief Executive said, such as several meetings a week or a meeting will be held for 2 to 4 hours. This should be left to the chairman of the bill committee and members of the parliamentary committee to discuss.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: The next review work will be carried out intensively. From April 15th to the end of May, are the preparations of the Legislative Council relatively tense? How is the Secretariat ready?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Junyan: The Secretariat of the Legislative Council will fully support the deliberation of this bill group. As long as the bill group is in need, the secretariat will have enough rooms, enough time and enough personnel to support the work of the bill group. I don't think this is a big problem. Because for general bills, some can be reviewed in 2 hours, while others are very long. We are confident and reserve enough time and manpower to support the review of this bill.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: Social also cares about the passage of the People's Livelihood Economic Act, just like a few days ago, Luo Zhiguang, director of the Labor and Welfare Bureau, said that it is too late to handle the cancellation of the hedge bill for the MPF (i.e., mandatory provident fund) during the term of the Legislative Council, and it must be left for the next Legislative Council to review. Have other livelihood bills been affected?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan: This MPF hedging bill was said to be handled at the end of this year, but time is tight, so it is delayed to next year. In fact, the Hong Kong government has 18 proposals for people's livelihood have been submitted to the Legislative Council for deliberation, and 15 proposals will be submitted to the Legislative Council one after another. So, together, the total number of proposals for people's livelihood and economy is a large number, and it may even be more than in the past, but I believe that legislation will be able to handle it. Because according to the provisions of Annex I and II to the Basic Law, the Legislative Council election will be postponed to early December, which has just been released for only three months. I discussed with the Chief Executive that I can use these three months to try my best to increase the meetings and review these many laws. In addition to this bunch of laws, also has a bunch of grant projects. There are more than 60 projects, and the total amount of more than HK$130 billion is required to be reviewed by the Legislative Council Finance Committee.I believe that the Finance Committee and the Members will continue to do their best to conduct the review work, and the Secretariat will fully support the Members to do these work well.

Shenzhen TV direct news Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: This means additional meetings will be arranged during the summer vacation.

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan: I think this year is a special year. There is no summer vacation every minute and it is about to start construction. Currently, the Hong Kong government and the Legislative Council Secretariat are discussing the time, will it add 10 to 12 meetings? This will be discussed by the SAR government and the Legislative Council Secretariat.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: Improve the electoral system of the SAR, and the content of local legislation will be released soon. What do you currently have about the specific amendment details of the Legislative Council in Annex II to the Basic Law? Can you tell me about it?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Jun-yan: There will be , but the "blue paper draft" has not yet been released. This involves the need to amend five major laws and many subsidiary regulations. However, the simplest thing is, in the future (Legislative Council) there will be three components, and the group counting is different from now. We have to wait for the detailed laws to come (Legislative Council) to pass the laws. If you want to modify the rules of procedure or other things, this is the next step to deal with.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: Currently in the revision of Annexes 1 and 2 of the Basic Law, it is clear that the number of members of the Legislative Council will increase to 90. As the chairman of the Legislative Council, what changes will happen in the future responsibilities and workload?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Jun-yan: First, every Legislative Council Chairman will handle parliamentary affairs in accordance with Articles 72 and 73 of the Basic Law and the rules of procedure. There is a Cantonese saying in : "There are more people and more people and are more comfortable to do things". When there are more people, things will be done better, so I think it is not too much pressure for the Legislative Council Chairman. Of course there are too many people, and one of the problems that needs to be dealt with is whether our conference hall can be seated? There are now 70 members of parliament, and 90 members are added. The Secretariat has arranged this issue and discussed with the Architectural Administration how to add it. In addition, whether seats are required in other meeting rooms to meet the requirements needs to be handled one by one.

Another biggest problem is that there are only 75 members of the Legislative Council in the current Legislative Council building, so 15 members need to find another place. It depends on how the Legislative Council arranges its new office where it is located. This problem is not a big problem, but it is indeed a problem that needs to be solved.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: This may be a big problem for Legislative Council members, so how should the Legislative Council coordinate?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Junyan: There are currently several different plans being discussed and processed. Of course, every member of the parliament wants his office to be in this building, but you should know that in the old Legislative Council building, members of the parliament had no offices at all, and their offices were scattered around the building. So this is not a new question, it is how to deal with old problems in new ways.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: On July 1, 2019, the Legislative Council building was attacked by demonstrators. What is the current maintenance situation?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Legislative Council Liang Junyan: Currently, most of the facilities have been repaired. Since the impact incident, we have also found security consultants to see them specifically, so the projects carried out in the Legislative Council building are the security work that security consultants require and advise us to do. I also hope that the security facilities can be prepared and improved on the day the new Legislative Council is established.

Shenzhen TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: How will the rules of procedure be modified after the new law is passed?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Junyan: Of course, after the new legislation is passed, there will be many details in the rules of procedure that need to be modified. The simplest thing is the group counting, group counting, etc. mentioned just now. We need to wait until the legislation is amended, and the Rules of Procedure Committee will submit relevant amendments at an appropriate time. (Will there be a timetable? How long will it take to modify it?) timetable will definitely be there, because the Legislative Council has three months extra meeting period, so there is plenty of time for the Rules of Procedure Committee and other Legislative Council to pass new matters that need to be revised.

Shenzhen TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: How is the operation of the Legislative Council since the opposition members were DQed? Will there still be challenges?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan: In terms of challenges, the number of people holding meetings has become smaller and more things everyone needs to do. The second challenge of does not mean that there are no oppositions. Hong Kong is a diverse society and there are different voices in society. Even if the opposition MPs are gone, in fact, everything and every MP's view may not be consistent. Some lawmakers also expressed opposition to what the SAR government did. The parliamentarian needs to be dedicated to the voters or industry he represents, and ultimately be responsible for all Hong Kong people. Therefore, he must reflect the views, views and opinions of the citizens behind him, and this opinion may not be exactly the same as the position of the Hong Kong government. So does not mean that there will be no opposition without the opposition. You have also seen that over the past few months, the opinions of lawmakers have been so sharp, but their way of doing things will be calmer, and the Hong Kong government will be more likely to accept their opinions. So in the parliament, everyone will continue to perform their duties as members of parliament and continue to supervise the Hong Kong government. I think it is still sparkling.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: New Annex II requires 90 members of parliament, which is more representative. Do you think the interests of the voters behind it are more complicated?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Jun-yan: The 31,500 elected 40 members of parliament, 20 were direct elections, and 30 were functional groups. Although the members elected from these different differences are different, they ultimately have to serve Hong Kong citizens, and ultimately reflect the opinions of Hong Kong citizens, and they all meet the definition of Hong Kong's diverse social combination. So different members of parliament have different opinions and opinions, which has always been in Hong Kong. As long as it ultimately serves the welfare of Hong Kong citizens, I think (parliamentarians) will supervise the government more efficiently and do more for citizens and people's livelihood and economy.

Shenzhen TV direct news reporter Qin Yue in Hong Kong: Speaking of supervising the government, I also talked to you about the three-rights relationship of administrative leadership in the last interview. There is another voice saying that the reason why future legislators hope to win more voters may criticize the Hong Kong government's administrative system more sharply, and the legislative power will be greater. What do you think? In addition, in terms of enhancing the governance effectiveness of the Hong Kong government, what role can the Legislative Council play in the future?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan: The interaction between legislation and administration is different from before. But as I just said, If the MP represents the industry and voters behind him and then speaks, the voice may be more intense than in the previous parliament, but as long as everyone does this for the welfare of Hong Kong citizens, it is normal to have different voices. The responsibility of the Legislative Council member is of course to supervise the SAR government, but also to interact with the Hong Kong government. There are many different roles in general legislative procedures. Members of parliament can consult the Hong Kong government. You have also seen the Chief Executive’s question-and-answer meeting a few days ago. Members of parliament did not support the Hong Kong government one-sidedly, and also asked many sharp questions.On the other hand, the Legislative Council Affairs Committee has different views on the policies put forward by each SAR government, some oppose and some agree with them. Next, we will come to a law. Whether this law is suitable also needs to be reviewed one by one. Therefore, in fact, the role of the bill committee is very important during the review process. How to make the bill more perfect and benefit the citizens more is the responsibility lies with the bill committee. Then the Legislative Council meeting resumed the second and third readings, it was already the final stage. So what the public sees is not that who is more intense, or that my support for the Hong Kong government means everything. In fact, the steps behind it are step by step, and have been carried out a long time ago.

What each member of parliament says in the chamber represents the voice of the citizens on the one hand, and on the other hand, it also represents his opinions and positions. Whether they agree or oppose, they need to explain; this also means how they monitor the Hong Kong government and vote for or oppose the Hong Kong government, all of which need to be explained. So if the councillors do not speak in the meeting room, it is a "rubber stamp". It is definitely good for the councillors to speak out to the SAR government. This view is wrong. In the end, it depends on whether this law can benefit Hong Kong citizens as a whole.

Shenzhen TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: Some people say that after the amendment of the bill, there will be no more opposition and establishment factions in the parliament. How do you define the opposition as the chairman of the Legislative Council?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Junyan: There are still opposition parties in the parliament now. After improving the election laws in the future, it does not mean that the opposition should be excluded. We just don’t allow unpatriotic people to enter the parliament. Which country will allow treasonous or unpatriotic people to enter such a high center of power? doesn't, so this is a special case. In the past few years, the pendulum has been swinging too extreme, and now I am going to come back and go back to the middle.

Sometimes I joke with my friends that there were more than 20 opposition lawmakers in the past, but now there are 42 opposition parties in the Legislative Council. What I want to express is that their voices do not unanimously support the SAR government. They may have another opinion on everything, and may not be against the Hong Kong government, but they feel that the Hong Kong government needs to listen to their opinions. Therefore, the actual situation in Hong Kong only requires that there will be a diverse voice, and there are those who agree and oppose it, but in the end, these parliamentarians must be patriotic, serving Hong Kong, the country, and most importantly, serving the people.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: In the past few years, you have encountered many challenges as the chairman of the Legislative Council. There have been so many changes in the parliament and so many changes in society. We also want to know, will you continue to accept challenges and strive for re-election in the future?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan: I am very practical and I must do my current work well. As for thinking about the future... because you all know that my current work is very heavy and queuing outside the office is very heavy. The most important thing is to do my current work well and think about the next step at the right time.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: Do you think the challenges in the past, present or future work in the past few years have been the most challenging?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Junyan: is very simple, the challenges in the future will definitely be greater than the challenges in the present. The previous challenges have been over and have been settled. However, you have also seen different changes in the past few years. Members of parliament can control the Legislative Council and take advantage of loopholes in the rules of procedure to make the parliament unable to operate. They have also used many "rabble" methods. So recently we have also revised the rules of procedure to make up these loopholes. But the Legislative Council cannot become a parliament that is too rigorous and cannot do anything. It is inappropriate to not allow members of the parliament to discuss matters. So I hope that as long as the parliamentarians uphold one thing, his heart is for the good of Hong Kong citizens, I believe anything can be solved.

Society is changing, citizens are changing, the Legislative Council is changing, and the rules of procedure of the Legislative Council are constantly changing, and it must be suitable for the current environment. changes are not for the purpose of change, but for the actual situation. For example, improving Hong Kong's electoral system is also changed in response to the actual situation in Hong Kong. If there is a need to change the rules of procedure in the future, we will follow up on it.

This time, the improvement of the electoral system is also for the actual situation in Hong Kong. In the past few years, everyone has seen these chaos. A friend told me that the train was simply derailed. If the train continues to drive, it will only rush into the valley, and the car will be destroyed and people will die. Fortunately, the central government took action to get the train back on track and allow Hong Kong's political system to continue to develop within the Basic Law. Because this time, only Annex I and II were revised, did not modify these two articles in the Basic Law regarding the election of the Chief Executive and the election of the Legislative Council to finally achieve universal suffrage. If cannot get back on track, how can we continue to develop? So after this revision, it seems that there are fewer seats (directly elected for parliamentarians), but after returning to the right track, we have hope of achieving universal suffrage in the future.

Shenzhen TV direct news reporter Qin Yue in Hong Kong: People say that looking at a place mainly depends on the local Legislative Council. How do you understand Hong Kong-style democracy?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan: Every place relies on its own actual situation to reform its own democratic system. If you think that the social chaos in Hong Kong in the past few years can be called democracy, then I must not agree. We should get back on track and develop democracy that suits our actual situation, and then promote the democratic process on this basis, which would be much better. The democracy in every place is not exactly the same. If we ignore our own actual situation, then it is meaningless to talk about democracy.

Author: Qin Yue, Shenzhen TV Direct News reporter in Hong Kong.

Because this bill involves a lot, everyone knows that time is tight, and the Hong Kong government may have rough areas in the process, and lawmakers will do it well in the process of deliberation one by one. I would like to emphasize that the deliberation of members is not a "rubber stamp" and will definitely handle it with responsibility. The draft is broad and has many details, including the number of people in each sector, who can enter the sector, etc. I believe that the parliamentarians will do their job to deal with it. I know that the Subcommittee (Bill Committee) have reserved quite a bit of time to deal with it. In addition to the original 30 hours of deliberation time, they have also reserved additional time and will use it if needed. I think the outside world should not directly say it is a "rubber stamp". Everyone should wait and see how the members of the parliamentarians devoted themselves to deliberating such an important law.

Shenzhen TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: Such an important law, but we also know that there were similar subcommittees last year, and many members of parliament were absent. From what you know, what are the attendance rates of recent lawmakers?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan: I think everyone is responsible for their duties. Deliberation of a law, such as a large law, takes a long time and in detail. Unlike some small law, it can be reviewed in one or two hours. So it does not mean that the longer you spend in parliament, the more responsible you are, the shorter you are, because every bill usually takes some time to be brewed. Of course, this bill is the most urgent at present. Why should the subcommittee (Bill Committee) seek time to review in advance? Because in fact, the Chief Executive has already expressed his hope that the bill will be passed by the end of May, so from mid-April to the end of May, the subcommittee should review it in an intensive manner as the Chief Executive said, such as several meetings a week or a meeting will be held for 2 to 4 hours. This should be left to the chairman of the bill committee and members of the parliamentary committee to discuss.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: The next review work will be carried out intensively. From April 15th to the end of May, are the preparations of the Legislative Council relatively tense? How is the Secretariat ready?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Junyan: The Secretariat of the Legislative Council will fully support the deliberation of this bill group. As long as the bill group is in need, the secretariat will have enough rooms, enough time and enough personnel to support the work of the bill group. I don't think this is a big problem. Because for general bills, some can be reviewed in 2 hours, while others are very long. We are confident and reserve enough time and manpower to support the review of this bill.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: Social also cares about the passage of the People's Livelihood Economic Act, just like a few days ago, Luo Zhiguang, director of the Labor and Welfare Bureau, said that it is too late to handle the cancellation of the hedge bill for the MPF (i.e., mandatory provident fund) during the term of the Legislative Council, and it must be left for the next Legislative Council to review. Have other livelihood bills been affected?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan: This MPF hedging bill was said to be handled at the end of this year, but time is tight, so it is delayed to next year. In fact, the Hong Kong government has 18 proposals for people's livelihood have been submitted to the Legislative Council for deliberation, and 15 proposals will be submitted to the Legislative Council one after another. So, together, the total number of proposals for people's livelihood and economy is a large number, and it may even be more than in the past, but I believe that legislation will be able to handle it. Because according to the provisions of Annex I and II to the Basic Law, the Legislative Council election will be postponed to early December, which has just been released for only three months. I discussed with the Chief Executive that I can use these three months to try my best to increase the meetings and review these many laws. In addition to this bunch of laws, also has a bunch of grant projects. There are more than 60 projects, and the total amount of more than HK$130 billion is required to be reviewed by the Legislative Council Finance Committee.I believe that the Finance Committee and the Members will continue to do their best to conduct the review work, and the Secretariat will fully support the Members to do these work well.

Shenzhen TV direct news Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: This means additional meetings will be arranged during the summer vacation.

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan: I think this year is a special year. There is no summer vacation every minute and it is about to start construction. Currently, the Hong Kong government and the Legislative Council Secretariat are discussing the time, will it add 10 to 12 meetings? This will be discussed by the SAR government and the Legislative Council Secretariat.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: Improve the electoral system of the SAR, and the content of local legislation will be released soon. What do you currently have about the specific amendment details of the Legislative Council in Annex II to the Basic Law? Can you tell me about it?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Jun-yan: There will be , but the "blue paper draft" has not yet been released. This involves the need to amend five major laws and many subsidiary regulations. However, the simplest thing is, in the future (Legislative Council) there will be three components, and the group counting is different from now. We have to wait for the detailed laws to come (Legislative Council) to pass the laws. If you want to modify the rules of procedure or other things, this is the next step to deal with.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: Currently in the revision of Annexes 1 and 2 of the Basic Law, it is clear that the number of members of the Legislative Council will increase to 90. As the chairman of the Legislative Council, what changes will happen in the future responsibilities and workload?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Jun-yan: First, every Legislative Council Chairman will handle parliamentary affairs in accordance with Articles 72 and 73 of the Basic Law and the rules of procedure. There is a Cantonese saying in : "There are more people and more people and are more comfortable to do things". When there are more people, things will be done better, so I think it is not too much pressure for the Legislative Council Chairman. Of course there are too many people, and one of the problems that needs to be dealt with is whether our conference hall can be seated? There are now 70 members of parliament, and 90 members are added. The Secretariat has arranged this issue and discussed with the Architectural Administration how to add it. In addition, whether seats are required in other meeting rooms to meet the requirements needs to be handled one by one.

Another biggest problem is that there are only 75 members of the Legislative Council in the current Legislative Council building, so 15 members need to find another place. It depends on how the Legislative Council arranges its new office where it is located. This problem is not a big problem, but it is indeed a problem that needs to be solved.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: This may be a big problem for Legislative Council members, so how should the Legislative Council coordinate?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Junyan: There are currently several different plans being discussed and processed. Of course, every member of the parliament wants his office to be in this building, but you should know that in the old Legislative Council building, members of the parliament had no offices at all, and their offices were scattered around the building. So this is not a new question, it is how to deal with old problems in new ways.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: On July 1, 2019, the Legislative Council building was attacked by demonstrators. What is the current maintenance situation?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Legislative Council Liang Junyan: Currently, most of the facilities have been repaired. Since the impact incident, we have also found security consultants to see them specifically, so the projects carried out in the Legislative Council building are the security work that security consultants require and advise us to do. I also hope that the security facilities can be prepared and improved on the day the new Legislative Council is established.

Shenzhen TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: How will the rules of procedure be modified after the new law is passed?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Junyan: Of course, after the new legislation is passed, there will be many details in the rules of procedure that need to be modified. The simplest thing is the group counting, group counting, etc. mentioned just now. We need to wait until the legislation is amended, and the Rules of Procedure Committee will submit relevant amendments at an appropriate time. (Will there be a timetable? How long will it take to modify it?) timetable will definitely be there, because the Legislative Council has three months extra meeting period, so there is plenty of time for the Rules of Procedure Committee and other Legislative Council to pass new matters that need to be revised.

Shenzhen TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: How is the operation of the Legislative Council since the opposition members were DQed? Will there still be challenges?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan: In terms of challenges, the number of people holding meetings has become smaller and more things everyone needs to do. The second challenge of does not mean that there are no oppositions. Hong Kong is a diverse society and there are different voices in society. Even if the opposition MPs are gone, in fact, everything and every MP's view may not be consistent. Some lawmakers also expressed opposition to what the SAR government did. The parliamentarian needs to be dedicated to the voters or industry he represents, and ultimately be responsible for all Hong Kong people. Therefore, he must reflect the views, views and opinions of the citizens behind him, and this opinion may not be exactly the same as the position of the Hong Kong government. So does not mean that there will be no opposition without the opposition. You have also seen that over the past few months, the opinions of lawmakers have been so sharp, but their way of doing things will be calmer, and the Hong Kong government will be more likely to accept their opinions. So in the parliament, everyone will continue to perform their duties as members of parliament and continue to supervise the Hong Kong government. I think it is still sparkling.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: New Annex II requires 90 members of parliament, which is more representative. Do you think the interests of the voters behind it are more complicated?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Jun-yan: The 31,500 elected 40 members of parliament, 20 were direct elections, and 30 were functional groups. Although the members elected from these different differences are different, they ultimately have to serve Hong Kong citizens, and ultimately reflect the opinions of Hong Kong citizens, and they all meet the definition of Hong Kong's diverse social combination. So different members of parliament have different opinions and opinions, which has always been in Hong Kong. As long as it ultimately serves the welfare of Hong Kong citizens, I think (parliamentarians) will supervise the government more efficiently and do more for citizens and people's livelihood and economy.

Shenzhen TV direct news reporter Qin Yue in Hong Kong: Speaking of supervising the government, I also talked to you about the three-rights relationship of administrative leadership in the last interview. There is another voice saying that the reason why future legislators hope to win more voters may criticize the Hong Kong government's administrative system more sharply, and the legislative power will be greater. What do you think? In addition, in terms of enhancing the governance effectiveness of the Hong Kong government, what role can the Legislative Council play in the future?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan: The interaction between legislation and administration is different from before. But as I just said, If the MP represents the industry and voters behind him and then speaks, the voice may be more intense than in the previous parliament, but as long as everyone does this for the welfare of Hong Kong citizens, it is normal to have different voices. The responsibility of the Legislative Council member is of course to supervise the SAR government, but also to interact with the Hong Kong government. There are many different roles in general legislative procedures. Members of parliament can consult the Hong Kong government. You have also seen the Chief Executive’s question-and-answer meeting a few days ago. Members of parliament did not support the Hong Kong government one-sidedly, and also asked many sharp questions.On the other hand, the Legislative Council Affairs Committee has different views on the policies put forward by each SAR government, some oppose and some agree with them. Next, we will come to a law. Whether this law is suitable also needs to be reviewed one by one. Therefore, in fact, the role of the bill committee is very important during the review process. How to make the bill more perfect and benefit the citizens more is the responsibility lies with the bill committee. Then the Legislative Council meeting resumed the second and third readings, it was already the final stage. So what the public sees is not that who is more intense, or that my support for the Hong Kong government means everything. In fact, the steps behind it are step by step, and have been carried out a long time ago.

What each member of parliament says in the chamber represents the voice of the citizens on the one hand, and on the other hand, it also represents his opinions and positions. Whether they agree or oppose, they need to explain; this also means how they monitor the Hong Kong government and vote for or oppose the Hong Kong government, all of which need to be explained. So if the councillors do not speak in the meeting room, it is a "rubber stamp". It is definitely good for the councillors to speak out to the SAR government. This view is wrong. In the end, it depends on whether this law can benefit Hong Kong citizens as a whole.

Shenzhen TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: Some people say that after the amendment of the bill, there will be no more opposition and establishment factions in the parliament. How do you define the opposition as the chairman of the Legislative Council?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Junyan: There are still opposition parties in the parliament now. After improving the election laws in the future, it does not mean that the opposition should be excluded. We just don’t allow unpatriotic people to enter the parliament. Which country will allow treasonous or unpatriotic people to enter such a high center of power? doesn't, so this is a special case. In the past few years, the pendulum has been swinging too extreme, and now I am going to come back and go back to the middle.

Sometimes I joke with my friends that there were more than 20 opposition lawmakers in the past, but now there are 42 opposition parties in the Legislative Council. What I want to express is that their voices do not unanimously support the SAR government. They may have another opinion on everything, and may not be against the Hong Kong government, but they feel that the Hong Kong government needs to listen to their opinions. Therefore, the actual situation in Hong Kong only requires that there will be a diverse voice, and there are those who agree and oppose it, but in the end, these parliamentarians must be patriotic, serving Hong Kong, the country, and most importantly, serving the people.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: In the past few years, you have encountered many challenges as the chairman of the Legislative Council. There have been so many changes in the parliament and so many changes in society. We also want to know, will you continue to accept challenges and strive for re-election in the future?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan: I am very practical and I must do my current work well. As for thinking about the future... because you all know that my current work is very heavy and queuing outside the office is very heavy. The most important thing is to do my current work well and think about the next step at the right time.

Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Hong Kong reporter Qin Yue: Do you think the challenges in the past, present or future work in the past few years have been the most challenging?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Leung Junyan: is very simple, the challenges in the future will definitely be greater than the challenges in the present. The previous challenges have been over and have been settled. However, you have also seen different changes in the past few years. Members of parliament can control the Legislative Council and take advantage of loopholes in the rules of procedure to make the parliament unable to operate. They have also used many "rabble" methods. So recently we have also revised the rules of procedure to make up these loopholes. But the Legislative Council cannot become a parliament that is too rigorous and cannot do anything. It is inappropriate to not allow members of the parliament to discuss matters. So I hope that as long as the parliamentarians uphold one thing, his heart is for the good of Hong Kong citizens, I believe anything can be solved.

Society is changing, citizens are changing, the Legislative Council is changing, and the rules of procedure of the Legislative Council are constantly changing, and it must be suitable for the current environment. changes are not for the purpose of change, but for the actual situation. For example, improving Hong Kong's electoral system is also changed in response to the actual situation in Hong Kong. If there is a need to change the rules of procedure in the future, we will follow up on it.

This time, the improvement of the electoral system is also for the actual situation in Hong Kong. In the past few years, everyone has seen these chaos. A friend told me that the train was simply derailed. If the train continues to drive, it will only rush into the valley, and the car will be destroyed and people will die. Fortunately, the central government took action to get the train back on track and allow Hong Kong's political system to continue to develop within the Basic Law. Because this time, only Annex I and II were revised, did not modify these two articles in the Basic Law regarding the election of the Chief Executive and the election of the Legislative Council to finally achieve universal suffrage. If cannot get back on track, how can we continue to develop? So after this revision, it seems that there are fewer seats (directly elected for parliamentarians), but after returning to the right track, we have hope of achieving universal suffrage in the future.

Shenzhen TV direct news reporter Qin Yue in Hong Kong: People say that looking at a place mainly depends on the local Legislative Council. How do you understand Hong Kong-style democracy?

Hong Kong Legislative Council Chairman Liang Junyan: Every place relies on its own actual situation to reform its own democratic system. If you think that the social chaos in Hong Kong in the past few years can be called democracy, then I must not agree. We should get back on track and develop democracy that suits our actual situation, and then promote the democratic process on this basis, which would be much better. The democracy in every place is not exactly the same. If we ignore our own actual situation, then it is meaningless to talk about democracy.

Author: Qin Yue, Shenzhen TV Direct News reporter in Hong Kong.