Central govt agency, liaison office in HKSAR have authority, responsibility to supervise implementation of Basic Law: chief executive

HONG KONG -- Chief Executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam said on Tuesday that the central government agency responsible for Hong Kong affairs and the liaison office in the HKSAR have the authority and responsibility to supervise the implementation of the Basic Law of the HKSAR.

The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council and the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR are authorized by the central government to handle Hong Kong affairs, Lam told a press conference.

The liaison office has been assuming its responsibility and has not interfered in the affairs that the HKSAR administers on its own, Lam said, stressing that the central government, granting Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy, has the supervisory power.

She stressed that the current problem is that the HKSAR Legislative Council (LegCo)'s House Committee has been paralyzed by some lawmakers, and the two offices in response have exercised the supervisory power on behalf of the central government.

The liaison office representing the central government has a say in the constitutional affairs, HKSAR governance and operation of daily affairs, which is its authority and responsibility, Lam said, stressing that those describing comments by the office as interference are ill-intentioned.

No one should be allowed to distract public attention from the crux of the current problem, which is the malicious filibustering by some lawmakers, in particular Dennis Kwok Wing-hang, in the House Committee, she said, condemning the acts for dismissing public interests and disrupting the operation and responsibility of the LegCo.