HK to elect chief executive with vast majority support

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao speaks during a press conference in Beijing/XINHUA
BEIJING, Mar 14 – Premier Wen Jiabao said on Wednesday he believes Hong Kong will elect a chief executive who enjoys the support of the vast majority of local people.

“The election of the fourth term Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is currently underway,” Wen said at a press conference after the conclusion of the annual parliamentary session.

“I believe that as long as the principle of openness, justice and fairness is observed and relevant legal procedures are complied with, Hong Kong will elect a chief executive who enjoys the support of the vast majority of Hong Kong people,” Wen said.

Wen said that 15 years has passed since Hong Kong returned to the motherland. What has happened in Hong Kong over the past 15 years has shown that the principle of “one country, two systems”, “Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong” and a high degree of autonomy has strong vitality.

In the past 15 years, Hong Kong encountered two financial crisis, but under the leadership of SAR government and with the joint efforts of the Hong Kong compatriots, Hong Kong has successfully weathered the financial crisis and sustained its status as an international financial centre and still enjoys a sophisticated free economy, he said.

XINHUA

Xinhua News Agency, founded on November 7, 1931, is China’s national news agency as well as a global news and information network. Xinhua has set up a global news and information gathering network, with headquarters in Beijing, 33 domestic bureaus in provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities plus the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, as well as 140 bureaus in the rest of the world. Xinhua is yet to set up a bureau in Taiwan, where it has posted resident correspondents. Xinhua provides its worldwide subscribers with news and financial information products in the forms of text, photo, graphics, audio, video, and mobile phone text messages 24 hours a day in eight languages: Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese and Japanese.