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Hong Kong / AFP
Hong Kong protesters angry at a visit by a top Beijing official shouted pro-democracy slogans on Wednesday but were kept well away from a mission seen as an attempt to bridge the city’s growing political divide.
The three-day trip by Zhang Dejiang, who chairs China’s communist-controlled legislature, is the first by such a senior official for four years. It comes as concerns grow that freedoms are under threat in semi-autonomous Hong Kong as Beijing tightens its grip.
Although Zhang’s trip is ostensibly for an economic conference, it is widely seen as a conciliatory effort and a chance to gauge whether Beijing should back the city’s unpopular leader Leung Chun-ying to stand for a second term.
Frustration over lack of political reform has sparked a fledgling independence movement, condemned by authorities in both Hong Kong and mainland China.
During a speech at the conference on China’s “One Belt, One Road” international trade and investment plan on Wednesday, Zhang urged Hong Kong to play a bigger role in China’s national development strategy.
“I hope that Hong Kong, with a broader mind and vision, will fully seize the major opportunities of Belt and Road,” he said.
He emphasised the shared Cantonese culture of southern China and Hong Kong, an apparent attempt to ease fears Beijing is trying to erode the city’s separate identity. Hongkongers speak Cantonese rather than the Mandarin dominant on the mainland, and there are concerns the language is being squeezed out.