Jasper Tsang urges government to rebuild ties with Western countries

Smears and criticisms against Hong Kong will not be eliminated by refuting them with a stern condemnation, former Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing said as he called instead for the SAR government to rebuild ties with the West.

The government has been actively refuting and condemning criticisms about Hong Kong in recent years, he said. But Tsang, the founding chairman of the largest pro-Beijing party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said in a newspaper interview that the government and politicians should instead “tell good stories about Hong Kong and China peacefully.”

“It is not the case that a stern condemnation can eliminate smears,” said Tsang. “How can we further reason with the entire international community so they will accept our approach? We need to consider this as well.”

He said Hong Kong enjoys a long-standing advantage of facing the Western world, which the city should utilize to its full amid the complicated geopolitics.

Communication with the rest of the world should not be interrupted even if the United States takes any action, or else, this would jeopardize Hong Kong’s role in acting as a bridge with the world in the long run.

Asked about the government’s nearly HK$100 billion deficit, Tsang, a mathematics graduate at the University of Hong Kong, felt the deficit was inevitable as the local economy could not recover amid the international situation.

But he cast doubts on how the administration could increase its revenues when citizens’ livelihoods had already been harsh.

As to whether lawmakers should take the lead in cutting their salaries, Tsang said “a small move can affect the whole” but that salary cuts among public bodies may pose risks of wage-cutting in the private sector, and further hinder citizens’ willingness to consume.

(Eunice Lam)