Legco goes all-in on planned National Day visit to Beijing

All 89 lawmakers plan to visit Beijing to celebrate the National Day in October, sources said, marking the first time that the whole Legislative Council will be going to the capital since the handover.

A pro-establishment politician said the visit would carry an "important symbolic meaning" since the SAR's constitutional duty to enact locally Basic Law Article 23 was accomplished by the current Legco together with the administration.

The Legco had a plan to visit Beijing for five days on a tour led by either Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu or Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan Kwok-ki last September. The plan was canceled due to what Legco president Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen said was a failure to find a time that worked for both sides.

Some lawmakers, who preferred not to be named, said details of the trip including the dates and itinerary have yet to be finalized but lawmakers have been "notified" to avoid leaving Hong Kong by the end of September.

A lawmaker said it would be appropriate to visit Beijing now because the legislature has "brought order out of chaos," and implemented "patriots ruling Hong Kong," noting at the same time that the Article 23 passage was an important milestone of one country, two systems.

He hoped that they would be able to attend the National Day flag-raising ceremony on October 1 and meet with officials responsible for Hong Kong and Macau affairs.

Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies adviser Lau Siu-kai said the government would lead delegations formed by representatives of different sectors to Beijing whenever there are large celebrations.

Therefore, the Legco may not visit Beijing solely but as members of the SAR government delegation. That would also symbolize the "normalization" of the Legco's operation under a new political order.

Although the Legco has not formed any delegation to visit the capital since 1997, it has visited other mainland cities.

In 2014, lawmakers visited Shanghai, meeting local leaders and seeing the Hongqiao Central Business District, during which they had also discussed the SAR's constitutional reform with officials from Beijing.

Since the electoral system was overhauled in 2021, it has become regular for lawmakers to form delegations to visit the mainland and overseas.

In a recent trip in April, a delegation formed by all lawmakers and led by Lee visited the Greater Bay Area. Last week, Legco president Leung also led a delegation to Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

stacy.shi@singtaonewscorp.com