Beijing trip on cards for all 90 lawmakers

Stacy Shi and Lorraine Chiang

Chief Executive John Lee may lead all 90 lawmakers for a five-day study trip to Beijing in September, sources say.

It would be the first time that all Hong Kong lawmakers visit the capital as a group.

Some of them were notified to stay in Hong Kong for two weeks from mid to late September to prepare for the trip.

It is understood that they will visit Beijing, where they may meet with officials overseeing Hong Kong and Macau affairs.

They might also visit Xiong'an New Area, a state-level new area in Baoding, Hebei, established in April 2017 to serve as a development hub for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic triangle, sources added.

Lawmakers were reminded that this would be an "important event," but details have yet to be finalized, including whether they would stay in Beijing and attend the National Day celebration activities on October 1.

In April, Lee led an 88-strong delegation of five government officials and 83 lawmakers to four cities of the Greater Bay Area to meet with leaders of the municipal governments and visit high-tech companies.

Lee, meanwhile, reiterated that Hong Kong will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting as a member in San Francisco in November.

"The Apec has its rules," Lee said. "The organizers have the responsibility to invite members of the organization to join the meeting. The meeting does not belong to any single country. We will definitely go as Hong Kong, China, and as a member [of the organization]."

Lee was placed under US sanctions in 2020 when he implemented the national security law as then-secretary for security.

Four Democratic and Republican US senators last week sent a letter to the State Department opposing inviting Lee to the Apec meeting.

"Inviting a sanctioned human rights abuser is an affront to all those who have been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party and its proxies in Hong Kong," stated the letter co-signed by Republican senator Marco Rubio and representative Chris Smith and Democrat senator Jeff Merkley and representative Jim McGovern.

The US said the invitation list "has not yet been finalized."